The darwin information typing architecture dit a is an architecture for topicbased, structured xml authoring. Maps consist of references to topics, maps, and other resources organized into hierarchies, groups, and tables. Now, three dita pioneers offer the first complete roadmap for successful dita adoption. A roadmap for writing, editing, and architecting in dita ibm press book by clicking the link above. Maps can reference topics or other maps, and can contain a variety of content types and metadata. Dita compare generates wellformed, valid dita content so the resulting output is compatible with your existing dita tools. Dita map attributes dita maps have unique attributes that are designed to control the way that relationships are interpreted for different output purposes. The book is published by scriptorium press, a specialist publisher for the technical communication industry the author. A bookmap is a special kind of dita map that defines the major structures and setup information for producing maps of information as a book.
Tips for developing a taxonomy in dita scriptorium. The information unit used to compose a dita document is called a topic. The the dita2indesign project materials include a number of books from project gutenberg that have been converted to dita format. Jan 19, 2017 dita has a wellestablished ecosystem of supporting tools, both commercial and free open source, as well as an active and growing community of users, consultants, and tool providers. Authors of any coding system know that language specifications are useful for syntax issues, but dont help with howtos and best practices. This architecture consists of a set of design principles for creating informationtyped modules at a topic level and for using that content in delivery modes such as online help and product support portals on the web. For example a b parent of b a child of a is a part with a title but no. Start by making a list of categories or subsets that your audience might need, such as all of the documentation for one product or all of the data sheets for products sold in a certain location. The bookmap specialization of ditas standard dita map allows you to organize. The following are all the cmses i can find that claim to be dita capable. Similarly, the other main topic types of concept, reference, and troubleshooting are deliberately structured boxes that should make a good technical. Dita can be really helpful in technical writing for many reasons, for example, dita.
The bookmap specialization of ditas standard dita map allows you to organize your dita topics into a collection that can. Dita maps specify hierarchy and the relationships among the topics. Attendees included dita enthusiasts from jive software, netapp, daimler, and psus technical writing program. Dita can be really helpful in technical writing for many reasons, for example, dita makes your content readable and concise. However, people often get confused about these three types. By specializing the general dita map structure into the general structure and subject areas used by most book oriented dtds, bookmaps enable users to organize their dita information into front matter, parts, chapters, and so forth. What follows is a possible for this tutorial contents of file tutorialbook. Dita language reference overview the design of the darwin information typing architecture dita is based on deriving multiple information types, or infotypes, from a common, generic topic. Learn about the differences between dita maps and bookmaps.
It leverages xml extensible markup language to make your content intelligent, versatile, manageable, and portable. A roadmap for writing, editing, and architecting in dita ibm press book. You dont need to create a for the screen media and a for the. These are not necessarily examples of good topicbased authoring or proper use of dita we will leave that for others to decide. Tony selfs wonderful dita style guide bridges that gap with insight and clarity, explaining not just how to use virtually every dita construct including 1. Then, he explores the dita architecture, explaining maps and topics. The map element describes the relationships among a set of resources, such as dita topics.
A map can include relationship tables reltables that define hyperlinks between topics. The overall contents of a dita document are specified using a topic map also. Our cool and knowledgeable professor bernard aschwanden he. Dita maps often represent a single deliverable, for example, a specific web site, a printed publication, or the online help for a product. Define the scope of the transformationa file, all files in a folder, dita map, or all children of a book. Think of a map as a book binder and topics as pages. So, we started using the book map which works great to pull metadata inserted at the top of the bookmap and push it in the title page. The examples illustrate a few of the ways that dita maps are used. Dita tutorials books and provides background information that may be of use to you. The first and most important step in developing a taxonomy is deciding how your content should be organized for filtering and search. A roadmap for writing, editing, and architecting in dita ibm press book online at best prices in india on. These topics introduce many dita elements and provide basic examples of.
For example, content that is in dita can be published to and fully branded pdf, html, rtf, powerpoint, and mobileall without ever copying. Dita is an xml data model for authoring, producing, and delivering technical information. The content on this page is based on work done by bernard aschwanden of. In addition to identifying the term and providing a definition, this topic type might also have. Dita is a way of writing and storing your content so you can manage it like an asset. This fourlesson course introduces you to dita maps and bookmaps. For example, docbook includes detailed bibliographic markup that is not in the outofthebox dita vocabulary but could be added by anyone who wanted it using dita s controlled extension mechanismthis is one challenge with comparing dita to other xml applications. Dita uses the map file to combine topics in a specific order for publishing to. A dita bookmap is a useful variant of a map in which some specialized topicref elements. The dita map displays in the document structure pane in the dita map editor of the astoria workbench.
