The purpose of index is to help a reader easily finding the contents they want to read. However, it is very difficult to make a good index. The following requirements exist for a well-made index.
A person who is making an index should be fully familiar with the subject and the contents. Nothing is allowed to be missing and it should not contain unnecessary information, too.
You need necessary tools for improving the productivity of index making. To understand how the index is organized, you can’t create a PDF each time. It will slow down the process.
The first one above can’t be done by the tools, yet. 3Rabbitz Book provides the functions to satisfy the second one above.
Creating an Index Chapter
First, you have to create a chapter where your index will be located. The same method for creating a general chapter is used. You need to select Index as a chapter type.
If you have already create an index chapter when creating a book, then you don’t need to create one again.
Once you’ve created an index chapter, the <Preview> link will be created next to it. Using this link, you can check the index in real time without building a PDF file.
Index Setting
You are recommended to perform the indexing works at the end after you have finished preparation of the contents of your book including proofreading and corrections. It is not desirable to prepare the contents of a book and to setting the index at the same time.
Setting Index Entry
Using “Mark”, you can set the words or phrases to index. The list of index will be automatically created.
After selecting an element for index, enter the editing mode.
Place your mouse cursor on the location to set index.
Click on the <Mark> link in the editing window.
After entering the contents in the mark input field, click on the <Add> button.
After selecting a word in the editing window, click on the <Mark> link. The selected word will be displayed in the mark input field.
The mark setting will be displayed as follows.
If you want to change the mark, double click on the mark setting area.
Setting a Subentry
You can use colons as separators to set subentries in items. There is no limit for the number of subentries but if you exceed three subentries, the readability is significantly worsened. So, you are always recommended to have three levels at most.
fruit:grape:blue grape
It is okay to have a space between colons.
It is displayed on a PDF as follows.
Setting Multiple Entries at a Time
You can use semi colons as separators to set multiple indexes at the same time.
fruit;vegetable fruit:tomato;vegetable:tomato
It is okay to have a space between semi colons.
It is displayed on a PDF as follows.
Setting Index Over Multiple Pages
If you want to set your index over multiple pages, then you can set the beginning of index as follows.
fruit(
And then set the end of index as follows.
fruit)
It is displayed on a PDF as follows.
If you set the beginning but don’t set the end, then it is assumed that the index is set at the beginning. To the contrary, if you set the end but don’t set the beginning, then it is assumed that no index is set.
Refer to The Chicago Manual of Style and you can abbreviate the page numbers connected as follows.
First Number | Second Number | Examples |
---|---|---|
Less than 100 | No abbreviations | 3-10 71-72 96-117 |
Equal to 100 or multiples of 100 | No abbreviations | 100-104 1100-1113 |
From 101 to 109 From 201 to 209 | Only the changes are shown. | 101-8 808-33 1103-4 |
From 110 to 199 From 210 to 299 | Only the changes are shown, if the change is one digit, then the last two digits are shown. | 321-28 498-532 1087-89 1496-500 11564-615 12991-3001 |
Setting the Style Option
In theme, you can set the separator used between an item and a page number. The default is set to comma.
Set a curly bracelet at the end of an item to set the style option.
fruit{b}
The following options are available.
- b
Bold face text.
- i
Italic text.
- c
Process it as code. In other words, display it as a font with a fixed width.
You can set as many as two options. The order of options does not matter.
fruit{bi} // bold face and italic. fruit{bc} // bold face and fonts with a fixed width.
If the subentries are set, then you can set the styles by putting the option in front of a colon.
fruit:grape{b} fruit{b}:grape fruit{b}:grape{i} fruit{bi}:grape{bi}
If @ is used to set the sorting key, the option is added after the sorting key.
2010@two thousand and ten{b}
Index List
Page Numbers
The page numbers in a PDF index are displayed as follows.
If there are multiple indexes with the same name on the same page, then the page number is displayed only once.
Index set in the text shows the page number only.
Index set in footnote adds n at the end of the page number. It is displayed as follows on a PDF file.
Grouping
Numbers
If entries start with numbers, they are grouped as “Numbers”.
0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9
Korean
In Korean, consonants are the basis for grouping. Double consonants are grouped on the basis of their single consonants.
ㄱ(ㄲ), ㄴ, ㄷ(ㄸ), ㄹ, ㅁ, ㅂ(ㅃ), ㅅ(ㅆ), ㅇ, ㅈ(ㅉ), ㅊ ㅋ, ㅌ, ㅍ, ㅎ
Roman Alphabets
Grouping is done on the basis of alphabets. Case insensitive.
