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Created 2022-07-02 Updated 2022-07-07
There has been recent discussions in Geminispace about indexing
of pages:
bjorn: Providing Meaningful Search Results ...
flexibeast: A convention for gemlog tags
freeshell: Re: A convention for gemlog tags
I'd like to share my own thoughts on the matter. Bear in mind that
they're just /thoughts/, not /suggestions/. I keep a physical note-
book, mostly of technical information. Stuff like microcontroller
pinout diagrams, programming notes, etc.. I keep an index at the
back. I find it invaluable for finding stuff later. I also keep a
table of contents at the front. This isn't particularly useful for
the specific medium that I record my notes in, because notes are
written as required, rather than in a structured way. For struc-
tured content, though, a table of contents makes sense.
Here's what Wikipedia has to say about the purpose of an index:
Indexes are also designed to help the reader find information
quickly and easily. A complete and truly useful index is not
simply a list of the words and phrases used in a publication
(which is properly called a concordance), but an organized map
of its contents, including cross-references, grouping of like
concepts, and other useful intellectual analysis.
This is why I keep my index for my notebook. Hashtags are not index
entries. Index entries are not tables of contents. I am keen on
sub-indices rather than just top-level entries. This is especially
important as content grows. OK, so you have a bunch of "Linux"
tags, what of it? How do I find something interesting in this sea
of information.
Let me summarise what I think are the benefits of indices:
proach the same answer from different directions.
not tables of contents)
The problem as I see it with hashtags is they are more of a scat-
tergun approach. The promote a less thoughtful approach to finding
information.
By way of an example, let me prognosticate about my page on uni-
code:
In it, I list my favourite unicode characters, a way of setting up
queries on Linux, how to use them in vim, and (not yet done) how to
use them in groff. So I might want to have something like, uh, I
dunno:
Index: unicode, favourite
Index: unicode, groff
Index: unicode, vim
I would want my index page to look something like:
favourite
↳ unicode
groff
↳ unicode
unicode
↳ favourite
↳ groff
↳ vim
vim
↳ unicode
together with links, and all that good stuff. As I expand my con-
tent with pages on groff and vim, I expect my indexer to neatly ex-
pand the index appropriately. I may decide that my favourite char-
acters don't really need a separate entry, and can simply delete
it.
Just my 2¢.
gemini://gemi.dev/cgi-bin/wp.cgi/view?Index%20%28publish-
ing%29%0A%0A gemi.dev: Index (Publishing)