Diff for DITA 101

Thu, 2006-10-12 21:19 by Don DayWed, 2007-11-28 09:43 by Bruce Esrig

This article will kick off the general background to the Darwin Information Typing Architecture, or DITA (commonly pronunced dit'-uh).Topics to write:

  • History
  • FAQs and Fact Sheet
  • General References
  • Why DITA
  • How to Adopt DITA
  • Open Source Toolkit
  • Tutorial Articles
HTML names in DITA One of the express design decisions for DITA was to include a common subset of HTML to allow authoring with familiar structures and to facilitate copy/paste of content from well-formed html into the topic family of DTDs. Although full compatibility was not possible due to content model differences, those DITA elements with HTML names have the same semantics. These HTML-based names are:
  • Core: p, dl, ul, ol, pre, cite, object, and img (now image in DITA)
  • Highlighting domain: b, u, i, tt, sup, and sub
  • Software domain: var, kwd, and code (now codeph in DITA)
  • Utilities domain: imagemap (which has shape, area, coords)

Tags: Tutorial, Introduction, Structured authoring, Reuse, Publishing pipeline
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<p><font size="-0"><font size="2">The <a href="http://www.oasis-open.org/specs/index.php#ditav1.0">DITA OASIS Standard</a> defines an XML architecture for designing, writing, managing, and publishing technical documentation in print and on the Web. DITA (commonly pronunced dit'-uh) builds content reuse into the authoring process for document creation and management. <br /></font></font></p>
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<p><font size="2" color="#6699cc"><strong>Topic-Based Authoring<br /></strong></font><br />Focusing on a common topic model as a conceptual unit of authoring, DITA provides a core set of topic types derived from concept, task, and reference. DITA defines a specialization mechanism for extending markup to represent either new topic types or new domains of markup common across sets of topic types. DITA maps can combine topics into various kinds of deliverables. Content can be shared among maps or topics. Class-based processing ensures new specializations can be supported with existing tools, speeding the testing and adoption of new designs.<font size="2"><br /><br /></font>With DITA, all content is inherently reusable. That's because DITA's strength lies in a unified content reuse mechanism that enables an element to replace itself with the content of a like element, either in the current topic or in a separate topic that shares the same content models. </p>
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<p><font color="#6699cc"><strong>Supporting Multiple Deliverables and Publishing Channels<br /></strong></font><br />DITA enables organizations to deliver content as closely as possible to the point-of-use, making it ideal for applications such as integrated help systems, web sites, and how-to instruction pages. DITA's topic-oriented content can be used to exploit new features or delivery channels as they become available.</p>
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<span><span style="font-size: x-small">The <a href="http://www.oasis-open.org/specs/index.php#ditav1.0">DITA OASIS Standard</a> defines an XML architecture for designing, writing, managing, and publishing technical documentation in print and on the Web. DITA (commonly pronunced dit'-uh) builds content reuse into the authoring process for document creation and management. <br />
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<p>DITA enables highly automatable processes, consistent authoring, and enhanced applicability to specific industries. Content owners benefit from industry support, interoperability, and reuse of community contributions. At the same time, content owners address the specific needs of their business or industry.</p>
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<p><font color="#6699cc"><strong>Benefits<br /></strong></font><br />DITA can be used to...</p>
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<span style="font-size: x-small; color: #6699cc"><strong>Topic-Based Authoring<br />
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Focusing on a common topic model as a conceptual unit of authoring, DITA provides a core set of topic types derived from concept, task, and reference. DITA defines a specialization mechanism for extending markup to represent either new topic types or new domains of markup common across sets of topic types. DITA maps can combine topics into various kinds of deliverables. Content can be shared among maps or topics. Class-based processing ensures new specializations can be supported with existing tools, speeding the testing and adoption of new designs.<span style="font-size: x-small"><br />
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</span>With DITA, all content is inherently reusable. That's because DITA's strength lies in a unified content reuse mechanism that enables an element to replace itself with the content of a like element, either in the current topic or in a separate topic that shares the same content models.
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<span style="color: #6699cc"><strong>Supporting Multiple Deliverables and Publishing Channels<br />
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DITA enables organizations to deliver content as closely as possible to the point-of-use, making it ideal for applications such as integrated help systems, web sites, and how-to instruction pages. DITA's topic-oriented content can be used to exploit new features or delivery channels as they become available.
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DITA enables highly automatable processes, consistent authoring, and enhanced applicability to specific industries. Content owners benefit from industry support, interoperability, and reuse of community contributions. At the same time, content owners address the specific needs of their business or industry.
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DITA can be used to...
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<li>Enable effective information management </li>
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<li>Improve information authoring models </li>
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<li>Reuse content in different combinations for a variety of deliverables </li>
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<li>Reuse content in different combinations for a variety of deliverables </li>
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<li>Create online information systems, such as User Assistance (help) and learning modules (training) </li>
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<li>Create online information systems, such as User Assistance (help) and learning modules (training) </li>
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<li>Design minimalist books for easier authoring and use </li>
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<li>Design minimalist books for easier authoring and use </li>
 
