DITA & Non-DITA AUTHORING Platforms Harry Anthony © 2018, InsideView Technologies, LTD

Who is HARRY? A principal technical writer at InsideView Technologies. a Trained DITA Writer certified Information architect project management professional. worked at SAP Asia Pacific Ltd, Singapore (International Experience). received multiple awards for documentation at Motorola, Sun Microsystems & Oracle Corporation. 

Agenda Why DITA and why not Non-DITA? DITA and Non-DITA Components Benefits of DITA and Non-DITA Pros and Cons of DITA and Non-DITA Interactive Use Case Examples Key take away (s)

Why DITA and Why NOT Non-DITA? Why Darwin Information Typing Architecture (DITA)? An open XML standard for structured content Free datatype definitions (DTDs), schemas and DITA OTs Components to reuse, single source and generate multiple output Developed by IBM, maintained by Oasis standard committee Why not non-DITA? Unstructured content Controlled by Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) Requires HTML Editor and skills to manipulate HTML tags Publish documents as a front-end page Helps professional service teams Choose Wisely Why DITA? D is Darwin- because Darwin was the father of evolution and DITA helps in evolving new elements from existing ones. Thus, apply concept of evolutionary adaption from Darwin’s theory. IT is Information Typing , this defines the structure of content with concepts, Tasks, Reference, Glossentry, and Troubleshooting topics. A is for architecture, because content is structured it is also extensible. Architecture helps you to reuse, single source, and generate output Why not non-DITA? Non-DITA authoring is adequate for a small company with few products. In most cases, these facilities want product documentation online to cut revision, and distribution costs. Non-DITA authoring enables organizations to publish documents as a front-end for all customers (external stakeholder) and help professional service teams (their internal stakeholders It is like Dita Von Teese famous quote “I advocate glamour. Everyday. Every minute" "Glamour above all things.” For additional information on CSS, refer to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cascading_Style_Sheets

Why DITA and Why NOT Non-DITA? Continued… What DITA really is? XML Standard Built for topic oriented-authoring A way to work in XML without worrying about structure Cost-effective way to create, publish, reuse and exchange structured content What non-DITA is? Unstructured content with HTML coding No pre-defined structure for a web page Need to build your own structure for publishing content Costly way to create and share content over the web Why DITA? D is Darwin- because Darwin was the father of evolution and DITA helps in evolving new elements from existing ones. Thus, apply concept of evolutionary adaption from Darwin’s theory. IT is Information Typing , this defines the structure of content with concepts, Tasks, Reference, Glossentry, and Troubleshooting topics. A is for architecture, because content is structured it is also extensible. Architecture helps you to reuse, single source, and generate output Why not non-DITA? Non-DITA authoring is adequate for a small company with few products. In most cases, these facilities want product documentation online to cut revision, and distribution costs. Non-DITA authoring enables organizations to publish documents as a front-end for all customers (external stakeholder) and help professional service teams (their internal stakeholders It is like Dita Von Teese famous quote “I advocate glamour. Everyday. Every minute" "Glamour above all things.” For additional information on CSS, refer to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cascading_Style_Sheets

Why Topics Are Important? DITA Topics Concept helps you cover product feature Task provides step-by-step instructions Reference gives additional information Troubleshooting solves a problem Glossary identifies key terms Non-DITA Templates are defined on need basis Each HTML page can be customized No clear distinction between concept, task or reference Authoring and technical learning is simple Limited deliverables for non-diverse audience Why DITA? D is Darwin- because Darwin was the father of evolution and DITA helps in evolving new elements from existing ones. Thus, apply concept of evolutionary adaption from Darwin’s theory. IT is Information Typing , this defines the structure of content with concepts, Tasks, Reference, Glossentry, and Troubleshooting topics. A is for architecture, because content is structured it is also extensible. Architecture helps you to reuse, single source, and generate output Why not non-DITA? Non-DITA authoring is adequate for a small company with few products. In most cases, these facilities want product documentation online to cut revision, and distribution costs. Non-DITA authoring enables organizations to publish documents as a front-end for all customers (external stakeholder) and help professional service teams (their internal stakeholders It is like Dita Von Teese famous quote “I advocate glamour. Everyday. Every minute" "Glamour above all things.” For additional information on CSS, refer to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cascading_Style_Sheets

