Am 08.02.2005 um 14:01 schrieb Helge Hafting:
Andreas Vox wrote:But removing index references from that list using the jump function from below
should be easier than the other way round.
Maybe I don't understand. We have to go through the entire document anyway,
don't we?
No, I'd use the jump function just to check the context. If I know the conhtext already
I can select the references in the index buffer I don't want and delete them. If I don't
like a word, I can delete the whole line with all references.
Maybe an additional function which acts as a kind of search and replace,
maybe even with regular expressions?
Sure, that would be nice. Make that, and it'll be instantly popular. :-)
As we say around here, we can do one thing and not refrain from the other :-)
Then the users can decide what they like best.
The way of index editing I fancy right now would consist of the following functions:
1.) create an initial index from all words minus stop words. Insert the index references
and open an index buffer with the alphabetically sorted list.
Suggestion: Make the initial wordlist. Have the user prune this (because the
stop-word list cannot possibly contain every word we don't want to index. It
can only contain common ones like "a", "the", ...) Then proceed to the next step.
You can do that in the second step.
No, I don't want to do physical layout here...
2.) Edit the index buffer: Delete entries, change the ordering, collate entries, create
subitems, ...
Are you proposing an index buffer that sort of looks like an index page and do
the editing there? Such a thing is very nice for adjusting the layout of the index,
obviously. One or two columns? font? Heading for each letter? Layout for that header?
The idea is to have all index entries at one place, with a list of all occurences. Then you
can collate entries, delete unwanted occurences, edit the actual rendering, introduce subitems ...
But I am not so sure it will be useful for the actual indexing. A word that is indexed several places may have one very important place and we want that page number to be set
in itralics, for example. I think that is better done by working on the index entry
(the existing index entry box that currently doesn't support the fancy stuff, but it
could be made into doing that.) The reason? Only by looking at the text
can I see wether this is the _important_ entry (say, the definition) or merely some case
that I also want to index.
It all boils down to how much of the context of each occurance is visible from the index
buffer. I thought the jump function would be enough, but maybe the chapter/section number
or the surrounding sentence should be visible also.
3.) Have a jump function from an entry in the index buffer to the occurence and between
occurences, and back.
Well, yes, certainly useful. Be aware that a word indexed multiple times on one
page only get one entryin the index.
In the index, yes, in the index buffer, no.
4.) Update the text from the index buffer: delete unwanted index insets, change params
of index insets, add new index insets.
How would you add a new one?
Good point. Copy an existing index entry for a new index term? Something like a reverse "see"? But you are right, that would be the exception. New entries are either generated from
the wordlist or manually in the text or with the regexp-insert-index function.
Ciao /Andreas
