Comments on: Glossary or Index?

By: Chris Waigl

Chris Waigl — Sun, 31 May 2009 00:34:59 +0000

The absence of a (sufficiently extensive) index reduces the usefulness of any technical book significantly, at least to me. It is particularly helpful if the terms that are referenced in the index are typographically marked in the page.

A glossary can be a very welcome addition, depending on the subject matter. If one of the goals of the book is to established a common vocabulary (often the case in books about methodologies), yes, add a glossary, but not to supplant the index.

My £ 0.02.

By: Naomi Karten

Naomi Karten — Sat, 23 May 2009 22:21:41 +0000

I’d favor a glossary. An index is full of all sorts of things people might look up, most of which don’t concern defintions. Plus, looking up a specific word (such as backlog) in the index might show me numerous instances of that word, and it might be that none of them provide a definition because you didn’t think the word needed one. The glossary, on the other hand, is specifically for the purpose of definitions. So if there’s a word I don’t understand and there’s a glossary, I’d look there first. If I still don’t understand or if the word’s not in the glossary, I’d try to make sense of it in context and/or look it up on dictionary.com or answer.com or elsewhere.

By: abby, the hacker chick blog

abby, the hacker chick blog — Fri, 22 May 2009 22:47:14 +0000

I agree with Tobias, that the most important thing is to define it the first time you use it. And then, if you did that – even if people jump around, an index which pointed people to that usage they could find it from there.

Glossaries are nice too, but I think the index is more useful.

By: Chet Frame

Chet Frame — Fri, 22 May 2009 14:36:26 +0000

The glossary gives a definition; what the word represents. The index gives the context the author presents. Both are important to true understanding.

By: Liz

Liz — Fri, 22 May 2009 14:18:36 +0000

I prefer an index.

By: Dwayne Phillips

Dwayne Phillips — Fri, 22 May 2009 13:06:22 +0000

A book will have an index, so that is there.

I would add a glossary. At times it is easy for a writer to forget that we are writing for the reader’s convenience, not ours. If the reader knows the word, they won’t turn to the glossary. If the reader doesn’t know the word, the glossary is wonderful.

By: Scott King

Scott King — Fri, 22 May 2009 12:51:49 +0000

I prefer a footnote, if it’s cumbersome to define within the text, and then an index of significant terms.

I rarely, if ever, consult a glossary.

By: Jim Ward

Jim Ward — Fri, 22 May 2009 11:42:31 +0000

I am currently performing a technical review of a book. The problem I see is that if I look up a term in the index I then have to scan a whole page of text to find the term. Then, the term may only be used in context and not clearly defined. Sometimes I’ve had to go to dictionary.com, but that only gives a general meaning, which may not be consistent with how it is used in a technical book.Hence, the need for a glossary of any terms that may be unfamiliar to any reader. Which is not to say that we don’t need an index, too.

By: Beth Macknik

Beth Macknik — Fri, 22 May 2009 02:04:10 +0000

I also prefer to have both a glossary and index entries. Indexes are great for using a unique word to find a passage, but a glossary is much better for definitions. And I find technical books that double as reference books to be much more valuable.

By: Frank Patrick

Frank Patrick — Thu, 21 May 2009 20:20:35 +0000

Index, although for key terms that might be new to some readers, a call-out definition in the margin is a nice alternative to a footnote.