Hi Tony!

And primary UA, IMHO, is most critical. :)

In the Information Management division of the IBM Software Group, we've got a couple of pilots focused on more effective and efficiently authored, DITA-based UI content -- both primary UA, as you've defined it, and some portion of the secondary UI, as you've definied it (like tool tips). We're working on processes, tooling, infrastructure, and DITA markup to enable our writers to create this type of content, typically "owned" by development in string files, etc., as part of the overall information set. The goal is to enable our writers to own the content without placing additional burden on development to "build" it into the product. We're working primarily with Web interfaces, at the moment, but much of what we're doing could be ported to any UI platform.

Obviously, all of this is being developed keeping in mind IBM's current tooling, infrastructure, etc., but we are trying to "do the right thing" and make what we're doing generalize-able to the broader community once we've got something useful nailed down.

--Andrea Ames
Information Experience Strategist/Architect
IBM SWG Information Management