Indexes in eBooks are startlingly unused at this point in eBook development. To answer this need, the ASI Digital Trends Task Force has focused on educating and creating standards for indexes in eBooks. 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. Older versions of Design, for instance, do not output index entries when generating the ePub format. CC and above do, although you need to work with the CSS style sheet to get the indents formatted correctly. Check our page on InDesign.

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 can coordinate with ePub conversion houses to actively link your index, and we can work with you to make that process seamless. And we have scripts to help indexes work with InDesign EPUB output. Contact us.

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