Index

Abstract

Learn how to set up an index in Paligo and add index references to your topics.

Paligo has several index-related elements that you can use to create an index with references to your topics. These are especially useful in PDF outputs, where users are more likely to need to refer to an index to find out where certain subjects are explained in a document. With HTML and other outputs that will be read digitally, the index is often less useful as there is a search tool to use instead. However, you may still decide to include an index in your online content too.

A PDF output showing an index with many index entries. They are ordered into 3 equal sized columns.

To set up an index for your Paligo content:

Create an Index Topic and add it to your publication.
Add Index References to your content.
Edit your PDF layout to set the number of columns for the index and the column spacing (PDF outputs only).
Publish your content, see Publishing Process.

Note

Paligo can generate and sort your index automatically, if you Create an Index Topic and there are index references added in your content.

Create an Index Topic

Abstract

Learn how to create an index in Paligo. The index will contain a list of terms with a reference to the relevant parts of the content.

An index topic is a regular topic where an index element has been added. When you add the index topic to your publication, Paligo will automatically gather all index references from the topics. The index references will be categorized by letter and sorted alphabetically and each has a page reference or a link.

If the publication does not contain any index references, the index will be empty. You need to add index references to your topics before you publish, see Add Index References.

Consider how you want your index to appear in the published output:

The index used as a main topic. This is the most common approach for an index.
The index used as a subsection inside a main topic (for example References).

A topic with a title set to "Index" and below that, it contains an index element.

A References topic that contains an index. The index has its own title, which is "Index"

To the left - The index as a main topic. To the right - The index as a subsection.

Note

The index element will automatically add a title named Index. This means that if you have a main topic called Index, the subsection will also be called Index. This extra title can be hidden, see Hide Index Title for HTML5 Output or Enable or Disable Index Auto Title for PDF Output.

Tip

To find out more about using the Element Context Menu to add content, see Add Content to Topics

To create an index topic:

Create a new topic.
Position the cursor at a valid position for the index element.

For example, after the section title, but before the first para element.
Press Alt + Enter ⏎ (Windows) or Command ⌘ + Enter ⏎ (Mac) to display the Element Context Menu.
Enter index and select it in the menu.
Delete the para element that is included by default, if not needed.
Select Save.
Add your index topic to your publication, see Add Content to a Publication.

When you publish your publication, Paligo will automatically gather the index references.

Index Title

Abstract

Learn how to add a title element to an Index in Paligo. Typically, index titles are used when you what to give the index topic a different name than "Index".

When you Create an Index Topic the index element includes an extra title named Index. It is possible to hide this title for both PDF and HTML5 output or include them in PDF bookmarks.

To the left - the index as a main topic. To the right - the index as a subsection.

Enable or Disable Index Auto Title for PDF Output

Paligo can automatically add a title to your index for PDF output. The automatic title will be "Index" and if you publish to other languages, a translation of "Index" is provided as well.

To include or exclude the automatically generated index title:

Select the Layout tab in the top menu.

Paligo displays a list of Layouts. The list is empty if there are no custom Layouts in your Paligo instance.
Select the configuration to be updated or Create a Layout.

Tip

You can copy the URL of the layout editor and paste it into a new tab in your browser. This can be useful if you need to frequently switch between your Paligo content and the layout settings.
Select General and choose Glossary and Index.
Set Index auto title to Enable or Disable.

If enabled during publish, Paligo will check to see if your index has a title:
- If the index already has a title, Paligo will use that title. It will not generate an automatic title.
- If the index does not have a title, Paligo will add a title element with "Index" as the title text.
If disabled Paligo will not create an automatic index title.
Select Save.

When you publish to PDF with this layout, the output will include / exclude an automatic index title.

Include Index Title in PDF Bookmarks

PDFs can have bookmarks that act like a table of contents in a side panel, where your topics are shown in order. If you have an index, it's likely that you will want a link to the index to appear here.

