SPECIAL OFFERS
Keep up with new releases and promotions. Sign up to hear from us.
Rough Cuts are manuscripts that are developed but not yet published, available through Safari. Rough Cuts provide you access to the very latest information on a given topic and offer you the opportunity to interact with the author to influence the final publication.
This is the Rough Cut version of the printed book.
&>The Start-to-Finish, Best-Practice Guide to Implementing and Using DITADarwin Information Typing Architecture (DITA) is today’s most powerful toolbox for constructing information. By implementing DITA, organizations can gain more value from their technical documentation than ever before. Now, three DITA pioneers offer the first complete roadmap for successful DITA adoption, implementation, and usage.
Drawing on years of experience helping large organizations adopt DITA, the authors answer crucial questions the “official” DITA documents ignore, including: Where do you start? What should you know up front? What are the pitfalls in implementing DITA? How can you avoid those pitfalls?
The authors begin with topic-based writing, presenting proven best practices for developing effective topics and short descriptions. Next, they address content architecture, including how best to set up and implement DITA maps, linking strategies, metadata, conditional processing, and content reuse. Finally, they offer “in the trenches” solutions for ensuring quality implementations, including guidance on content conversion.
Coverage includes:
If you’re a writer, editor, information architect, manager, or consultant who evaluates, deploys, or uses DITA, this book will guide you all the way to success.
Also see the other books in this IBM Press series:
Acknowledgments xviii
About the Authors xx
Introduction 1
PART I: WRITING IN DITA 5
Chapter 1 Topic-Based Writing in DITA 7
Books, Topics, and Webs of Information 7
Advantages of Writing in Topics for Writing Teams 9
Writers Can Work More Productively 9
Writers Can Share Content with Other Writers 9
Writers Can Reuse Topics 10
Writers Can More Quickly Organize or Reorganize Content 10
Reviewers Can Review Small Groups of Topics Instead of Long Books 10
DITA Topic Types 10
Task Orientation 12
Task Analysis 13
Minimalist Writing 16
Know Your Audience 16
Remove Nonessential Content 16
Focus on User Goals, Not Product Functions 16
To Wrap Up 17
Topic-Based Writing Checklist 18
Task analysis form 19
Chapter 2 Task Topics 21
Separate Task Information from Conceptual or Reference Information 22
Write One Procedure per Topic 22
Create Subtasks to Organize Long Procedures 22
Task Components and DITA Elements 23
Titling the Task: <title> 24
Introducing the Task: <shortdesc> 25
Adding More Background Information: <context> 25
Describing Prerequisites: <prereq> 26
Writing the Procedure: <steps> and <steps-unordered> 28
Concluding the Task: <example>, <postreq>, and <result> 35
Task Topic Checklist 39
Chapter 3 Concept Topics 41
Describe One Concept per Topic 42
Create a Concept Topic Only if the Idea Can’t Be Covered More Co