More formally, dita is an open standard that describes the architecture for creating and managing information that separates the content from the formatting, allows for a more streamlined content creation process, and opens up the possibilities of introducing simpler. Refer to this file by the following public identifier or an appropriate system identifier public oasisdtd dita bookmapen delivered as file bookmap. Plugin which zips the entire contents of the dita project starting from the published dita map. Typically, they reflect the planning horizon over multiple time periods. Working within dita structure ditacompare works at the map or topic level, bringing comparison functionality for reusable components or complete documents. Demo of adobe framemaker, justsystems xmetal, and oxygen xml with dita maps. Sep 28, 2005 the darwin information typing architecture dita is an xmlbased, endtoend architecture for authoring, producing, and delivering technical information. For our task example, we need to bind the key illustrationtonercartridgeaccesspanel to the. This course builds on what you learned in the four preceding classes. This section of the specification contains simple examples of dita maps. The problem is that the topic might use conkeyrefs so it cannot be published on its own, it somehow would need to be published by specifying also as a context for resolving keys the root map.
Books and other printed media are popular ways to present dita content. A dita map is basically a sequence of possibly nested topicref elements. This data model consists of a set of design principles that. The problem is that the topic might use conkeyrefs so it cannot be published on its own, it somehow would need to be published by specifying also as a co. An examination as to how dita maps can be thought of as relationship. Dita is well supported by all the major commercial xml editors and xml component content management systems.
Dita primer learn the dita basics publishing smarter. Darwin information typing architecture dita is todays most powerful toolbox for constructing information. This book is filled with clear, accurate, welldescribed examples, and is written in tonys easygoing style, turning otherwise dry reference material into accessible and useful guidelines for writing better dita code. This section contains information about the dita sample source files that come with dita open toolkit. For example, consider the following chapter in a map. Adobe techcomm blog adobe dita world 2017 day 3 summary. This example illustrates how one map can reference a subordinate map using either or the basic element. Its good to see real life examples like this rather than stuff made up like i do that show the benefits of dita and its facilities like conkeyref. The package also includes a stylesheet for merging all the documents referenced by a map into a single dita. These placeholders instructs the dita processing software to automatically. Dec 01, 2010 the dita specification provides specialized map types. Difference between task, concept, and reference topics in dita.
There are separate listings for dita cmses in english, dutch and in japanese this initial version of the listing think of it as mark i is pretty basic. A dita map is a container for topics used to transform a collection of content into a publication. We encourage you to complete the other classes before taking this class. Courses on learning dita for technical writers technical. What follows is a possible for this tutorial contents of file tutorial book. Immediate download and read free dita best practices. You can use the dita map to navigate to topics that have been referenced by the dita map however, the topics must first be referenced by the map. This language reference describes the elements that comprise the topic dtd and its initial, infotyped descendents. Bookmaps consist of references to topics organized as book content. You create a dita map by clicking file new dita map dita map.
Dita maps also can be subcomponents for a single deliverable, for example, a dita map might contain the content for a chapter in a printed publication or the troubleshooting information for an online help. The dita map is the whole book, and the topics or additional dita maps within it are like chapters, dividing the content into. Introduction to the darwin information typing architecture. As opposed to standards that support long, book oriented writing, dita is optimized for creating content in small, discrete units called topics that you then can organize in different ways to product output deliverables. Personally, my favorite thing about short descriptions is the way they show up in minitocs. Publish dita topic or map in the context of a dita root map. The dita specification provides specialized map types. For example, if you have a topic hierarchy in the map and remove the parent topic, the. Docbook and dita are markup languages used for technical documentation. These books serve primarily as realistic test documents used to exercise the dita toindesign process, but they also serve more generally as nontrivial, interesting, unencumbered sample dita documents that can be used for demonstration, product testing, and. The dita package includes xslt stylesheets that enable you, with a single command, to transform all the documents referenced by a map to html and build a table of contents that links to all of them. Displaying topic titles in the dita map view ixiasoft. Dynamically filter profile steps based on user identity, e.