What Components are in Store? DITA Components DTDs for defining content structure Open Toolkit for generating output Elements to represent content types Attributes to define print conditions Maps to collect topics for various deliverables Non-DITA Components Use your own CSS and JavaScript Generic output style Unrelated information becomes unnecessary Enforces a unstructured output format Not scalable for generating desired output Why DITA? D is Darwin- because Darwin was the father of evolution and DITA helps in evolving new elements from existing ones. Thus, apply concept of evolutionary adaption from Darwin’s theory. IT is Information Typing , this defines the structure of content with concepts, Tasks, Reference, Glossentry, and Troubleshooting topics. A is for architecture, because content is structured it is also extensible. Architecture helps you to reuse, single source, and generate output Why not non-DITA? Non-DITA authoring is adequate for a small company with few products. In most cases, these facilities want product documentation online to cut revision, and distribution costs. Non-DITA authoring enables organizations to publish documents as a front-end for all customers (external stakeholder) and help professional service teams (their internal stakeholders It is like Dita Von Teese famous quote “I advocate glamour. Everyday. Every minute" "Glamour above all things.” For additional information on CSS, refer to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cascading_Style_Sheets

What Are the Benefits? DITA Non-DITA Topic-oriented, modular content templates Content Reuse Content Exchange with conditions Reduce translation or localization costs Improve content quality Non-DITA Front-end publisher with basic HTML Editor Repository for HTML pages Structure for both information and visual presentation Generate documentation with minimal effort. Why DITA? D is Darwin- because Darwin was the father of evolution and DITA helps in evolving new elements from existing ones. Thus, apply concept of evolutionary adaption from Darwin’s theory. IT is Information Typing , this defines the structure of content with concepts, Tasks, Reference, Glossentry, and Troubleshooting topics. A is for architecture, because content is structured it is also extensible. Architecture helps you to reuse, single source, and generate output Why not non-DITA? Non-DITA authoring is adequate for a small company with few products. In most cases, these facilities want product documentation online to cut revision, and distribution costs. Non-DITA authoring enables organizations to publish documents as a front-end for all customers (external stakeholder) and help professional service teams (their internal stakeholders It is like Dita Von Teese famous quote “I advocate glamour. Everyday. Every minute" "Glamour above all things.” For additional information on CSS, refer to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cascading_Style_Sheets

What Are the Pros and cons? DITA Pros Administration console to track different topics Authoring console to create, edit and manages projects Allows to embed SCORM compliant learning modules Documentation version control SMEs and Editors can review content with the Contributor DITA Cons Multiple plug-ins and tools to work with. High level of technical expertise required Tough to troubleshoot missing or broken links Publishing and compiling output maps is time consuming Why DITA? D is Darwin- because Darwin was the father of evolution and DITA helps in evolving new elements from existing ones. Thus, apply concept of evolutionary adaption from Darwin’s theory. IT is Information Typing , this defines the structure of content with concepts, Tasks, Reference, Glossentry, and Troubleshooting topics. A is for architecture, because content is structured it is also extensible. Architecture helps you to reuse, single source, and generate output Why not non-DITA? Non-DITA authoring is adequate for a small company with few products. In most cases, these facilities want product documentation online to cut revision, and distribution costs. Non-DITA authoring enables organizations to publish documents as a front-end for all customers (external stakeholder) and help professional service teams (their internal stakeholders It is like Dita Von Teese famous quote “I advocate glamour. Everyday. Every minute" "Glamour above all things.” For additional information on CSS, refer to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cascading_Style_Sheets

