Re: Formatting index entry numbers

[Mark Summerfield]

On Saturday 10 May 2003 06:44 am, Jeff Kingston wrote:
> This would require an extra parameter on the @Index system to
> identify the particular index entry as one to be emboldened.
> You can find the definition of @Index at include/dsf line
> 4226.  It would not be hard to add, for example,
>
>     def @Index
>         ...
>         named main { No }    # Yes or No
>     {
>
>         def @Fmt right x { main @Case { No @Yield x Yes @Yield @B x } }
>
> and then replace (I think this is the right spot)
>
>         tag @CrossLink @PageOf tag
>
> with
>
>         tag @CrossLink @Fmt @PageOf tag
>
> I'm just a bit worried about the effect of @B on the sorting.  I'm
> not sure off-hand whether it will be noticed by the sorter or not.
>
> A more advanced design would be to add a @Format parameter to @Index:
>
>         named @Format right @Body { @Body }
>
> so that any format could be asked for.  Actually it would be better
> to name the parameter @PageNum:
>
>     def @Index
>         ...
>         named @Format right @PageNum { @PageNum }
>
> so that people could write
>
>     @Index
>         @Format { @B @PageNum }
>     { India, 1947 partition of }
>
> and so on.
>
> Sorry, that should have been the @Index symbol, not the @Index system.
>
> I'd be happy to pursue this for the next release, if someone wants
> to tell me what's actually needed.  Flipping through half a dozen
> books on my shelf just now produced no examples of formatted
> page numbers.  Are they ever italicized, for example?

Jeff,

I'd like the ability to tag a specific index entry as the "main" entry
and have special formatting for that (like your main parameter in your
first example above). I'm not home at the moment so can't look up my own
books to give examples, but a colleague tells me that:

The LaTeX Companion (and many others) -- shows main index entries in
bold
The TeXbook -- shows useful examples in italics and definitions
underlined


I have certainly seen bold used for main index entries.

Thanks.

-- 
Mark.