Who am I?

Chris Nitchie

Lead Product Developer at Oberon Technologies

Formerly of PTC/Arbortext

DITA TC Voting Member since 2009

15 years' experience in XML authoring and publishing

chris.nitchie@oberontech.com

On Markup Standards

Benefits of Markup Standards

Lots of standardized grammars out there -DocBook, S1000D, ATA, MilSpec, etc.

Facilitates information interchange between organizations.

Built on shared experience of common content requirements - you don't have to do it all yourself.

Pitfalls of Standard Grammars

Least common denominator.

Addresses generic requirements, but not all of your organization's specific needs.

So You "Fix" It

With many standard grammars, there's a way to customize it to suit your needs.

Some groups might choose to build their own DTD/Schema from scratch. (Don't be that group.)

But now you're no longer interchangeable with other organizations using the standard.

Migration to new versions is much more challenging.

You're on your own.

Or as they say in DocBook

It's specifically designed to address exactly this problem.

DITA is Different

Enter DITA

At Its Core, DITA is Three Things

1. Topic-based content architecture.

2. Base grammar/tag set.

3. SPECIALIZATION.

Benefits of Specialization

Your markup matches your content requirements.

DITA processors can handle the base vocabulary if they don't know about your specializations.

So interchangeability is preserved.

In short: It's Still DITA.

Base DITA Vocabulary is Basic

Paragraphs

Lists

Notes

Figures

Sections

Tables

Phrases

Terms

Cross-references

Graphics

Basic metadata

A few other things

You Use Specializations Already

<ph>

<b>

<i>

<u>

<topic>

<concept>

<reference>

<task>

<topicref>

<topichead>

<topicgroup>

<keydef>

<ol>

<steps>

<li>

<step>

How Specialization Works

You can create your own markup.

It must be based on, and compatible with, the base vocabulary.

The @class attribute identifies the "parent" tag.

DITA tools will fall back to processing/styling of the parent automatically.

You say:<steps><step><cmd>Identify content requirements.

</cmd></step><step><cmd>Specialize!</cmd>

</step></steps>

DITA processors see:<ol class="- topic/ol task/steps "><li class="- topic/li task/step ">

<ph class="- topic/ph task/cmd ">Identify content requirements.

</ph></li><li class="- topic/li task/step "><ph class="- topic/ph task/cmd ">Specialize!

</ph></li>

</ol>

Kinds of Specializations

Constraints!

Removes tags from a tag or tags defined elsewhere.

E.g. strict task.

Can greatly simplify authoring environment by eliminating unneeded tags.

Can also force stricter structural rules than the base vocabulary.

Easiest kind of specialization to develop.

No, seriously. Do this.

Element Domains

"Mix-in" tags that can be integrated in any DITA doctype shell.

Based on existing elements.

Address specific use cases.

For example:

Highlight domain (b, i, u, etc.)

Software domain (msgblock, varname, etc.)

Structural Specializations

The top-level document"container".

Mandates the overall structure

Examples: Concept

Reference

Task

Bookmap

Attribute Domains

Custom profiling or metadata attributes.

E.g. @outputTarget(DITA 1.3 improvement on @print).

DITA Doctype Shells

Ties all this together

Combine structural specializations, element domains, constraints, and attribute domains to define the actual document grammar.

When NOT to Specialize

One-off or rare special processing.

Use @outputclass instead.

When the base vocab or an existing domain will serve.

Do some analysis and research before diving in.

Identify the gaps before you fill them.

How to Specialize

First, you have to design your specialization.Don't even think about coding it up until you know exactly why you need it and how you'll use it.

Then, you have to code it. This is non-trivial, even for professionals who know what they're doing.

So, this is the bad news. It's pretty hard.

DITA 1.3 Helps

RelaxNG makes things easier.

Many of the rules for developing specializations in DITA 1.2 have been relaxed in 1.3.

Lots of community activity trying to simplify the process.

You Know Your Content

Nobody knows your content needs and requirements.

DITA lets you define structures that match your requirements while staying on the standard.

Questions?

Thanks!