Skip to content

HTML/Prep™

This utility allows you to repurpose print indexes for the web or eBooks.  It is most often used in conjunction with index preparation software, such as CINDEX or SKY Index.  However, the input format is very straightforward to produce so it can be created using Word or a text editor.

HTML/Prep is an utility that converts a tagged ASCII file to create HTML or XHTML pages or files. HTML/Prep also consists of a CINDEX style sheet and tag set (Windows) files to assist CINDEX users in mapping CINDEX styles into HTML emphasis and other style tags.  However, the tagged ASCII format is easy to produce from other programs such as, Sky Index and Macrex.

The HTML/Prep program converts an alphabetical index into one or more HTML files. It allows you to specify the index’s title and head notes, if any. You can provide links as the locators which HTML/Prep will convert to link tags, or you can simply display the locators for an electronic index. The tagging in the pages can either be HTML tagging or XHTML tagging. XHTML provides more control via CSS to customize the display of the index.

A single index can be split into multiple HTML files, one for each letter or group break. Letter lists are also generated with links. They can be placed at the top of the index, the top and bottom, and as a separate page.

A separate document containing just the index’s main headings is also produced with links back to the index itself. This is useful for large indexes to allow browsing of the topics in the index. This page includes cross references that appear under the main headings.

You can specify various sets of tags that should be used at the top and bottom of files, after each letter, etc. These allow you to specify font, color, background, place buttons, etc. consistently for each file generated. If you are using Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) this is not necessary for to supply for style purposes.

You can specify what the “clickable” text is for the link, for istance, the heading text itself, the locator, boilerplate text, or even a graphic.

Links from cross references to main headings, and up to three levels of subheadings, are also created.

For a web index, pop-up boxes can appear to inform the user where in the heading structure the user currently is. This useful for indexes with large subheading displays since the main heading may have scrolled out of the browser’s window.

Note: HTML/Prep does not automatically build the hypertext links for locators. It can use links, if present, in the index data to build links. If you are trying to mount a print index to the web, say for a cumulative journal index, then some other processing may be required to add URL information to the locator data in the index. Every web site’s architecture varies so what processing needs to be determined for each situation. A custom program may be required (as was the case for the Rochester History & BC Hansard Indexes below) if URLs can be determined algorithmically; or, another LevTech utility Mapper may be necessary to implement a translation table. See the article Repurposing Print Indexes for the Web for more information.

Some indexes produced using HTML/Prep and CINDEX:

  1. Fiction Index (unlinked locators)
  2. Rochester (NY) History
  3. British Columbia’s Hansard Debates Indexes
  4. Congressional Quarterly Weekly Index
  5. Ontario Legislative Assembly House Hansard Index (using XHTML)

Of related interest, see the Digital Publications Indexing SIG for more general topics and discussions on created indexes to web sites and mounting, on the web, indexes to printed and electronic material.

Pricing and Ordering

HTML/Prep:
prepares print indexes for the web		 $195