The Digital Hub’s automatic index linking feature for ScML/e-book output is designed to handle indexes formatted per the Chicago Manual of Style.
Index Features
The Digital Hub will parse index entries for the term, page numbers, subentries, and top-level see/see also references. In addition to linking the references to the pages, when the setting is enabled, this metadata will be included in self-closing idx tags.
- The primary term will always be listed in the “term” attribute of the idx, and then subentries will be listed as attribute values according to their depth, up to three sublevels.
- Note, figure, and table callouts will link to the listed page number.
- See/See also references must match the corresponding entry exactly in order to be linked. One exception is the following: the Digital Hub will link references with or without supplemental parentheses for entries that include abbreviations or acronyms, such as “Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).” If the “see/see also” is pointing to a sublevel entry, that entry will not be linked.
- Capitalized roman numerals will not be linked.
- Unusual formatting such as the use of tabs or ellipses after index terms will not be linked.
CMS Format
Indexes that do not follow CMS style, but are not radically different, will typically work for basic linking, but some advanced features such as embedding terms and linking see/see also references may not.
The Digital Hub uses CMS formatting because it is the most commonly used standard and indexes that do not follow CMS strictly will often meet the criteria for proper linking. If the Digital Hub encounters a formatting error, it will stop at that point. (An example of a syntax error would be if a comma were missing within a list of page numbers following an index term.)