Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) play a crucial role in index formatting within DITA documentation. CSS is a stylesheet language used to define the presentation and layout of web pages, and it is equally important when it comes to formatting DITA indexes. CSS allows you to control the visual appearance of various elements within the index, making it a powerful tool for achieving the desired look and feel of your index entries.

Customizing Index Styles

One of the primary roles of CSS in index formatting is the ability to define custom styles for index elements. This includes specifying fonts, colors, margins, padding, and other visual properties. For example, you can use CSS to make index entries appear in bold, change the text color, or apply italics to subentries. Here’s an example of CSS code that customizes the appearance of index entries:

<style>
  /* Define custom styles for index elements */
  .index-entry {
    font-weight: bold;
    color: #007acc;
  }
  .subentry {
    font-style: italic;
  }
  .page-number {
    color: #999;
  }
</style>

Ensuring Consistency

CSS helps ensure consistency in index formatting across your DITA documentation. By defining styles in a central CSS file, you can apply the same formatting rules to all index entries throughout your documentation set. This consistency is essential for creating a professional and polished look in your indexes, improving the readability and usability of your content.

Example:

Here’s an example of how CSS is used to customize the appearance of index entries in DITA documentation:

<style>
  /* Define custom styles for index elements */
  .index-entry {
    font-weight: bold;
    color: #007acc;
  }
  .subentry {
    font-style: italic;
  }
  .page-number {
    color: #999;
  }
</style>

<!-- Apply custom styles to index entries -->
<div class="index-entry">Documentation</div>
<div class="subentry">DITA