Another blog site I’d like to point out to people interested in all things DITA is the one run by former work colleague of mine Graydon Saunders which he calls “Dubious Prospects“. Though focused mainly on his recreational photographic pursuits, there are over a dozen great articles collected together here on various aspects of doingRead More
Category: Articles
Feature articles by DITAWriter or by other contributors.
“Damn You and Your Ontologies!” Some Thoughts on Folksonomies and DITA
I attended several interesting presentations while I was at the CMS/DITA 2010 Conference in Santa Clara, but one conversation I had while down there stands out from the rest, especially in terms of its implications. I met with a former work colleague and friend who now works for Google down in The Valley. I askedRead More
Multi-language Capabilities for DITA Does Not Come for Free
One of the main ROI arguments made for moving to DITA is the significant localization cost reductions that can be had: basically the more languages you output to, the better the ROI. It is worth noting though that multi-language capabilities does not come for free, as there are some one-time costs associated with going downRead More
5 Reasons Why Tech Writers Should Want to Move to DITA
All too often – this blog included – articles and papers advocating tech writing teams to move to DITA are aimed at management. This makes sense since if the tech writing team is larger than one person there are change management issues to coordinate when moving from a previous toolchain to DITA, and if aRead More
The Four Stages of Cost Savings to Expect when Moving to an XML-based Documentation Process
JoAnn Hackos has published a good article in the recent edition of the Best Practices newsletter looking at where firms can anticipate cost savings when moving to using an XML-based documentation process. She makes a good case that companies that move to using XML in their production of their technical documentation can look to gainRead More
DITA for FrameMaker Resources
Though late to the party, Adobe finally got around to doing a full revamp of FrameMaker, bolting on DITA functionality starting with version 7.2, and then fully integrated by version 8 in 2007. Here are some resources for those looking to using FrameMaker with DITA: FrameMaker 8 Deep Dive: though it takes a while toRead More
Sample DITA Files
Update October 1, 2018: for a good, fairly comprehensive and freely downloadable set of sample DITA documents, I highly recommend checking out the list on the OASIS DITA Adoption website, compiled by Stan Doherty. Depending on what you are looking for, these files are great for learning more about the practical aspects of using DITA.Read More
DITA Online Forums
Here is a listing of online forums I have been able to track down about DITA: DITA Users Group on Yahoo: A very active group which has been around since mid-2004. Good both for the beginner as well as experienced writers, and is monitored by several very senior people in the DITA community, including manyRead More
DITA 1.2 Presentation at the Content Management Strategies 2010 Conference
This presentation was one of the highlights of the conference for me, as most of the people responsible for driving the new DITA 1.2 specification were there to talk about what they had come up with. Starting off the panel in the same way that he would normally be speaking with this group Don DayRead More
Keynote Address at the Content Management Strategies Conference 2010
It was an interesting opening keynote session for the Content Management Strategies 2010 conference that opened this morning at the Hyatt Regenecy in sunny Santa Clara. JoAnn Hackos opened the procedings shortly after 8am, and amongst other things announced the cancellation of a few speakers who were tied up in Europe and effectively grounded by theRead More