Taking a philosophical turn on the editing and proofreading thing today. The Mechanics There are all kinds of tools that editors use to find inconsistencies in word usage or capitalization, punctuation, etc. that make a proofreading pass, for example, go faster. Since most of these tools are not available for the Mac operating system (the […]
Embedded Indexing: Client Perspective
We at PI are seeing more publishers wanting embedded indexing for ebooks and/or just to get the indexing done earlier in the production cycle (before final page proof). Traditional Embedded Indexing: The Issues Embedded indexing directly in either InDesign or Microsoft Word has some built-in problems that make the task tedious and quite a bit […]
PI Associate Interview: Shoshana Hurwitz
Your Business PI: How long have you been an associate at Potomac Indexing? I celebrated my one-year anniversary with Potomac Indexing this past September. PI: Tell us your indexing (or other information access system) origin story. All superheroes, including indexers, have an origin story. I have always had an interest in the beauty of the […]
PI Associate Interview: Elise Hess
We’re running a series of interviews to introduce you all to our wonderfully talented group of independent indexers and taxonomists who enable us to say “yes” to the variety of project types and turnaround times our clients are looking for. Today, we’d like you to get to know one of our newer indexers, Elise Hess. Your […]
Index Layout: Run-in vs. Indented
When I’ve taught indexing, it’s always been fun to see students go through the first lesson, which has nothing to do with building their own indexes. I start by asking them to go find two books with indexes and describe what those indexes are like: what aspects are useful, what aspects seem to be less […]
Mapping the Page in Book Indexing
I’ve noticed that beginning indexers working with traditional print books can struggle with the challenge of realizing that the most specific target they can give a user is the page number. Over-Indexing For some detail-oriented people who want (sometimes desperately!) to get the index user/reader right to the term they’ve selected, slipping into over-indexing is […]
