Indexes in eBooks are startlingly unused at this point in eBook development. To answer this need, Jan Wright has pushed for the development of, and is currently co-chairing, the ASI Digital Trends Task Force. Our primary goal will be to get tools and interfaces for indexes built into eBooks and eContent. The vision is that search in eBooks can integrate with indexing, and that the indexing can inform the search, making it better and more productive. We feel the user should still be able to browse the index when needed, but a dead chapter in the back of an ebook does no one any good.

With the PDF format, active indexes are easily generated if your indexing is embedded into the files in a tool like Framemaker or InDesign. Once the entries are embedded, you can output a PDF and the index links will be active. Word files are not quite so easily converted, but using a tool like Sonar Activate, you can convert a Word-generated index output to PDF quite easily.

With the other formats, such as ePub or mobi, your layout tool may not output the needed index entries to make the index active once it goes into an eBook format. InDesign, for instance, does not output its index entries when it generates the ePub format.

We are happy to work with you to find a way to activate the index in your eBook. We can embed anchor points into HTML, XHTML or XML, and link the indexing to those points instead of pages (or both, if you need to output print as well). We also have set up contacts to one of the few ePub conversion houses that actively links your index, and we can work with you to make that process seamless.

Whatever the format, we can get you an index that links to the pages, no matter what format they are being flowed into.





Contact Wright Information at jancw@wrightinformation.com, or call 505-281-2600