Describing Document Structure, Part 2  

Discusses some different ways of describing your document structure so that both computers and humans know what you mean.

Tyson, Paul H. Intercom (2003). Design>Information Design>XML>Metadata

Designing a New Schema with XML Design Patterns

Proposes the design of an XML-based type library format. If you've had exposure to Microsoft COM or Mozilla's XPCOM, you're probably familiar with their binary TLB (MS) and XDT (Mozilla) formats that define the available operations and interfaces for a package of portable components. An interpreted language such as JavaScript can use these definitions as cheat sheets to find out what operations and parameters are available to call on-the-fly.

Downey, Kyle. XML.com (2003). Articles>Information Design>XML>Metadata

Designing Your Own XML Schema: Learn the Essentials

This is the first article in a series which guides you in designing XML Schemas right from the basics without any hurdles.

Chaterjee, Jagadish. Dev Articles (2006). Articles>Information Design>Databases>XML

Displaying ADO Retrieved Data with XML Islands

An XML data island is a piece of well-formed XML embedded into an HTML file. This article will show you how to retrieve data in an XML format from a database using ADO; you will also learn how to bind this data into an HTML document.

Krishnaswamy, Jayaram. Dev Articles (2006). Articles>Information Design>XML>XHTML

DITA Backlash?

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

DITA Knowledge Base

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

DITA Maps

DITA maps are documents that collect and organize references to DITA topics to indicate the relationships among the topics. They can also serve as outlines or tables of contents for DITA deliverables and as build manifests for DITA projects.

OASIS. Resources>Information Design>XML>DITA

DITA--A Standard for TD?  

The abbreviation DITA stands for 'Darwin Information Typing Architecture', an information architecture based on XML. DITA is not a mere reinvention of the wheel: rather, it sets the standards for known structuring requirements. The most striking feature of this architecture is the clear orientation towards a technology for structuring, which has already proved its worth in online documentation.

Closs, Sissi. tekom (2006). Articles>Information Design>XML>DITA

DITA: From the Perspective of Someone Actually Using It

In this podcast, Marlene Martineau of New Dawn Technologies explains why they adopted DITA, how they adopted it, the benefits they're experiencing, and the reasons why she'll never go back.

Martineau, Marlene. Tech Writer Voices (2008). Articles>Information Design>XML>DITA

DITA: What You Need To know about the Darwin Information Typing Architecture  

The Darwin Information Typing Architecture (DITA) is a hot topic among those who author, edit, deliver and manage content. But adopting a standard architecture is an important decision that requires up front research and knowledge of the pitfalls. Find out if DITA is right for your organization. Read this whitepaper to learn more (PDF).

Manning, Steve. Rockley Group, The (2005). Articles>Information Design>Metadata>XML

ditamap.com

A gathering place for information about DITA.

ditamap.com. Organizations>Information Design>XML>DITA

A DocBook Basics and References

DocBook is an easy-to-understand and widely used DTD. Dozens of organizations use DocBook for millions of pages of documentation, in various print and online formats, worldwide.

Walsh, Norman. dpawson.co.uk (2004). Books>Information Design>XML>DocBook

Documenting Schemas  

The issue of documenting schemas—or any machine readable language—goes beyond simple additions of comments. Thereal challengeistocreateschemasthat arereadablebothdirectlybylookingat their sourcecodeandbydocumentation extraction tools.

van der Vlist, Eric. O'Reilly and Associates (2001). Articles>Information Design>XML>Documentation

Dublin Core Conference Summary 2003

What is Dublin Core? And why would you need a whole conference about it? The end of September and beginning of October brought representatives from various countries around the world to a sunny and warm Seattle, Washington, host of the 2003 Dublin Core Conference.

Gonzales-Chan, Madonnalisa and Sarah Rice. Boxes and Arrows (2003). Articles>Information Design>XML>Metadata

Dublin Core Corporate Circles of Interest

The 2002 Dublin Core annual conference and workshop marked the beginning of a new effort by the Dublin Core Metadata Initiative (DCMI) to involve members of the corporate world in the evolution and application of the Dublin Core standard. The first meetings of two DCMI Circles of Interest were held on Monday, October 14, 2002, followed the next day by a panel session with several members of the Circles presenting their initial observations and conclusions to the wider conference.

