Written by Jacquie Samuels, Writing Wise
Article abstract:
Adopting DITA means you need to make a switch from document or chapter-based writing to topic-based writing. For writers being exposed to DITA for the first time, this shift in thinking and writing tends to be the hardest part of the transition.
At the core of topic-based writing is the DITA task. Master the task and you start mastering DITA content (or any topic-based content). Concepts and references are important too, but once you have mastered the task, everything else just falls into line.
Your DITA task will be the core of your content. The task topic is your primary way of instructing your users and guiding them through their relationship with the product—from setup to advanced configurations, tasks are going to be the most frequently read topics. If you identify the right tasks to document and document those tasks in a usable way, your documentation will be valuable and usable and your user will be happy with their product. Happy users are always good for business.
If you are working with legacy content, knowing the model and purpose of the DITA task will help you during your conversion. If you have content that doesn’t map one-to-one with the elements of a DITA task, then you’ll know that you have some pre-conversion work to do.
