Going DITA

It’s hard to go to a content management or publishing technology conference these days without there being a presentation on DITA — the Darwinian Information Typing Architecture. For the uninitiated, DITA is an XML architecture for authoring and publishing topic-based content, typically technical documentation. The brainchild of IBM, where it is used internally for many documentation projects, DITA is now an open-source standard under the aegis of OASIS.

Hondros, Constantine. O'Reilly and Associates (2005). Articles>Information Design>XML>DITA

Frequently Asked Questions about the Darwin Information Typing Architecture (DITA)

DITA supports the proper construction of specialized DTDs from any higher-level DTD or schema. The base DTD is ditabase DTD, which contains an archetype topic structure and three additional peer topics that are typed specializations from the basic topic: concept, task, and reftopic. The principles of specialization and inheritance resemble the principle of variation in species proposed by Charles Darwin. So the name reminds us of the key extensibility mechanism inherent in the architecture.

Day, Don, Michael Priestley and Gretchen Hargis. IBM (2005). Articles>Information Design>XML>DITA

The Most Important Questions About DITA

DITA (Darwin Information Typing Architecture) is an XML-based information architecture. DITA doesn’t reinvent the wheel – rather, it sets standards for known structuring requirements. One very attractive aspect of this architecture is its clear alignment to a structuring method that has proved itself for years in online documentation. The basis of this method is the division of the content into modules called TOPICS. Today, this structuring method is considered the ideal approach for the organisation of comprehensive contents. As with everything new, there are many questions about DITA.

Closs, Sissi. Content Manager (2007). Articles>Information Design>XML>DITA

Lovely DITA, Meta Maid, Ready-made Metadata

Since adaptation and reuse are core ideas of DITA (Darwin Information Typing Architecture), perhaps we'll be forgiven if we adapt and reuse old Beatles standards to explain the newest XML standards (hey, maybe it's the only way to make XML sound catchy). DITA is an IBM gift to the technical documentation community that was approved as a standard this spring by OASIS (Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards), the hosts for many XML interchange standards such as ebXML. Ever since, tech writers have been buzzing about an easier way to get into structured topic-based writing with DITA XML and asking XML Editor vendors to add support for DITA.

Doyle, Bob. EContent (2005). Articles>Information Design>XML>DITA

All About Output from DITA Maps

Using Adobe FrameMaker 9, one can save a DITA Map in various formats depending on one’s requirements. It could be intermediary output, like – FrameMaker Book/Document; or it can be final output, like – Print/PDF.

Adobe (2009). Articles>Information Design>XML>DITA

How to Customize the DITA Open Toolkit PDF Plugin Output to Remove "on page xx" Text for Cross References

This tutorial uses the DITA Open Toolkit 1.4.2.1 and the corresponding PDF plugin release, and Wrycan's demo text. This assumes you have a working DITA environment and can run the default formatting with PDF plugin.

Blogspot (2009). Articles>Information Design>XML>DITA

Linking and Relationship Tables  

Inline links and citations can be disruptive to the flow of information. Try to delete them because a topic is a discrete unit of information that is meaningful when it is displayed alone.

Henry, Carolyn. Silicon Valley DITA User's Group (2005). Articles>Information Design>XML>DITA

DITA Linking and Relationship Tables

Overview of best practices for using ditamaps and relationship tables to manage linking.

Stark, Scott. DITA Users (2007). Articles>Information Design>XML>DITA

Improving Relationships in Relationship Tables

While topic relationships can be stored in the topics themselves, as products evolve and user interfaces change, a topic that was required for release 1.0 of a product may no longer be needed in release 2.3. If related topics are maintained at the topic level, removing a topic that is no longer part of the system may involve modifying the related topics of a dozen different DITA files.

Binder, Zachary. XML.org (2008). Articles>Information Design>XML>DITA

DITA Keyref Example: Links from Glossary Entries

Because keyref is so important and because it also has inherent, unavoidable complexity, I will be posting short examples of how keyref can be used to solve specific business problems. This is the first in an occasional series of such examples. This example shows one particular application of the keyref feature to a real-world problem faced by one of Really Strategies' clients.

Really Strategies Blog (2009). Articles>Information Design>XML>DITA

Design Patterns for Information Architecture with DITA Map Domains

The Darwin Information Typing Architecture (DITA) provides maps for assembling topics into deliverables. By specializing the map elements, you can define a formal information architecture for your deliverables. This architecture provides guidance to authors on how to organize topics and lets processes recognize your organizing principles, resulting in a consistent, clear experience for your users.

Hennum, Erik, Don Day, John Hunt and Dave Schell. IBM (2005). Articles>Information Design>XML>DITA

DITA for the Impatient

By reading this short tutorial, you'll get acquainted with the DITA 1.1 markup and after that, you'll be able to author your first DITA document right away. This short tutorial will not discuss the DITA ``philosophy'' or the advantages of the DITA vocabulary over other XML vocabularies (e.g. DocBook).

Shafie, Hussein. XMLmind (2009). Articles>Information Design>XML>DITA