Choosing an XML Schema: DocBook or DITA?

If you follow the latest trends or have been to a conference recently, you may find the idea of choosing an XML schema puzzling. Isn't the question really, 'How should I customize DITA to do what I want'? While there are many good reasons to choose DITA, it's not the only schema in town.

Hamilton, Richard. Content Wrangler, The (2008). Articles>Information Design>DocBook>DITA

Seven Tips for Living with Technology

After living through more than a few technology acquisitions, variously as perpetrator, victim, and bystander, I’ve come across a few tips that can make the process a little easier.

Hamilton, Richard. Content Wrangler, The (2008). Articles>Technology>Assessment

Content Reuse: Is It Harmful?

For a number of years it has been a matter of faith that the more content a technical documentation team reuses, the more efficient they are presumed to be. But, are you really more efficient? Let’s take a deeper look.

Hamilton, Richard. Content Wrangler, The (2008). Articles>Content Management

Does DITA Make You Dumb?

There are at least two broad categories of technology that managers often confuse. The first is technology that replaces a particular skill. For example, the cash register at a McDonalds has technology that relieves cashiers from doing math, so they can hire people who are not skilled in math. The second is technology that allows a skilled practitioner to be more productive. For example, the computer makes it possible to write and edit text much more easily than a typewriter, but it won’t make a bad writer better.

Hamilton, Richard. Managing Writers (2009). Articles>Management>Technical Writing>DITA