DITA is an OASIS standard for modular content that can be assembled and published in many different ways. The full DITA standard provides powerful features for single-sourcing and structured authoring but can be intimidating for new adopters who require only a subset of those features.
The OASIS DITA Technical Committee is planning to define a lightweight DITA architecture to allow a broader range of authoring and publishing tools to support a useful subset of the full DITA standard.
This presentation provides a preview of the lightweight DITA proposal for DITA 1.3, including some example markup and possible architectural approaches.
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What is DITA?Darwin Information Typing Architecture is an XML standard for modular content, collections and classification that allows an enterprise to:
Keep many versions of content current across multiple audiences, multiple media, multiple deliverables, multiple translations across many geographies
Deliver improved information quality through structured and reused content
Experience faster response time when content for custom products is needed
Leverage traceability and accountability features when a problem is found (fix it once, fix it everywhere; inform other affected authors)
DITA has the largest membership of any OASIS technical committee
Who uses it (selected from http://www.ditawriter.com/companies-using-dita/ )● Accounting● Automotive ● Aerospace● Biotech● Computer
hardware/software/networking● Consumer electronics● Consumer goods● E-learning/education● Manufacturing● Entertainment● Financial services● Health and wellness● Hospital and healthcare● Industrial automation● IT services● Insurance● Management consulting● Medical devices● Oil and energy● Pharmaceuticals● Publishing ● Retail● Semiconductors● Telecom
Who uses it (selected from http://www.ditawriter.com/companies-using-dita/ )● Accounting● Automotive ● Aerospace● Biotech● Computer
hardware/software/networking● Consumer electronics● Consumer goods● E-learning/education● Manufacturing● Entertainment● Financial services● Health and wellness● Hospital and healthcare● Industrial automation● IT services● Insurance● Management consulting● Medical devices● Oil and energy● Pharmaceuticals● Publishing ● Retail● Semiconductors● Telecom
IBM contributed DITA to the OASIS standards organization in March of 2004, where it is now managed by the OASIS DITA Technical Committee.
IBM contributed DITA to the OASIS standards organization in March of 2004, where it is now managed by the OASIS DITA Technical Committee.
● Contribution – SME (developer, customer, etc.) creating content to be used by a full DITA system
● Collaboration – SME maintaining content that is used by a full DITA system
● Parallel adoption – authoring team with need for lightweight DITA can share CMS, publishing capabilities with full DITA team
● New adoption – authoring team in a company with no existing DITA usage can start with lightweight DITA and then evolve to full DITA where it makes sense
Today: Silos inhibitreuse of contentand infrastructure.Content delivery reflects company organization, not customer needs
Manage
Publish
Author
Manage
Publish
AuthorAuthor
content
Tomorrow: Authoring with common standards allows sharing of content and consolidation of infrastructure. Content delivery can be organized around customer needs, not organizational boundaries
Specialization Structural: any element starting with topicDomain: any element except topicAttributes: @props or @baseConstraints: following constraint model
Structural: topic and body onlyDomain: section and ph onlyAttributes: @props onlyConstraints: predefined
Out of the box 23 document types (for basic, bookmap, learning, machine industry, technical content, subject schemes)
~15 (basic topics and maps, specialization authoring, basic DITA types, basic Information Mapping types)
Interoperability between lightweight and full DITA
● Lightweight DITA is a valid implementation of DITA – it is a subset of full DITA
● If a tool supports full DITA 1.3, it should support lightweight DITA 1.3 as well
● To simplify the schema architecture, lightweight DITA uses its own set of DTD/XSD files instead of reusing the (larger and more complex) full DITA set
● Lightweight DITA content should be convertible to full DITA simply by changing the doctype line to point to an equivalent full DITA doctype
● Lightweight DITA and full DITA topics should be able to reuse from each other via conref with relaxed constraints in DITA 1.3
● Eliminate advanced features● No prolog metadata or related links
● Eliminate redundant markup● No CALS table (simpletable only)
● Simplify content models● No mixed content: the only place to author
text is in a <p>, and <p> doesn't contain lists or other block-level content
● Predefined constraints to:● Get rid of sections or get rid of content
outside of sections● Limit lists to one level
● Attributes added as functional groups:● “block-level reuse” adds @id and @conref
to <p>, <ul>, <li> etc.● “phrase-level variables” adds @keyref to
<ph>
<topic id="mini" domains="(lwdita-c)(no-nesting-c) (no-sections-c)"> <title>Mini topic</title> <body> <p>This topic has constraints that disallow sections and list nesting.</p> <p>None of the optional attribute groups have been included, so no conditional processing, no conref, etc.</p> <ul> <li><p>Everything you write goes inside a paragraph.</p></li> <li><p>You can add paragraphs, tables, lists, and media.</p></li> </ul> </body> </topic>
● DITA can make it easier to share content and infrastructure across the enterprise
● But full DITA can have a high learning curve that pays off with high functionality only for full-time professional authors
● By clearly defining a lightweight DITA adoption point, we make it easier for new groups to adopt DITA with occasional, contributing, or just lighter weight authoring needs
● And we also make it easier for vendors who specialize in a particular area to add DITA support that suits the needs of their customers without the overhead of supporting the full DITA spec
● Full DITA and lightweight DITA are meant to play together to meet a broad spectrum of authoring and publishing needs across the enterprise
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● Modified by predefined constraints● no-nesting: lists are limited to one level● no-sections: body element contains blocks only, no sections● all-sections: body element contains sections only, no blocks
● What's missing?● Metadata elements. Use attributes if you need metadata.● Full table support. If you need the CALS model, you'll need to extend beyond simple
DITA, or go to full DITA.● Related links. You can use a section with xrefs, or use map-based linking. ... to do
● Controlled via domains organized by function (adding another 5)● Conditional content: @props on section, p, ul, ol, li, dl, dlentry, pre, simpletable,
● Core attributes (3):● every element: @class● map: @id, @domains
● Other attributes grouped into optional domains by function● Referencing content: @href on topicref● Variable and metadata control: @keys on topicref● Conditional content: @props on map, topicref● Content reuse: @id/@conref on topicref● Variable text: @keyref on ph● Variable links: @keyref on topicref● Class extension: @outputclass on everything
● In lightweight DITA, you start with a set of building blocks:● specialized sections for organizing block-level content● specialized phrases for adding semantics to phrase-level content● specialized attributes for supporting conditional processing
● Each new topic specialization:● Defines new topic/body elements● Sequences a set of specialized sections to provide structure● Incorporate phrase-level and attribute domains
● If you need new specializations of section, ph, or the @props attribute:● You define them separately, so they can be reused by multiple specializations● And then incorporate them into your topic specialization
● If you need new block-level specializations (eg a new type of table):● You can do it, you're just going beyond the basics of lightweight DITA
● Creating a new specialization should be as simple as filling in a form● No coding or special skills required
● Outputs could include:● Generated DTD and XSD artifacts that allow the new specialization to be validated● “Full-DITA” DTD and XSD equivalents if someone wants to use this approach to
create starter doctypes for full DITA● Output overrides for generated section titles● An authoring prototype – such as an HTML5-based form/editor
● When someone wants to share content authored using the new specialization:● They could bundle the generated artifacts (DTD, XSD, output overrides) along with
the content● Or they could just share the authored specialization topic itself – allowing the reuser
to generate XSD or DTD schemas as they prefer, and potentially generate their own output overrides.