The topic references therefore are labeled according to the book components they point to, such as booktitle, frontmatter, chapter, and appendix. Conditional publishing based on the use of a val file is included. By implementing dita, organizations can gain more value from their technical documentation than ever before. Books on learning dita technical writing is easy medium. As suggested by its name, a topicref is simply a reference or a pointer to a topic stored in a separate file of its own. This document provides a comparison of the dita features in the default framemaker 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, and 2015, with those in dita fmx 1. Of course, dita has also figure, table and example elements. The oasis bookmap application of dita allows you to produce your dita. Dita compare difference and compare your dita documents.
The following sample files garage and grocery shopping are included in their dita source form for your reference. Sep 09, 2019 a dita document is necessarily modular. Realworld examples and clear recommendations show you how to create consistent, semantically correct dita content. Best practices for authors, a book for technical communicators working within the darwin information typing architecture the book. The difference between processes, procedures and tasks. An introduction to strategic roadmapping 5 common types of roadmaps include market, product, technology, supplier, and composite. A dita map is more than a table of contents slideshare. Examples of dita maps this section of the specification contains simple examples of dita maps. For example, you might have a dita map that represents the. Best practices for authors provides comprehensive, practical explanations of dita elements and attributes. Introduction to dita, the dita concept topic type, the dita task topic type, and the dita reference and glossary topic types. But then we have 2 problems, i cannot find where to format the the chapter title, and when i use topic headings on level 3 of the map they are not rendered properley, they appear at the end of the. Dita maps have unique attributes that are designed to control the way that relationships are interpreted for different output purposes.
The author is tony self, a technical writer with 30 years experience, based in melbourne. The advent of the extensible markup language xml and rapid adoption of topicbased content standards like dita have forced us to separate content from format and end our addiction to desktop publishing. The overall contents of a dita document are specified using a topic map also simply called a map. Our cool and knowledgeable professor bernard aschwanden he is an expert in dita. The darwin information typing architecture dita specifies three basic topic types. However, there is a big difference between these two tools as they both use very different approaches. A typical dita map might have a title and then a set of topicrefs, in a sequence, in a hierarchy, or both, that define the structure by which topics are to be viewed as a complete information deliverable. Creating dita topic maps dita darwin information typing architecture is a topicbased xml framework used to support the authoring, management, and publication of our technical documentation.
Both can be used to generate the output in html, pdf, and chm formats. These placeholders instructs the dita processing software to automatically generate. Darwin information typing architecture dita is the best way to be smart about writing and publishing your business content. Sep 30, 2011 darwin information typing architecture dita is todays most powerful toolbox for constructing information. You can set the attributes of a dita map by clicking the properties button above the. Rightclick the dita map folder, and from the menu that displays, click open map editor. The package also includes a stylesheet for merging all the documents referenced by a map into a single dita file. The tool suitable for your documentation depends on your requirements and that of your organization. Now, three dita pioneers offer the first complete roadmap for successful dita adoption, implementation, and usage.
Best practices for authors paperback february 24, 2011. The element is a map specialization used to describe the relationships among a set of dita topics intended to be configured as a traditional book. As its name suggests, a topic addresses a single subject. Short descriptions of dita best practices at the may 18th meeting of the pdx dita book club. The oasis dita technical committee and the oasis dita adoption technical committee 1. The darwin information typing architecture or document information typing architecture dita is an xml data model for authoring and publishing. If you like to read a book on the way to work, here is a list of some. Maps express these relationships in a single common format that can be used for different outputs.
A dita map is like a blueprint that tells astoria how to assemble the topics into a document for which you can generate an output that you designate. Publish dita topic or map in the context of a dita root. Depending on what you are looking for, these files are great for learning more about the practical aspects of using dita. Mar 22, 2017 demo of adobe framemaker, justsystems xmetal, and oxygen xml with dita maps. Mar 22, 2011 tony selfs dita style guide book says the opposite on pp 179 180, i.
The darwin information typing architecture or document information typing architecture. There are many other things you may want to look into that can probably help your proposal building push conref comes to mind in dita. This follows from how user stories map to dita task topics and lead to an emphasis on core tasks where the user doesnt have to wade through irrelevant content in order to get things done. Pdx dita a dita users group in the portland, oregon metro area. In addition, dita maps share many metadata and linking attributes with dita topics. It is an open standard that is defined and maintained by the oasis dita technical committee the name derives from the following components.
1507 251 983 1296 685 547 750 919 889 248 1333 557 1000 79 672 1235 1305 1045 617 185 104 1168 491 342 983 433 1028 870 733