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<p><font color="#6699cc"><strong>Get Involved<br /></strong></font><br />DITA is advanced by the <a href="http://www.oasis-open.org/committees/tc_home.php?wg_abbrev=dita">OASIS DITA Technical Committee</a>. Its&nbsp;members include representatives of:</p>
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<span style="color: #6699cc"><strong>Get Involved<br />
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DITA is advanced by the <a href="http://www.oasis-open.org/committees/tc_home.php?wg_abbrev=dita">OASIS DITA Technical Committee</a>. Its members include representatives of:
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<li><a href="http://www.adobe.com">Adobe</a> </li>
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<li><a href="http://www.innodata-isogen.com/">Innodata Isogen</a> </li>
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<p>...and other XML tools vendors, consultants on Information Architecture and Content Management Systems (CMS), and users. </p>
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...and other XML tools vendors, consultants on Information Architecture and Content Management Systems (CMS), and users.
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<p>Participation remains open to all organizations and individuals. A wide variety of membership levels and rates are offered to ensure all those who are affected by DITA have a voice in its development. See <a href="http://www.oasis-open.org/join/">Join OASIS</a> or contact <a href="mailto:member.services@oasis-open.org">member.services@oasis-open.org</a> for details.<br /></p>
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Participation remains open to all organizations and individuals. A wide variety of membership levels and rates are offered to ensure all those who are affected by DITA have a voice in its development. See <a href="http://www.oasis-open.org/join/">Join OASIS</a> or contact <a href="mailto:member.services@oasis-open.org">member.services@oasis-open.org</a> for details.
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Revision of Wed, 2007-11-28 09:43:

DITA 101

The DITA OASIS Standard defines an XML architecture for designing, writing, managing, and publishing technical documentation in print and on the Web. DITA (commonly pronunced dit'-uh) builds content reuse into the authoring process for document creation and management.

Topic-Based Authoring

Focusing on a common topic model as a conceptual unit of authoring, DITA provides a core set of topic types derived from concept, task, and reference. DITA defines a specialization mechanism for extending markup to represent either new topic types or new domains of markup common across sets of topic types. DITA maps can combine topics into various kinds of deliverables. Content can be shared among maps or topics. Class-based processing ensures new specializations can be supported with existing tools, speeding the testing and adoption of new designs.

With DITA, all content is inherently reusable. That's because DITA's strength lies in a unified content reuse mechanism that enables an element to replace itself with the content of a like element, either in the current topic or in a separate topic that shares the same content models.

Supporting Multiple Deliverables and Publishing Channels

DITA enables organizations to deliver content as closely as possible to the point-of-use, making it ideal for applications such as integrated help systems, web sites, and how-to instruction pages. DITA's topic-oriented content can be used to exploit new features or delivery channels as they become available.

DITA enables highly automatable processes, consistent authoring, and enhanced applicability to specific industries. Content owners benefit from industry support, interoperability, and reuse of community contributions. At the same time, content owners address the specific needs of their business or industry.

Benefits

DITA can be used to...

  • Enable effective information management
  • Improve information authoring models
  • Reuse content in different combinations for a variety of deliverables
  • Create online information systems, such as User Assistance (help) and learning modules (training)
  • Design minimalist books for easier authoring and use

Get Involved

DITA is advanced by the OASIS DITA Technical Committee. Its members include representatives of:

...and other XML tools vendors, consultants on Information Architecture and Content Management Systems (CMS), and users.

Participation remains open to all organizations and individuals. A wide variety of membership levels and rates are offered to ensure all those who are affected by DITA have a voice in its development. See Join OASIS or contact member.services@oasis-open.org for details.

 

‹ About DITAup
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