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About Glossaries

A glossary is a feature that you can add to your output to help users understand the meaning of individual terms. You can include a glossary in both online and print-based output.

In online output, users can click a glossary term to see its definition in two ways:

Users can click the term in the output glossary pane (or tab).
Users can click the term in individual topics (if you specify that glossary terms should be converted to links). You have the flexibility of converting only certain terms that you have marked, converting the first occurrence of terms in topics, or converting all occurrences.

A glossary XML file in Flare has an .flglo extension and is stored in the Project Organizer under the Glossaries folder.

Text and topic definitions

The definition for a term can be simple text, which you supply at the same time that you create the glossary term. However, you can also create a topic specifically for a definition (with any formatting or elements that you might apply to a regular topic). The term can then be linked to that topic, instead of linking it to a simple text definition.

Steps for creating a glossary

Following are the tasks necessary for creating a glossary and making it accessible to your end users.

Add/open glossary If you do not want to use the initial glossary provided by Flare, you can add one. Otherwise, open the existing glossary from the Project Organizer to work on it. For more, see Adding a Glossary File or Opening a Glossary.
Create glossary terms and definitions After you add a new glossary or open an existing one, you can create glossary terms and definitions. See Creating Glossary Terms and Definitions.
Create topic with glossary proxy If you are generating print-based output, you need to insert a glossary proxy into a topic and make sure that topic has been added to the "outline TOC." See Creating a Topic for a Print Glossary.
Edit glossary You may need to edit the terms or definitions. You also may want to use styles to change look of glossary elements. See Editing Glossaries and Using Styles to Change the Look of a Glossary.
Enable glossary After creating the glossary terms and definitions, you need to enable the glossary in the skin you want to use for the target. This step is necessary only for online output. See Enabling Glossaries in Skins.
Associate skin with target Now that the glossary is enabled in the skin, you need to associate that skin with the target you are building. This step is necessary only for online output. See Associating Skins with Targets.
Associate master glossary with target Finally, you need to associate the glossary with a target. After you build the target, the glossary will be incorporated into the output and terms will be converted to links in individual topics (if you have selected one of the term conversion options in the Target Editor). See Associating Glossaries with Targets.