Re: [platform-help-dev] What info will be returned on search hit lists?

[ldavidso@xxxxxxxxxx]

Personally, I really like Dorian's first suggestion of search hits that
show the whole nav trail. So, where V1 would have given us this search hit:

Unassociated tasks

V2 would give us this:

The workbench > Basic tutorial > Tasks and markers > Unassociated tasks

Here's another example:
Tasks > Developing XML applications > Authoring XML > Creating XML files >
Creating an XML file from a schema


If we did this, I would show the target topic (youngest child) in boldface.
I might also suggest limiting the search hit to ?3? lines each because some
products might nest their topics very deep, or prefer to use wordier labels
than the ones shown here - perhaps intermediate generations could be
replaced with ellipses.

I like that this approach doesn't require the writer to think about and
code another tag. (Granted, projects that source in XML could require an
element like <navdesc>, but not everyone will use the same DTD. Also, as
Dorian has pointed out, some vendors/products will deliver other formats
like PDF.) Although I originally suggested showing <title> plus first few
lines of the target file, I actually think a breadcrumb trail could produce
more consistently useful results. (Mary is right that if the writer works
for IBM and follows our standards for online help, the first few lines
*should* provide good context, but that doesn't always happen and it's not
true of all deliverables, for example Getting Started or longer tutorials.)

I envision a process like this:

- Writers may or may not provide <title> or comparable element, based on
the processes & guidelines for their product.

- Writer may code nav manually or may have an automated process that
generates nav labels from <title> or some other element - again, depending
on the processes & guidelines for their product

- Optionally, writer and/or editor reviews the nav to fine-tune the
wording, near the end of the release cycle.

- Text for search hits is generated automatically by concatenating nav
labels, as in the examples given.

Of course, I'm the person who started all this by requesting <title> so I
would be okay with that instead!

I have belatedly copied the postings in this thread into a note to other
editors in the IBM Toronto Lab, to solicit their feedback.

Leigh Davidson
Editor, IBM Canada Lab
Phone: 416-313-1034
email: ldavidso@xxxxxxxxxx