A Á À Â Ä Ã Å a á à â ä ã å ª B b C Ç c ç D d E É È Ê Ë e é è ê ë F f ƒ G g H h I Í Ì Î Ï i ì í î ï J j K k L l M m N Ñ n ñ O Ó Ò Ô Ö Õ Ø o ó ò ô ö õ ø º P p Q q R r S s T t U Ú Ù Û Ü u ú ù û ü V v W w X x Y Ÿ y ÿ Z z
Chinese
The sound of Chinese word is translated into Roman Alphabet which is used as the basis for grouping.
Japanese
Japanese Hirakana is grouped into 10 groups as follows.
あ, い, う, え, お か, き, く, け, こ, が, ぎ, ぐ, げ, ご さ, し, す, せ, そ, ざ, じ, ず, ぜ, ぞ た, ち, つ, て, と, だ, ぢ, づ, で, ど な, に, ぬ, ね, の は, ひ, ふ, へ, ほ, ば, び, ぶ, べ, ぼ, ぱ, ぴ, ぷ, ぺ, ぽ ま, み, む, め, も や, ゆ, よ ら, り, る, れ, ろ わ, を
The sound of a Japanese-Chinese character is expressed in Hirakana which is the basis for grouping.
The sounds of Chinese character and Japanese-Chinese character are set by @. For more details, refer to Changing the Sorting Order and the Group. In the future, we will provide the function to automatically set the sounds of Chinese characters.
Special Character
All other characters are grouped into “Symbols” group.
Changing the Sorting Order and the Group
Sorting is done according to the fundamental rules pertaining to the language. However, you can arbitrarily change the order of sorting.
For instance, you can set the index as follows.
order:one order:two order:three
It is displayed as follows on a PDF.
In this case, it is desirable to sort them by logical order, not by character.
To sort it like this, use @ as a separator when entering the sorting key.
order:one@1 order:two@2 order:three@3
The same rule applies when you set a group. If you set the index as follows, it is included in Numbers group.
2010
But as it reads two thousand ten, it is sometimes better to include it in a T group. In this case, you can set the index as follows.
2010@two thousand ten
Setting Index Objects
If you open up an index chapter in your editor, you will see index object type included in it. You can edit this object type to set the following items.
If you delete this object type, then index will not be displayed on your PDF.
Index Sorting Criteria
You can select the following for sorting mode.
- Letter by Letter
Sorted by letters.
- Word by Word
Sorted by words.
Refer to the examples provided by The Chicago Manual of Style and find out about the difference between the two.
Letter by Letter | Word by Word |
---|---|
NEW (Neighbors Ever Watchful) NEW (Now End War) New, Arthur New, Zoe new-12 compound newborn newcomer New Deal new economics newel New England “new-fangled notions” Newfoundland newlyweds new math new/old continuum news, lamentable News, Networks, and the Arts newsboy news conference newsletter News of the World (Queen) news release newt NEWT (Northern Estuary Wind Tunnel) New Thorndale new town New York's Day | NEW (Neighbors Ever Watchful) NEW (Now End War) New, Arthur New, Zoe New Deal new economics New England new math New Thorndale new town New York's Day new-12 compound newborn newcomer newel “new-fangled notions” Newfoundland newlyweds new/old continuum news, lamentable News, Networks, and the Arts news conference News of the World (Queen) news release newsboy newsletter newt NEWT (Northern Estuary Wind Tunnel) |
Cross Reference
See, See under
EJB=Enterprise JavaBeans CSS=Cascading Style Sheets
If you want to display “See under” add an underscore in front of it.
EJB=Enterprise JavaBeans CSS=_Cascading Style Sheets
It is displayed as follows on a PDF.
See also, See also under
EJB=Enterprise JavaBeans CSS=Cascading Style Sheets
If you want to display “See also under” then add an underscore in front of it.
EJB=Enterprise JavaBeans CSS=_Cascading Style Sheets
It is displayed as follows on a PDF.
Entering Special Symbols
The following special symbols are used for index setting.
: ; @ ( ) { } _
If you want to use these symbols in index, you need to add a backslash in front of it.
html5\:canvas java\; programming language
If a small parenthesis is used in the front and the back to fully encompass an item, then you don’t need to add a backslash in this case.
// Both are displayed as “CSS(Cascading Style Sheets)”. CSS(Cascading Style Sheets) CSS\(Cascading Style Sheets\)
Unless an underscore appears at the beginning of “See” and “See also”, you don’t need to add a backslash.
CSS=_Cascading Style Sheets (See under Cascading Style Sheets) CSS=\_Cascading Style Sheets (See _Cascading Style Sheets)