Adobe InDesign CC Now Exports Active Indexes for eBooks
With the release of Adobe InDesign Creative Cloud (CC) in June, 2013, we welcome the new functionality of exporting active indexes for eBooks.
Indexes are now exported to EPUB along with the rest of the content. When the user selects an index entry's page number, they will be taken directly to the referenced content. This is true regardless of the reading system used.
Find out more about these improvements to the functionality of indexes:
- Adobe's summary of EPUB Changes CS6 to CC
- Terry White, Adobe's Worldwide Creative Suite Design Evangelist, discusses his "Top Five Favorite Features" of InDesign CC, one of which is the linked EPUB index feature.
- Anne-Marie Concepción, InDesign Secrets, summarizes the EPUB improvements here.
As Anne-Marie mentions, some of these changes are the result of Adobe's InDesign team collaborating with the eBook community. The American Society for Indexing's Digital Trends Task Force (DTTF) is very pleased to have been a part of that process and expects to continue suggesting further improvements to the Index module of InDesign.
Active indexes improve the reader's experience, thus we expect to see even more demand for eBooks that contain them. The efficiency of InDesign CC indexes is that they can be published in multiple formats for print, PDF and eBook versions.
Keyword searching and concordances are not adequate information retrieval tools and cannot replace the value offered by indexes. For more, see the Society of Indexers' Publishing Technology Group website.
Publishers and authors can find experienced InDesign indexers via the free Indexer Locator service provided by the American Society for Indexing.
The default appearance of InDesign CC indexes can be customized by editing the idGeneratedStyles.css file in your epub file. Instructions on how to change the indents are available at https://www.asindexing.org/wp-content/uploads/legacy/files/DTTF/ASI_DTTF_Change_Indenting.pdf.
ASI Digital Trends Task Force DTTF@asindexing.org
DTTF web site: https://www.asindexing.org/about-indexing/digital-trends-task-force/
LinkedIn discussion site: http://www.linkedin.com/groups/ASI-Digital-Trends-Task-Force-4005509
Twitter: #indexing @ASIndexing
July 2013
Phone: (480) 245-6750 Fax: (480) 777-9270
gwen@asindexing.org
www.asindexing.org