If your index is inside a topic called "Index", you will not need to take any action. The "Index" topic will appear in the bookmarks by default.

But if your index is inside a topic with a different title, there will be no obvious way for the reader to access the index. For example, let's say you have added your index to a topic called "references". In the published PDF, the bookmarks will only show "References", which makes it harder for your readers to find the index.

To fix this, you can set Paligo to include the index's title in the bookmarks as well. If your index does not have a title, you can add one or you can set Paligo to generate one automatically.

Select the Layout tab in the top menu.

Paligo displays a list of Layouts. The list is empty if there are no custom Layouts in your Paligo instance.
Select the configuration to be updated or Create a Layout.

Tip

You can copy the URL of the layout editor and paste it into a new tab in your browser. This can be useful if you need to frequently switch between your Paligo content and the layout settings.
Select General and choose Glossary and Index.
Enable the Index title or auto title in bookmarks setting to get Paligo to include the title of the index element in the bookmarks.

Note

This setting will only work if your index has a title, or you have set Paligo to generate a title automatically.
Select Save.

When you publish to PDF with this layout, Paligo includes the index title in the bookmarks. It is a subsection of its parent topic.

A PDF output that shows a references topic. There is an index inside the references topic. In the bookmarks sidebar, there is a link for the references topic, and at a lower level, a link for the index title.

Hide Index Title for HTML5 Output

Your HTML5 output will show your index title by default if your index:

Contains a title element
Has no title element, but your HTML5 layout is set to generate an index title automatically. The automatic title is called "Index" (or a translation of Index for other languages).

This can mean that your HTML index has two "Index" titles, one for the topic and one for the index element. To hide the title for the index element, use CSS:

Create or edit an existing custom CSS file and add the following code:
```
.index .titlepage{
    display: none;
}
```
To learn more about creating custom CSS, see Branding your HTML Outputs with CSS.
Create an HTML5 Help Center layout. Alternatively, you can Edit a Layout.
Upload your custom CSS to the HTML5 layout.
Select Save.

When you publish to HTML5 using this layout, the index element's title is hidden.

Note

If you want to show the index title again, change the CSS to:

.index .titlepage{
    display: block;
}

Add Index References

Abstract

Learn how to add index references to your topics in Paligo. The references tell Paligo what terms should appear in the index and what type of reference should be used.

To get index entries to appear when you Create an Index Topic, you need to markup the topics with index references. These references tell Paligo what terms should appear in the index topic and what type of reference should be used. If your content does not contain any index references, your index topic will be empty when you publish. There are four types of index references that you can use depending on which information to be included in the index topic.

Appearance	Type	Description
	Primary Index References	The index topic will only show the main terms in alphabetical order with page numbers. Learn more, see Add a Primary Index Reference.
	Secondary Index References	The index topic will show both main terms and subterms in alphabetical order with page numbers. Learn more, see Add a Secondary Index Reference.
	See Index References	The index topic will show the main terms in alphabetical order without page numbers with a link within brackets to another term. Might be that you want to include terms that could be used for the same thing and refer the reader to the proper term instead. Learn more about how to add these extra references, see Add a See Index Reference.
	See Also Index References	The index topic will show the main terms in alphabetical order with page numbers including a link within brackets to an additional term. Learn more about how to add these extra references, see Add a See Also Index Reference.

Note

If you publish to HTML or HTML5 there will be hyperlinks instead of page numbers.

Add a Primary Index Reference

If you use a primary index reference, the index topic will only show the main terms in alphabetical order with page numbers. If you publish to HTML, there is a hyperlink to the page instead of a page number.

Index for letter T, showing Temperature with a page number, Thermal image with a page number, and Thresholds with a page number.

The index topic will look like this with primary index references.

Tip

To find out more about using the Element Context Menu to add content, see Add Content to Topics.

To add a primary index reference to your content:

Select a topic or component in Content Manager.