Crandall, Mike. Montague Institute Review (2002). Articles>Information Design>XML>Metadata

Easy Topic Maps

Topic maps are a standard for storing metadata (similar to thesauri, or RDF). They can be used to generate navigation for a website, and lots of other metadata tasks. Topic maps are a new standard (since + 2000) and are slowly starting to be discovered.

Easytopicmaps.com (2003). Resources>Information Design>XML>Metadata

Edit XML Documents with Emacs and nXML

The nXML mode for GNU Emacs provides a powerful environment for creating valid XML documents.

O'Reilly and Associates (2005). Articles>Information Design>XML

The Electric XML Acid Test

This will be the story of my life from the time my boss came to me and said, 'Hey, maybe we could do that Knowledge Base in XML. I hear good things about that XML,' to the time that I figured out everything I needed to know and deployed a fully functional XML knowledge base to the world.

Robotti, Anne. KeyContent.org (2006). Articles>Information Design>XML

Examining XML

Buzz about the value and implications of XML has reached an all-time high, with lofty claims of its potential to transform business and society, doing everything from simple document formatting to curing the common cold. I don't recommend you empty your medicine cabinet just yet. However, do take seriously the developments surrounding XML and its associated technologies. While XML might not merit all the hyperbole, it remains useful. Knowing how to apply this simple meta-language can help you create solutions that will give you a strong competitive advantage.

Trytten, Chris. FileMaker Advisor (2004). Articles>Information Design>Databases>XML

Fast Incremental Updates of XML Records

XML is often used today as a data export and exchange format. In such cases, you might deal with a feed of XML records; sometimes, if this feed, is too long, there are performance problems importing it into another system. As such, you might want to produce only an incremental feed--that is, one that only includes items that have changed. This article presents a collection of simple techniques that you can combine into a system for more digestible feeds containing only updated records.

Ogbuji, Uche. IBM (2007). Articles>Information Design>XML

Feedity

Feedity is an RSS generator for web pages without a web syndication format. The goal of Feedity is to dynamically create RSS web feeds from such webpages. Feedity will take virtually any web page, and convert it into a fully formed RSS web feed. The RSS feed is updated in near-real time.

Nilkanth, Ashutosh. Feedity. Resources>Information Design>XML>RSS

Firefox 2.0 and XML

Firefox 2.0 brought several important changes in its XML support. It's currently reaching its peak in user deployment. Learn about updated XML features in Firefox 2.0, including a controversial change to the handling of RSS Web feeds.

Ogbuji, Uche. IBM (2007). Articles>Information Design>XML>Web Browsers

Frequently Asked Questions about the Darwin Information Typing Architecture

DITA experts Don Day, Michael Priestley, and Gretchen Hargis address the topic architecture of DITA, tips and techniques, and general DITA questions.

Day, Don, Michael Priestley and Gretchen Hargis. IBM (2001). Articles>Information Design>XML>DITA

Ganzheitliche Informationslogistik Unterstützt die Technische Dokumentation  

Nicht selten wird die technische Dokumentation nur nebenbei erstellt, obwohl gute Gründe für eine stärkere Beachtung dieses potenziellen Marketinginstruments sprechen: Rechtliche Bestimmungen erzwingen bestimmte Informationen (wie etwa Sicherheitshinweise) sowie die Qualität und Form, in der sie angebracht werden müssen. Fehlende oder zu spät gelieferte Dokumentation verursacht Zahlungsausfälle in Millionenhöhe. Dokumentation und Information wird zunehmend als zusätzlicher Service, also Mehrwert für den Kunden interessant. Darüber hinaus stellt der Bereich der Dokumentation die Keimzelle für technische Informationssysteme z.B. für das Wissensmanagement oder auch die Qualitätssicherung dar, da in diesen Abteilungen ohnehin bereits sehr große Mengen des technischen Know-hows im Unternehmen vorliegen. Im folgenden Beitrag lesen Sie, wie XML und .NET den Produktionsprozess positiv beeinflussen.

Freisler, Stefan. Doculine (2002). (German) Articles>Information Design>XML

Generating XML Schema Dynamically Using VB.NET 2005: Essentials

This is the first article in a series concentrating on generating XML Schema dynamically using Visual Basic 2005. The series is mainly targeted at those who are familiar with XML, XML Schema and the .NET framework.

Chaterjee, Jagadish. ASP Free (2006). Articles>Information Design>XML>ASP