#27076
Adobe Systems Speaks Out on DITA: Internal Use of FrameMaker, CMS, and DITA 
Asks Puny Sen, Project Lead, Instructional Communications at Adobe Systems to talk about the software giant's foray into the world of the Darwin Information Typing Architecture (DITA). Sen shares details about Adobe's recent DITA documentation project, the pro's and con's of using DITA with FrameMaker, as well as lessons learned of importance to anyone interested in adopting the DITA standard.
Ethier, Kay and Scott Abel. Bright Path Solutions (2005). Articles>Documentation>XML>DITA
#30230
Build-to-Order Documents with DITA
It is entirely possible to deliver custom, on-demand documentation that is precisely suited to a user's needs. It can be done today, using web-interface strategies and the right document format. This post shows how such a system could be implemented with the DITA format, and shows why it would be an ideal document-delivery system for programmers.
Armstrong, Eric. Sun Microsystems (2007). Articles>Documentation>XML>DITA
#29635
By organizing information around the goals that users are trying to accomplish, you can provide task-based information that truly addresses user needs. This article walks through the steps for creating more useful information navigation by implementing information development best practices with examples in the Darwin Information Typing Architecture (DITA).
Swope, Amber and Michael Priestley. STC Proceedings (2005). Articles>Documentation>XML>DITA
#27075
Darwin Information Typing Architecture (DITA) 
The purpose of this research note is to introduce the Darwin Information Typing Architecture (DITA) and highlight its relationship to other information architectures like DocBook and Information Mapping.
Namahn (2005). Articles>Documentation>XML>DITA
#29971
Can DITA be used as a Help authoring technology? Superficially, of course it can! The DITA Open Toolkit includes an HTML Help transformer, an Eclipse Help transformer, and an HTML transformer (which can also generate some sort of Table of Contents). So isn't it obvious then? DITA is perfect for Help authoring. Or is it? Looking a bit deeper, it's not so obvious. Can I include context-hooks in my content? Can I specify a popup link? Can I build a modular Help system? If I can't, then DITA is probably not suitable for Help.
Self, Tony. HyperWrite (2007). Articles>Documentation>XML>DITA
#29972
Two of the oft-quoted benefits of DITA, the Darwin Information Typing Architecture, are 'single-sourcing' and 'content re-use'. These benefits do not only apply to the commonly-accepted definition of technical documents, but to many other forms of documents from outside the technical communicator's realm.
Self, Tony. HyperWrite (2007). Articles>Documentation>XML>DITA
#28230
Writing, compiling, and maintaining documentation is a necessary evil. While moving to DITA might not improve the quality of your documentation, it can streamline the process of creating and managing those documents.
Nesbitt, Scott. InformIT (2006). Articles>Documentation>XML>DITA
#31108
Musings on Structured, Topic-Oriented Authoring
A blog post that presents a few thoughts on using technologies like DITA to author documentation.
DMN Communications (2008). Articles>Documentation>XML>DITA
#27640
An XML Architecture for Technical Documentation: The Darwin Information Typing Architecture
DITA is an architecture for creating topic-oriented, information-typed content that can be reused and single-sourced in a variety of ways. It is also an architecture for creating new information types and describing new information domains, allowing groups to create very specific, targeted document type definitions using a process called specialization, while at the same time reusing common output transforms and design rules. We discuss several methods that can be used to extend DITA's basic topic types.
Day, Don, Erik Hennum, John Hunt, Michael Priestley, David Schell and Nancy Harrison. WritersUA (2004). Articles>Documentation>XML>DITA
#32083
The Steepest Part of the Learning Curve is Right at the Start
Microsoft has a lot of information on their sites about these products. Unfortunately, I can never find it. I usually only know it’s there when I stumble on it months after I really needed to know it. The steepest part of the learning curve is at the start. Likewise with another program I use occasionally—DITA. DITA is an xml schema used for writing documentation.
Technical Writer (2008). Articles>Documentation>XML>DITA
#32227
In the past few years, we have implemented both DITA-based and custom XML solutions for our customers. Given the right set of circumstances, DITA provides an excellent foundation for structured content. But I seem to be in significant disagreement with DITA advocates about how often the "right set of circumstances" is present.
O'Keefe, Sarah S. Carolina Communique (2008). Articles>Documentation>XML>DITA
#33183
You’ve read all the papers on ROI for XML and you get it. You’ve already concluded that moving to DITA will save you tons of time and money. But management says prove it. This paper helps you determine the cost portion of the ROI calculation. What are my costs now? What will my new costs be with DITA? And what is the difference—my savings? This white paper is the first in the DITA Metrics series. The series will discuss cost metrics, reuse metrics, and a reuse strategy. This paper describes one model for calculating the cost of a DITA project. After doing some content analysis on your own documentation, you can customize this cost model to suit your documentation project. In the end, you should be able to speak the financial language of managers and prove to them in dollar signs the value of moving to DITA.
Lewis, Mark A. Content Wrangler, The (2008). Articles>Documentation>XML>DITA
#33729
Using DITA XML for Instructional Documentation
Why DITA XML? Open standard and built-in with OpenTopic. Very specific schema. Helps clarify documentation.
Thomas, Andrew. Adobe (2005). Articles>Documentation>XML>DITA
#33730
An XML Architecture for Technical Documentation: The Darwin Information Typing Architecture (DITA)
DITA is an architecture for creating topic-oriented, information-typed content that can be reused and single-sourced in a variety of ways. It is also an architecture for creating new information types and describing new information domains, allowing groups to create very specific, targeted document type definitions using a process called specialization, while at the same time reusing common output transforms and design rules. We discuss several methods that can be used to extend DITA's basic topic types.
Day, Don, Erik Hennum, John Hunt, Michael Priestley, David Schell and Nancy Harrison. WritersUA (2004). Articles>Documentation>XML>DITA
#34273
Using DITA for Publishing Documentation in Eclipse Help Format
This article discusses main challenges that documentation team faces when it decides to use DITA as a source format for Eclipse Help documentation. It also explains how DITAworks documentation tool plans to address these challenges.
DITAworks (2009). Articles>Documentation>XML>DITA
#34491
DITA Open Toolkit Customization
This paper outlines a course given by Adena Frazier of Suite Solutions--a course which is highly recommended for anyone who wants to get the most of the OT. This paper outlines the most important processes, but it leaves out many of the details, tips, and debugging notes that were included in the course. Note, too, that errors easily could have crept in, and some details are bound to change for later versions of the toolkit. (We used version 1.4.1) So it makes a lot of sense to take the course, even if you find the outline useful.
Sun Microsystems (2008). Articles>Documentation>XML>DITA
#35043
Ten DITA Lessons Learned from Tech Writers in the Trenches
This top ten list is based on interviews conducted by TheContentWrangler.com with technical writers at more than 20 software companies—tech writers that are actually using DITA to create documentation today.
Content Wrangler, The (2006). Articles>Documentation>XML>DITA
#35225
Use Cases for User Assistance Writers
Perhaps the true measure of a good idea is its persistence, even though folks are slow to pick up on it. SGML is a good example. It seemed like a great idea, but for a long time, had trouble getting traction in the general tool space. Then it started showing up at technical communication conferences wearing a name badge that said, “Hi, my name is DITA,” and suddenly, it’s a hit!
Hughes, Michael A. UXmatters (2009). Articles>Documentation>XML>DITA