What Are the Pros and cons? Continued… Non-DITA Pros Structure for both information and visual presentation Integrates with Microsoft Word and other text editors with default HTML tags SMEs and Editors can review content in draft state Non-DITA Cons Forced to use only three levels of headings Inconsistent page layout for big products No Documentation version control Controls with CSS stylesheet without any option to re-organize content Why DITA? D is Darwin- because Darwin was the father of evolution and DITA helps in evolving new elements from existing ones. Thus, apply concept of evolutionary adaption from Darwin’s theory. IT is Information Typing , this defines the structure of content with concepts, Tasks, Reference, Glossentry, and Troubleshooting topics. A is for architecture, because content is structured it is also extensible. Architecture helps you to reuse, single source, and generate output Why not non-DITA? Non-DITA authoring is adequate for a small company with few products. In most cases, these facilities want product documentation online to cut revision, and distribution costs. Non-DITA authoring enables organizations to publish documents as a front-end for all customers (external stakeholder) and help professional service teams (their internal stakeholders It is like Dita Von Teese famous quote “I advocate glamour. Everyday. Every minute" "Glamour above all things.” For additional information on CSS, refer to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cascading_Style_Sheets

How to Use DITA Platform? Interactive Example - How does a topic look like in DITA? Why DITA? D is Darwin- because Darwin was the father of evolution and DITA helps in evolving new elements from existing ones. Thus, apply concept of evolutionary adaption from Darwin’s theory. IT is Information Typing , this defines the structure of content with concepts, Tasks, Reference, Glossentry, and Troubleshooting topics. A is for architecture, because content is structured it is also extensible. Architecture helps you to reuse, single source, and generate output Why not non-DITA? Non-DITA authoring is adequate for a small company with few products. In most cases, these facilities want product documentation online to cut revision, and distribution costs. Non-DITA authoring enables organizations to publish documents as a front-end for all customers (external stakeholder) and help professional service teams (their internal stakeholders It is like Dita Von Teese famous quote “I advocate glamour. Everyday. Every minute" "Glamour above all things.” For additional information on CSS, refer to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cascading_Style_Sheets

How to Use DITA Platform? Continued… Why DITA? D is Darwin- because Darwin was the father of evolution and DITA helps in evolving new elements from existing ones. Thus, apply concept of evolutionary adaption from Darwin’s theory. IT is Information Typing , this defines the structure of content with concepts, Tasks, Reference, Glossentry, and Troubleshooting topics. A is for architecture, because content is structured it is also extensible. Architecture helps you to reuse, single source, and generate output Why not non-DITA? Non-DITA authoring is adequate for a small company with few products. In most cases, these facilities want product documentation online to cut revision, and distribution costs. Non-DITA authoring enables organizations to publish documents as a front-end for all customers (external stakeholder) and help professional service teams (their internal stakeholders It is like Dita Von Teese famous quote “I advocate glamour. Everyday. Every minute" "Glamour above all things.” For additional information on CSS, refer to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cascading_Style_Sheets

How to Use DITA Platform? Continued… WYSIOO - What you see is one option Why DITA? D is Darwin- because Darwin was the father of evolution and DITA helps in evolving new elements from existing ones. Thus, apply concept of evolutionary adaption from Darwin’s theory. IT is Information Typing , this defines the structure of content with concepts, Tasks, Reference, Glossentry, and Troubleshooting topics. A is for architecture, because content is structured it is also extensible. Architecture helps you to reuse, single source, and generate output Why not non-DITA? Non-DITA authoring is adequate for a small company with few products. In most cases, these facilities want product documentation online to cut revision, and distribution costs. Non-DITA authoring enables organizations to publish documents as a front-end for all customers (external stakeholder) and help professional service teams (their internal stakeholders It is like Dita Von Teese famous quote “I advocate glamour. Everyday. Every minute" "Glamour above all things.” For additional information on CSS, refer to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cascading_Style_Sheets

