What is DITA?
The Darwin Information Typing Architecture (DITA) is an XML-based, end-to-end architecture for authoring, producing, and delivering readable information as discrete, typed topics.What is DITA good for?
These terms keep coming up in DITA conversations; what do they mean?
What does a DITA topic look like?
<concept id="simpleconcept">Can DITA topics represent anything more complex?
DITA information types can define a structure as simple or complex as the subject of the description. DITA provides a core concept, reference, and task types but supports defining new types through specialization. Also, DITA topics can be nested to create larger, composite information structures. For instance, the DITA Language Reference in the DITA distribution is a book-length set of individual, specialized topics arranged into a single, book-like structure.Where is a simple example of topic specialization?
In the DITA distribution, look at the concept.dtd and concept.mod files. The mod file specializes the topic body so that a concept body has introductory content followed by any number of subsections or examples.Where is a simple example of domain specialization?
In the DITA distribution, look at the ui-domain.mod and ui-domain.ent files. The mod file specializes general phrases to distinguish the names of UI components such as menus, windows, and so on. These UI elements are available in the same contexts as the phrase elements on which they are based and can continue to be processed as phrases where appropriate. To create special behavior for a UI element (perhaps underlining the <shortcut> element, for example), you would simply define a rule for the UI element in an overriding XSLT script.How do I select and organize topics for a particular deliverable?
You create a map to organize topics into the hierarchy for a help system or website or into a nested sequence for a book. You can also generate navigation hierarchies from the map and generate links that get added to the topics.What does a DITA map look like?
<map title="Getting Started With DITA">What deliverables or publishing channels can DITA support?
The trend in information delivery is to deliver content as closely as possible to the point of use, typically as integrated help systems, web sites, or how-to instruction pages. By evolving and extending the DITA transformations, DITA's topic-oriented content can be used to exploit new features or delivery channels as they become available.How can I get my hands on DITA?
Where can I discuss DITA?