Paligo opens the content in the Editor.
Position the cursor immediately before the text for the term that you want to use.
Press Alt + Enter ⏎ (Windows) or Command ⌘ + Enter ⏎ (Mac) to display the Element Context Menu.
Enter indexterm and select it from the menu.

Paligo adds an indexterm element with an primary element inside it.
Enter the main term inside the primary element to make it appear in the index.
Note

You should now have a structure like that shown in the example below. Here, we have used "temperature" as an example of a primary term.
```
<para>If the sensor detects that the room is too hot or too cold, the system will raise a <indexterm><primary>Temperature</pr
```
Select Save.

When you publish, Paligo will automatically add your index entries to your index topic. If you do not have an index topic, see Create an Index Topic.

Add a Secondary Index Reference

If you use a secondary index reference, the index topic will show both main terms and subterms in alphabetical order with page numbers. If you publish to HTML, there is a hyperlink to the page instead of a page number.

Index for letter T. It shows Temperature and a page number at the top level. Indented at the second level are entries for Alarms, Maximum, Minimum, and Shutdown, each with a page number.

The index topic will look like this with secondary index references.

Tip

To find out more about using the Element Context Menu to add content, see Add Content to Topics.

To add a secondary index reference to your content:

Select a topic or component in Content Manager.

Paligo opens the content in the Editor.
Position the cursor immediately before the text for the term that you want to use.
Press Alt + Enter ⏎ (Windows) or Command ⌘ + Enter ⏎ (Mac) to display the Element Context Menu.
Enter indexterm and select it from the menu.

Paligo adds an indexterm element with an primary element inside it.
Enter the main term inside the primary element to make it appear in the index.
Note

You should now have a structure like that shown in the example below. Here, we have used "temperature" as an example of a primary term.
```
<para>If the sensor detects that the room is too hot or too cold, the system will raise a <indexterm><primary>Temperature</pr
```
Position the cursor after the primary reference, but before the end of the indexterm.

Tip

Move the cursor with the keyboard arrows to easier position it between the chevrons.
Press Alt + Enter ⏎ (Windows) or Command ⌘ + Enter ⏎ (Mac) to display the Element Context Menu.
Enter secondary and select it from the menu.

Enter the subterm inside the secondary element to make it appear in the index.

Paligo editor shows a para that contains an indexentry element. Inside the indexentry element there is a primary element with the main term. After the primary element is a secondary element.

Note

You should now have a structure like this (where we have used "alarm" as an example of a secondary term):

<para>If the sensor detects that the room is too hot or too cold, the system will raise a <indexterm><primary>Temperature</primary><secondary>alarm</secondary></indexterm>temperature alarm.</para>

Select Save.

When you publish, Paligo will automatically add your index entries to your index topic. If you do not have an index topic, see Create an Index Topic.

Add a See Index Reference

If you use a see index reference, the index topic will show the main terms in alphabetical order without page numbers with a link within brackets to another term. Might be that you want to include terms that could be used for the same thing and refer the reader to the proper term instead.

A see index reference is a combination of a primary element for the main term and a see element for the link to the additional term.

Index for letter T. It has an entry for Thermal and next to that it shows see Temperature.

The index topic will look like this with see index references.

Note

It is also possible to use a see element for a secondary term, but these entries can become complicated. It is usually better to keep your index entries as simple as possible, so that your readers can find the information they need quickly.

To add a see index reference:

Select a topic or component in Content Manager.

Paligo opens the content in the Editor.
Position the cursor immediately before the text for the term that you want to use.
Press Alt + Enter ⏎ (Windows) or Command ⌘ + Enter ⏎ (Mac) to display the Element Context Menu.
Enter indexterm and select it from the menu.

Paligo adds an indexterm element with an primary element inside it.
Enter the main term inside the primary element to make it appear in the index.
Note

You should now have a structure like that shown in the example below. Here, we have used "temperature" as an example of a primary term.
```
<para>If the sensor detects that the room is too hot or too cold, the system will raise a <indexterm><primary>Temperature</pr
```
Position the cursor after the primary reference, but before the end of the indexterm.