How to Use DITA Platform? Continued… Key DITA Items Map Files Content References (conrefs) Specialization Why DITA? D is Darwin- because Darwin was the father of evolution and DITA helps in evolving new elements from existing ones. Thus, apply concept of evolutionary adaption from Darwin’s theory. IT is Information Typing , this defines the structure of content with concepts, Tasks, Reference, Glossentry, and Troubleshooting topics. A is for architecture, because content is structured it is also extensible. Architecture helps you to reuse, single source, and generate output Why not non-DITA? Non-DITA authoring is adequate for a small company with few products. In most cases, these facilities want product documentation online to cut revision, and distribution costs. Non-DITA authoring enables organizations to publish documents as a front-end for all customers (external stakeholder) and help professional service teams (their internal stakeholders It is like Dita Von Teese famous quote “I advocate glamour. Everyday. Every minute" "Glamour above all things.” For additional information on CSS, refer to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cascading_Style_Sheets

How to Use DITA Platform? Continued… Map Files Why DITA? D is Darwin- because Darwin was the father of evolution and DITA helps in evolving new elements from existing ones. Thus, apply concept of evolutionary adaption from Darwin’s theory. IT is Information Typing , this defines the structure of content with concepts, Tasks, Reference, Glossentry, and Troubleshooting topics. A is for architecture, because content is structured it is also extensible. Architecture helps you to reuse, single source, and generate output Why not non-DITA? Non-DITA authoring is adequate for a small company with few products. In most cases, these facilities want product documentation online to cut revision, and distribution costs. Non-DITA authoring enables organizations to publish documents as a front-end for all customers (external stakeholder) and help professional service teams (their internal stakeholders It is like Dita Von Teese famous quote “I advocate glamour. Everyday. Every minute" "Glamour above all things.” For additional information on CSS, refer to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cascading_Style_Sheets

How to Use DITA Platform? Continued… Conrefs Why DITA? D is Darwin- because Darwin was the father of evolution and DITA helps in evolving new elements from existing ones. Thus, apply concept of evolutionary adaption from Darwin’s theory. IT is Information Typing , this defines the structure of content with concepts, Tasks, Reference, Glossentry, and Troubleshooting topics. A is for architecture, because content is structured it is also extensible. Architecture helps you to reuse, single source, and generate output Why not non-DITA? Non-DITA authoring is adequate for a small company with few products. In most cases, these facilities want product documentation online to cut revision, and distribution costs. Non-DITA authoring enables organizations to publish documents as a front-end for all customers (external stakeholder) and help professional service teams (their internal stakeholders It is like Dita Von Teese famous quote “I advocate glamour. Everyday. Every minute" "Glamour above all things.” For additional information on CSS, refer to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cascading_Style_Sheets

How to Use DITA Platform? Continued… Specialization Why DITA? D is Darwin- because Darwin was the father of evolution and DITA helps in evolving new elements from existing ones. Thus, apply concept of evolutionary adaption from Darwin’s theory. IT is Information Typing , this defines the structure of content with concepts, Tasks, Reference, Glossentry, and Troubleshooting topics. A is for architecture, because content is structured it is also extensible. Architecture helps you to reuse, single source, and generate output Why not non-DITA? Non-DITA authoring is adequate for a small company with few products. In most cases, these facilities want product documentation online to cut revision, and distribution costs. Non-DITA authoring enables organizations to publish documents as a front-end for all customers (external stakeholder) and help professional service teams (their internal stakeholders It is like Dita Von Teese famous quote “I advocate glamour. Everyday. Every minute" "Glamour above all things.” For additional information on CSS, refer to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cascading_Style_Sheets

