The Darwin Information Typing Architecture (DITA) is an XML-based architecture for authoring, producing, and delivering technical information. DITA divides content into small, self-contained topics that can be reused in different deliverables. The extensibility of DITA permits organizations to define specific information structures and still use standard tools to work with them. DITA is often compared against DocBook, a similar XML schema.
#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
#30231
Building a Bridge: DITA, DocBook, and ODF
Some folks here are taking a very strong look at DITA. I'm certainly one of them. But we also have a huge legacy of documents in Solbook format (Sun's subset of DocBook). There are tools for editing such documents, and tools for processing them. and there are many people who are comfortable with those tools. So DITA isn't going to replace the world, just yet. But DITA makes extensive reuse possible. It's a format with a serious future, because "reuse" is a very big deal. It lets you single-source your information content so have one place to make an edit. That sort of thing becomes important when you have multiple revisions of a product, and/or multiple variations. It becomes important when different tools and different products use the same information in different ways. It can drastically improve quality, ensure uniformity of presentation. Finally, structured formats like DITA and DocBook create the kind of consistently-tagged information that allows for useful automation.
Armstrong, Eric. Sun Microsystems (2007). Articles>Information Design>XML>DITA
#31703
Calculating the Financial Impact of DITA for Translation
Success in a global marketplace requires translating content into multiple languages. Moving to a topic-based XML architecture, such as the Darwin Information Typing Architecture (DITA), can help you control the translation process and save money.
Swope, Amber. Writing Assistance (2007). Articles>Content Management>Translation>DITA
#31156
DocBook and DITA both have their places. They're both excellent for single sourcing. DocBook is better for what I call monolithic single sourcing, while DITA is better suited for discrete single sourcing.
Nesbitt, Scott. DMN Communications (2008). Articles>Information Design>DocBook>DITA
#31157
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
#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
#27374
Darwin Information Typing Architecture
Darwin Information Typing Architecture (DITA) is an XML-based architecture for authoring, producing, and delivering technical information. The architecture and a related DTD and a W3C-Schema was developed by IBM.
#27001
Darwin Information Typing Architecture (DITA XML)
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 based on existing types and domains. This allows groups to create very specific, targeted document type definitions using a process called specialization, while still sharing common output transforms and design rules developed for more general types and domains.
Cover Pages (2005). Articles>Information Design>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
#31649
The Darwin Information Typing Architecture (DITA): Applications for Globalization 
Translation of documentation has traditionally been a major expense in the globalization process, especially if translations are required for multiple languages. The Darwin Information Typing Architecture (DITA) is an XML-based architecture for creating topic-based and information-typed content. It provides a number of features that, in addition to supporting high-quality information delivery, allows for more efficient and reliable localization of information. This article provides both an introduction to DITA and a discussion of DITA features that enhance document globalization.
Harrison, Nancy. IEEE PCS (2005). Articles>Documentation>Localization>DITA
#31158
A Day at the DITA CIDM Conference
I went to the Content Management Strategies/DITA North America 2008 conference (put on by CIDM), which took place in Santa Clara last week. While I went to support our co-founder's speech on DocBook versus DITA, I also used this opportunity to catch up with software vendors and single-source users. Here's my top #10 take-away list.
Talbot, Fabrice. LiveTechDocs (2008). Articles>Information Design>XML>DITA
#27456
This presentation addresses a low-effort-required solution for users looking to take a step into XML for their technical documentation. The Darwin Information Typing Architecture (DITA) and its associated public toolkit provide you with the DTDs, stylesheets and other tools you require to make your steps into XML.
Kravogel, Christian and Boris Horner. IDEAlliance (2005). Articles>Document Design>XML>DITA
#31124
I have seen a couple of blog postings lately that underscore the statement that DITA is not for everyone or for every situation.
Rockley Group, The (2008). Articles>Information Design>XML>DITA
#29287
If you line DocBook and DITA up, I think DITA can point to four technical differences that are arguably features in its favor.
Walsh, Norman. DITA for DocBook. Articles>Information Design>DocBook>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
#31754
A searchable knowledge base of specifications for DITA users.
#31749
Single sourcing is good, I’m sure most of us can agree on that, but I’ve recently been wondering if perhaps DITA isn’t quite good enough?
McLean, Gordon. One Man Writes (2007). Articles>Content Management>XML>DITA
#27048
The DITA Knowledge Base pages provide a reliable basis of technical and educational information on the standard.
XML.org (2006). Resources>Information Design>XML>DITA
#29285
#31752
You will better understand how DITA can support your organization and how it can scale to meet your enterprise content needs by first understanding the basics of DITA standardization.
Priestley, Michael and Amber Swope. Just Systems (2008). Articles>Information Design>XML>DITA
#29286
The DITA Open Toolkit is an implementation of the OASIS DITA Technical Committee's specification for Darwin Information Typing Architecture (DITA) DTDs and Schemas. The Toolkit transforms DITA content (maps and topics) into deliverable formats.
Sourceforge (2007). Resources>Software>XML>DITA
#31755
This area provides access to my DITA specialization tutorial and other DITA specialization-related information and materials.
#29391
DITA Users is a membership organization that includes: individuals learning DITA; organizations moving to single-source authoring and multi-channel publishing; vendors of XML Editors and XML Content Management Systems.
#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
