# Index Files

Each subdirectory has an index file which contains information about the slides it contains. The index file is automatically created for each subdirectory, if it doesn't already exist. An index file is an HTML file which has the name "index.htm".

Index files contain an automatically generated list of links to the following types of items:

- Slide files for images in the current directory
- Other HTML files in the current directory
- Subdirectories off the current directory
- Cross referenced files or subdirectories listed in `symlinks.txt`

## Static Information

Whenever a new index is created, the old index file (if one exists) is overwritten. This happens each time the contents of the index changes. Some information is preserved from the old index, and this information is known as static information.

Index files contain the following static information:

- Title
- Description
- Keyword list
- Sort order
- Heading text
- Body attributes

When an index is first generated (no previous index file exists), the Title is automatically set to the name of the directory that contains the index. If the directory name is all upper-case, all characters except the first are converted to lower-case. All other fields are initially blank, and a heading is automatically generated for the index.

The Title, Description, Keyword list, and Sort order can be modified using one of the utilities that are provided to edit index information easily. The easiest way to modify this information is to right-click on the index file from Windows Explorer and then select "HTML File Info" from the context menu.

Heading text can be manually added to the index file to replace the automatically generated heading. The text will appear before the list of links in the index.

Body attributes which are specified in the HTML `<BODY>` tag may be manually modified to specify background and text attributes. The file names "backgnd.gif" and "backgnd.jpg" have been reserved for use as background image names, and will not appear as slides in the index.

### Adding Heading Text to Index Files

Each index file can have one and only one block of text, which will appear above the list of links when it is viewed. If this text exists, it will be used instead of the automatically generated heading when the index is updated. The text may contain any number of lines. The text block should be added immediately after the first `</CENTER>` tag in the file.

To add a block of formatted text which may contain HTML format tags, use the following format:

       <!-- BEGIN HEADING -->
          Insert your text here
       <!-- END HEADING -->

The file names "index.gif" and "index.jpg" have been reserved for use as header text image names, and will not appear as slides in the index.

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