How to Use Non-DITA Platform Interactive Example Why DITA? D is Darwin- because Darwin was the father of evolution and DITA helps in evolving new elements from existing ones. Thus, apply concept of evolutionary adaption from Darwin’s theory. IT is Information Typing , this defines the structure of content with concepts, Tasks, Reference, Glossentry, and Troubleshooting topics. A is for architecture, because content is structured it is also extensible. Architecture helps you to reuse, single source, and generate output Why not non-DITA? Non-DITA authoring is adequate for a small company with few products. In most cases, these facilities want product documentation online to cut revision, and distribution costs. Non-DITA authoring enables organizations to publish documents as a front-end for all customers (external stakeholder) and help professional service teams (their internal stakeholders It is like Dita Von Teese famous quote “I advocate glamour. Everyday. Every minute" "Glamour above all things.” For additional information on CSS, refer to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cascading_Style_Sheets

How to Use Non-DITA Platform? Continued… HTML Editor View Why DITA? D is Darwin- because Darwin was the father of evolution and DITA helps in evolving new elements from existing ones. Thus, apply concept of evolutionary adaption from Darwin’s theory. IT is Information Typing , this defines the structure of content with concepts, Tasks, Reference, Glossentry, and Troubleshooting topics. A is for architecture, because content is structured it is also extensible. Architecture helps you to reuse, single source, and generate output Why not non-DITA? Non-DITA authoring is adequate for a small company with few products. In most cases, these facilities want product documentation online to cut revision, and distribution costs. Non-DITA authoring enables organizations to publish documents as a front-end for all customers (external stakeholder) and help professional service teams (their internal stakeholders It is like Dita Von Teese famous quote “I advocate glamour. Everyday. Every minute" "Glamour above all things.” For additional information on CSS, refer to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cascading_Style_Sheets

How to Use Non-DITA Platform? Continued… HTML Web Template Customization Why DITA? D is Darwin- because Darwin was the father of evolution and DITA helps in evolving new elements from existing ones. Thus, apply concept of evolutionary adaption from Darwin’s theory. IT is Information Typing , this defines the structure of content with concepts, Tasks, Reference, Glossentry, and Troubleshooting topics. A is for architecture, because content is structured it is also extensible. Architecture helps you to reuse, single source, and generate output Why not non-DITA? Non-DITA authoring is adequate for a small company with few products. In most cases, these facilities want product documentation online to cut revision, and distribution costs. Non-DITA authoring enables organizations to publish documents as a front-end for all customers (external stakeholder) and help professional service teams (their internal stakeholders It is like Dita Von Teese famous quote “I advocate glamour. Everyday. Every minute" "Glamour above all things.” For additional information on CSS, refer to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cascading_Style_Sheets

How to Use Non-DITA Platform? Continued… Easy to Use HTML Editors - Confluence Why DITA? D is Darwin- because Darwin was the father of evolution and DITA helps in evolving new elements from existing ones. Thus, apply concept of evolutionary adaption from Darwin’s theory. IT is Information Typing , this defines the structure of content with concepts, Tasks, Reference, Glossentry, and Troubleshooting topics. A is for architecture, because content is structured it is also extensible. Architecture helps you to reuse, single source, and generate output Why not non-DITA? Non-DITA authoring is adequate for a small company with few products. In most cases, these facilities want product documentation online to cut revision, and distribution costs. Non-DITA authoring enables organizations to publish documents as a front-end for all customers (external stakeholder) and help professional service teams (their internal stakeholders It is like Dita Von Teese famous quote “I advocate glamour. Everyday. Every minute" "Glamour above all things.” For additional information on CSS, refer to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cascading_Style_Sheets

References: Keith Schengili-Roberts – also known as DITA Writer With written permission from: Keith Schengili-Roberts – also known as DITA Writer Is DITA Right For You? – Technical Communication Summit, 2017 presentation Sarah O’Keefe – founder of www.scriptorium.com DITA 101 – YouTube webinar Zendesk Knowledge Center Zendesk – Online Tutorial Wiki by Atlassian Confluence Knowledge Base Simple Set Up – YouTube Video

Q&A

You can reach out to me at harry.anthony@yahoo.com Thank you! You can reach out to me at harry.anthony@yahoo.com