Document (#25225)

Author

Holbert, S.

Title

How to index Windows-based online help

Issue

Beyond book indexing: how to get started in Web indexing, embedded indexing and other computer-based media. Ed. by D. Brenner u. M. Rowland.

Imprint

Phoenix, AZ : American Society of Indexers / Information Today

Year

2000

Pages

S.89-97

Abstract

Today, more and more software packages come with online documentation. Some have complete manuals as well. Others have basic documentation on paper and more advanced information online. I recently purchased a computer that came with 20 software programs and not one page of written documentation. More and more, users have to find information by searching online. Most documentation teams focus on writing and ignore the problems of information retrieval, making information in printed documents difficult to find, and online information impossible to find. With online Help, you cannot browse the documentation. You cannot even browse more than a couple of inches of the index at a time. If online users do not get superb guidance into the jungle of online Help, they go away like the hero of Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness, saying "Oh, the horror! The horror!" How does an online Help index work? The following examples are based on the Windows 95 Help-type system, but do not represent actual Help screens

Theme

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