The most basic type of index you can create is a simple listing of all the posts in your blog, as shown in the sample index below. To do the same for your blog, just follow these few instructions and you will be done in no time:
- Login to your blog and go to the Tools » AZIndex settings page. This is where a list of your indexes will appear, but it will be blank, for now. (Note: for versions older than WordPress 2.7, the settings page can be found under Manage » AZIndex)
- Click the (add new) link and you will be taken to the Add Index page where you specify the settings for your first index.
- Enter the name of your index in the Index name text box.
- And that’s it! Ignore all the other options for now, we’ll get back to those later. Scroll to the bottom of the page and click the Add Index button. You have just created your first index.
Now, you’re probably wondering how to find this brand-spanking new index. Well, when you add an index, the plugin creates a new blog page with same name as you gave the index. Click on the Pages link and you will see a new, unpublished page with that name as its title in the list of pages. Click on the title to edit it, and all you’ll find in the page is something like this:
[az-index id="1"]
The string of characters inside the square brackets is called a WordPress shortcode and tells AZIndex to insert the index into the page at this point. Notice that the id is “1” — this matches the id of the index you created. If you like, you can copy this shortcode into any other page or post in your blog and the same index will show up there too, even if you have deleted the original page created by the plugin.
You can also add your own content to the page, before or after the index shortcode (just like I did on the page you are reading), and to see the finished article, click the Preview button and take a look. When you are satisfied with the results, simply publish the page and you will have an alphabetical index of your blog posts for your readers to enjoy.
Once your index is up and running, it will look after itself. The plugin will update the contents of the index whenever you add new posts, delete old ones, or even rename a post title. AZIndex also works with the caching plugin, WP Super Cache, so your index pages should never be out-of-date.
Now, of course, this basic index is pretty bland and basic, but the rest of examples in this section show you how the various options in the index’s settings page can liven things up a bit, as well as making the index easier to use.
- "The Dante Club" by "Matthew Pearl"
- 1,000 Places to See Before You Die: A Traveler's Life List by Patricia Schultz
- 3rd Degree by James Patterson, Andrew Gross
- A Child Called It by Dave Pelzer
- A Series of Unfortunate Events No..10: The Slippery Slope by Lemony Snicket
- A Series of Unfortunate Events No..11: The Grim Grotto by Lemony Snicket
- A Series of Unfortunate Events No..1: The Bad Beginning by Lemony Snicket
- Against All Enemies: Inside America's War on Terror by Richard A. Clark
- America (The Book): A Citizen's Guide to Democracy Inaction by Jon Stewart
- American Soldier by Tommy R. Franks
- Angels & Demons by Dan Brown
- Angry Housewives Eating Bon Bons by Lorna Landvik
- Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy; translated by Richard Pevear, Larissa Volokhonsky
- Big Russ & Me by Tim Russert
- Birthright by Nora Roberts
- Bleachers by John Grisham
- Blindside by Catherine Coulter
- Blow Fly by Patricia Cornwell
- Blue Dahlia by Nora Roberts
- Bringing Down the House by Ben Mezrich
- Chesapeake Blue by Nora Roberts
- Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier
- Dark Horse by Tami Hoag
- Deception Point by Dan Brown
- Deliver Us From Evil by Sean Hannity
- Digital Fortress by Dan Brown
- Dr. Atkins' New Carbohydrate Gram Counter by Robert C. Atkins
- Dr. Atkins' New Diet Revolution by Robert C. Atkins
- Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim by David Sedaris
- Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation by Lynne Truss
- Eragon: Inheritance, Book 1 by Christopher Paolini
- Family First by Phillip C. McGraw
- Glorious Appearing by Tim Lahaye & Jerry B. Jenkins
- Good to Great by Jim Collins
- Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J.K. Rowling
- Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J.K. Rowling
- He's Just Not That Into You: The No-Excuses Truth to Understanding Guys by Greg Behrendt, Liz Tuccillo
- Hello, Darkness by Sandra Brown
- Key of Valor by Nora Roberts
- Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right by Al Franken
- Life of Pi by Yann Martel
- Magic Tree House #31: Summer of the Sea Serpent by Mary Pope Osborne, art by Sal Murdocca
- Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides
- My Life by Bill Clinton
- One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Merquez
- Plan of Attack by Bob Woodward
- Reading Lolita in Tehran by Azar Nafisi
- Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert T. Kiyosaki with Sharon L. Lechter
- Running With Scissors by Augusten Burroughs
- Sam's Letters to Jennifer by James Patterson
- Skinny Dip by Carl Hiaasen
- Skipping Christmas by John Grisham
- Split Second by David Baldacci
- Ten Big Ones by Janet Evanovich
- The 9/11 Commission Report by National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States
- The Atkins Essentials by Atkins Health & Medical Information Services
- The Automatic Millionaire by David Bach
- The Big Bad Wolf by James Patterson
- The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
- The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon
- The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown
- The Dark Tower VI: Song of Susannah by Stephen King
- The Dark Tower VII: The Dark Tower by Stephen King
- The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair That Changed America by Erik Larson
- The Devil Wears Prada by Lauren Weisberger
- The Face by Dean Koontz
- The Five People You Meet in Heaven: A Novel by Mitch Albom
- The Guardian by Nicholas Sparks
- The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers
- The King of Torts by John Grisham
- The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
- The Last Juror by John Grisham
- The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold
- The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith
- The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks
- The Polar Express by Chris Van Allsburg
- The Power of Intention by Wayne W. Dyer
- The Price of Loyalty: George W. Bush, the White House, and the Education of Paul O'Neill by Ron Suskind
- The Proper Care and Feeding of Husbands by Laura Schlessinger
- The Purpose-Driven Life by Rick Warren
- The Rule of Four by Ian Caldwell & Dustin Thomason
- The Second Time Around by Mary Higgins Clark
- The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd
- The Sexy Years by Suzanne Somers
- The South Beach Diet by Arthur Agatston
- The South Beach Diet Cookbook by Arthur Agatston
- The South Beach Diet Good Fats Good Carbs Guide by Arthur Agatston
- The Teeth of the Tiger by Tom Clancy
- The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
- The Ultimate Weight Solution by Phillip C. McGraw
- The Ultimate Weight Solution Food Guide by Phillip C. McGraw
- The Wedding by Nicholas Sparks
- To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
- Trace by Patricia Cornwell
- Tuesdays With Morrie by Mitch Albom
- Unfit for Command by John E. O'Neill, Jerome R. Corsi
- What to Expect When You're Expecting by Heidi Murkoff & Arlene Eisenberg & Sandee Hathaway
- Who Moved My Cheese? by Spencer Johnson
- Wicked by Gregory Maguire
- Your Best Life Now by Joel Osteen