Tip

Move the cursor with the keyboard arrows to easier position it between the chevrons.
Press Alt + Enter ⏎ (Windows) or Command ⌘ + Enter ⏎ (Mac) to display the Element Context Menu.
Enter see and select it from the menu.
Enter the term inside the see element that is to appear as link within brackets in the index.

The entered term must be an existing index term.
Note

You should now have a structure like that shown below, where we have used "Temperature" as the "see" index entry.
```
<para>If the sensor detects that the room is too hot or too cold, the system will raise a <indexterm><primary>Thermal</primary><see>Temperature</see></indexterm>temperature alarm.</para>
```
Select Save.

When you publish, Paligo will automatically add your index entries to your index topic. If you do not have an index topic, see Create an Index Topic.

Add a See Also Index Reference

If you use a see also index reference, the index topic will show the main terms in alphabetical order with page numbers including a link within brackets to an additional term. If you publish to HTML, there is a hyperlink to the page instead of a page number.

A see also index reference is a combination of a primary element for the main term and a seealso element for the link to the additional term.

Index for the letter T. It shows Temperature as an entry. It has two page numbers for references and also another reference that shows see also Thermal.

The index topic will look like this with see also index references.

Note

It is also possible to use a seealso element for a secondary term, but these entries can become complicated. It is usually better to keep your index entries as simple as possible, so that your readers can find the information they need quickly.

To add a see also index reference:

Select a topic or component in Content Manager.

Paligo opens the content in the Editor.
Position the cursor immediately before the text for the term that you want to use.
Press Alt + Enter ⏎ (Windows) or Command ⌘ + Enter ⏎ (Mac) to display the Element Context Menu.
Enter indexterm and select it from the menu.

Paligo adds an indexterm element with an primary element inside it.
Enter the main term inside the primary element to make it appear in the index.
Note

You should now have a structure like that shown in the example below. Here, we have used "temperature" as an example of a primary term.
```
<para>If the sensor detects that the room is too hot or too cold, the system will raise a <indexterm><primary>Temperature</pr
```
Position the cursor after the primary reference, but before the end of the indexterm.

Tip

Move the cursor with the keyboard arrows to easier position it between the chevrons.
Press Alt + Enter ⏎ (Windows) or Command ⌘ + Enter ⏎ (Mac) to display the Element Context Menu.
Enter seealso and select it from the menu.
Enter the term inside the seealso element that is to appear as a link within brackets in the index.

The entered term must be an existing index term.
Note

You should now have a structure like that shown below, where we have used "Thermal" as the "seealso" index entry.
```
<para>If the sensor detects that the room is too hot or too cold, the system will raise a <indexterm><primary>Temperature</primary><seealso>Thermal</seealso></indexterm>temperature alarm.</para>
```
Select Save.

When you publish, Paligo will automatically add your index entries to your index topic. If you do not have an index topic, see Create an Index Topic.

Search for Index References

Use the Advanced Search to find topics that include index references. Depending on what you want to find, you can choose to:

Include all topics with index references by using the indexterm element in the search.
Narrow down the search by specifying the type of index reference (primary, secondary, see or seealso).

To search for index references:

Select Quick Search in the top menu.
Select Advanced Search.
Select the Search tab.
Enter indexterm or specify a particular index reference type (primary , secondary, see or seealso) in the Contains field.

To the left search for content with the indexterm element. To the right search for content with the seealso element.
Select the Content checkbox and clear the others in the Search in field.
Select Search.
All topics that match the search criteria will be presented below the search area.

Index Sorting for Language Symbols

Paligo can currently only use UTF-8 to define the sort order in an index. This means that languages that use symbols or a mix of symbols and phonemic characters (like Japanese, Korean and Chinese) will encounter problems when publishing in multiple languages.

