LearnPress Publication Guide » Publishing how-to

1.8 Glossary terms

LearnPress version: 1.5

Last modified: 20 May 2008

About glossary terms

Glossary terms, like page notes, are not entered directly in a page record. Each term is stored in its own term record and then linked to an edition. Glossary terms must be linked to an edition and can not be linked to an individual page. This functionality allows different glossary terms to be linked to a particular page depending on the edition in which it appears.

When a term is linked to an edition, LearnPress displays the term as a hyperlink. Clicking on a term takes the user to that term in the complete glossary for that edition. Only the first instance of a term is displayed as a hyperlink on any page of an edition.

If the edition template includes glossary.js and makeDefinitionLinks() is run onload, mousing over the term in a page causes the definition to appear for as long as the mouse hovers over the term. This is standard in LearnPress templates.

Creating, linking, and editing glossary terms

To create a glossary term

1. First, search the glossary for the term you wish to create. It may already exist. If not…
2. Go to the Terms section of the page editing form and click Create.
3. Enter the term and select the appropriate part of speech.
4. If the term appears in a different form in the edition to which you intend to link it, enter the variant forms in the Aliases field, one per line. For example:
   • If “jump” and “jumping” both appear in the edition and you wish to define them, make a definition for “jump” and make “jumping” an alias.
   • If an obsolete or historical spelling of a term you wish to define appears in an edition, create the term using the correct, modern spelling, and make the variant an alias.
5. Enter the definition in the definition field.
6. Select the appropriate term status. In most cases it will be “shared,” to facilitate the use of the term in other editions.

To link a glossary term to an edition

1. Make sure the default project is set to the correct edition. In the Terms section of the page editing form, click Link to edition
2. You will see a list of terms already linked to the edition. Click Find terms.
3. Find the desired term using the helpful alphabet bar and click Link.

Editing glossary terms

To edit an existing glossary term, click Manage in the Terms section of the page editing form. Be aware that the term you wish to edit may be linked to another or several other editions, so edit carefully. In general, if a term already exists with a definition you’d like to alter significantly, it may be best to create another entry for it.

Foreign terms

Vocabulary for language instruction

When term records are used to create vocabulary terms for second language instruction, follow these conventions:

• Use the second-language word or phrase as the term.
• List any alternate representation as the alias.
• If a transliteration is provided, put it in the pronunciation field.
• English meaning is the definition.
• Be sure to set language and, if appropriate, character type accordingly.

Mandarin Chinese

For Mandarin Chinese, the term should be the simplified character or characters, and the alias should be the traditional character or characters. Pinyin goes in the pronunciation field. Do not include more than one alias!