Computerized text editing and processing with built-in indexing

A system of text editing and processing that involves an entirely unconventional approach to the production of books with indexes is proposed. Indexing is not based on page proof, as conventionally, but rather on the author's manuscript. The index is sorted and compiled by computer by about the time the manuscript enters the production stream, and is output in type concurrently with composition of the text. Generation of the index thus becomes an integral part of the total text editing and processing system: it no longer constitutes a separate, isolated function to be performed at the end of the production cycle.

Computerized concurrent indexing eliminates the great bottleneck that indexing traditionally has been in book production. It telescopes editing and typesetting time, eases proofing, correcting, and scheduling procedures, and, of course, cuts production costs. The entire book—both text and index—can be typeset in virtually one nonstop operation.

The main advantage to the author is that he will no longer be required to prepare his index long after having finished his manuscript, nor will he have to undertake any clerical compilation work. The availability, further, of a preliminary index sortout will make possible the discovery and correcting of errors in the manuscript while it is yet unset, thus achieving a more greatly strengthened text. Scholarship, too, will benefit by the timeliness and effectiveness of the more speedily and economically produced book.

International patents are pending on the system.