A possible workaround for PDF output is by defining an indexterm that uses a phonemic word (alphabetic writing) for index sorting. The indexterm is invisible in the topics and works in the background to sort and group the index references.

The sortas attribute on the primary, secondary and tertiary elements is used to express a key. Usually the key is the same word as used as the value of the primary, secondary and tertiary element. This key is subsequently used to look up the actual phonemic version of the term in a lookup file for the language being published to.

The image above shows a possible Japanese index.

Enable Lookup Files for Index Sorting

For languages that require a mapping between a symbolic term and a phonemic sortas value, you have to enable the feature in the System settings. Also, you have to prepare one lookup file for each language that includes the sortas key and the translated phonemic word to replace it.

The sortas key will control the sort order of the element sortas attribute and group the indexterms in the index topic.

Select the avatar in the top right corner.
Select Settings from the menu.
Select the System Settings tab.
Enable Use lookup files for index sortering with the slider.
Prepare a lookup file for each language and name it like this: sortas-lookup-language code.xml.

Replace the text "language code" with a two-letter or four-letter code (for example "sortas-lookup-ja.xml", "sortas-lookup-zh.xml" or "sortas-lookup-ko.xml". Learn more, see Language Codes.
Build the file like this:
```
<sortas-lookup lang="language code">
  <sortas key="phonemic word" value="phonemic word translated"/>
</sortas-lookup> 
```
The image shows what a sortas-lookup file for Japanese could look like in an instance that uses English as source language.
Upload the lookup file to the xsl folder, see WebDAV Access to your Paligo Instance Folders.

Prepare Topics for Lookup files

Prepare the topics with indexterms that will be replaced with translated phonemic words from a file called sortas-lookup, see Enable Lookup Files for Index Sorting. Once the topics are ready, you add them to a publication containing an index topic and translate them.

The output index will be sorted according to the translated phonemic words (sortas keys) from the sortas-lookup files, but show the language symbols instead of the sortas attribute value.

To the left - the English source topic. To the right - the translated topic shows the symbol instead of the phonemic word.

Note

When you have this feature enabled and Paligo cannot find a lookup file for a language, all sortas attributes for this language will automatically be removed during the publishing process.

This means that you only require lookup files for languages that use symbols or a mix of symbols and phonemic characters (like Japanese, Korean and Chinese), but not for languages that use the Latin alphabet (like Swedish and English).

Select a topic or component in Content Manager.

Paligo opens the content in the Editor.
Position the cursor after the word that needs an indexterm added.
Press Alt + Enter ⏎ (Windows) or Command ⌘ + Enter ⏎ (Mac) to display the Element Context Menu.
Enter indexterm and select it from the menu.
Enter the word (within the chevrons) to be shown in the index topic. (Probably a symbol, if your source language is Japanese.)

It will be replaced with a translated phonemic version from the sortas-lookup file.

The indexterm is invisible in the topic and used for sorting and grouping the index.
Select the primary element in the Element Structure Menu and choose Go to element.

Note

This also works for secondary and tertiary elements.
Enter sortas in the Element Attributes Panel and select it from the menu.
Enter the key word that will fetch the phonemic word from the lookup file.

The sortas key will control the sort order of the element sortas attribute and group the indexterms in the index topic. For a Japanese source language this can actually be the symbol.
Select Save.

In this section:

Index

Note

Create an Index Topic

Note

Tip

Index Title

Enable or Disable Index Auto Title for PDF Output

Tip

Include Index Title in PDF Bookmarks

Tip

Note

Hide Index Title for HTML5 Output

Note

Add Index References

Note

Add a Primary Index Reference

Tip

Note

Add a Secondary Index Reference

Tip

Note

Tip

Note

Add a See Index Reference

Note

Note

Tip

Note

Add a See Also Index Reference

Note

Note

Tip

Note

Search for Index References

Index Sorting for Language Symbols

Enable Lookup Files for Index Sorting

Prepare Topics for Lookup files

Note

Note

Search results