Attractive DITA: It is possible!

is Sarah O’KeefeScriptorium Publishing background image ﬂickr: thelastminute

❖ Everyone is muted except for the presenter❖ Please ask your questions through the Questions area in the webcast interface❖ The presentation is being recorded; attendees do not appear in the recording

❖ Founder and president, Scriptorium Publishing❖ Content strategy for tech comm❖ Interested in collision of content, publishing, and technology

ﬂickr: navin75

❖ Lower your standards?❖ DITA Open Toolkit ❖ Custom development ❖ Scriptorium plug-ins ❖ Other plug-ins (DITA4Publishers)❖ Alternatives to the Open Toolkit

ﬂickr: SurprisePally

❖ Technology load and learning curve ❖ Ant, CSS, XSLT, HTML, XSL-FO❖ Default plug-ins are not suitable for production❖ No support for web-based help❖ PDF very difﬁcult to conﬁgure

ﬂickr: iwona_kellie

❖ Does your audience care about typographic niceties?❖ Less sophisticated formatting = lower implementation cost and greater automation❖ Especially helpful for PDF!

❖ Provides output for HTML, RTF, PDF, HTML Help, Eclipse Help, and more❖ Extensible❖ Challenging to conﬁgure❖ Build automation and build integration❖ Open source

❖ Expensive❖ Time-consuming❖ Worthwhile for complex and nonnegotiable requirements?❖ Expert consultants are available (ahem)

❖ Plug-ins run in Open Toolkit ❖ Collection of XSLT, XSL-FO, CSS, graphics❖ Can customize further❖ Provides web-based help and more reasonable PDF

❖ ePub and Kindle output❖ Word to DITA❖ DITA to InDesign❖ http://dita4publishers.sourceforge.net/

❖ Printed page layouts have more options than HTML layouts.❖ Extensible Stylesheet Language Formatting Objects (XSL-FO) needs to support sophisticated page layout options.❖ Pushing XML into page layout tools is challenging.❖ Automation means giving up page-by-page formatting.

❖ Page-based layout tools❖ Help authoring/conversion tools❖ High-end processors

❖ Provide excellent PDF output❖ Formatting templates easier than DITA OT conﬁguration❖ Issues with XML white space❖ Round-tripping is challenging (FrameMaker) or nearly impossible (others)

❖ Many provide web-based help solutions❖ Easier conﬁguration than DITA OT

❖ Based on DITA Open Toolkit pdf2 transform❖ A standard Open Toolkit plug-in❖ Addresses some of the most common concerns with PDF

❖ Page size and margins❖ Font controls❖ Header and footer❖ Table of contents formatting❖ Index generation (even in FOP)❖ Index formatting

❖ Added variables (and comments) to basic-settings.xsl for many common requirements  <xsl:variable name="date-in-footers">yes</xsl:variable> <xsl:variable name="time-in-footers">no</xsl:variable>

❖ Not provided in DITA OT❖ Can use help authoring tools❖ XMetaL and Trisoft include web-based help output

❖ Web-based help❖ Provides tripane browser-based help that is not available in Open Toolkit

❖ $10,000❖ Plug-in ﬁles❖ Your customizations (fonts, logo, headers and footers, page size, and more)

❖ $4,000❖ Plug-in ﬁles❖ Your customizations (CSS, logo, headers and footers, and more)

ﬂickr: blipsman

❖ Platform requirements❖ Technical resources❖ Typography requirements❖ Velocity❖ Volume❖ Versioning

ﬂickr: bootbearwdc

❖ Researching adoption rates, issues, tools❖ Open until March 1❖ Participants get free results❖ http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/ structure❖ Please participate, and tell your friends!

❖ Tony Self on The DITA Style Guide, March 9❖ March: Trends in technical communication, 2011❖ April: Structured authoring survey results

❖ PDF plug-in: scriptorium.com/2011/01/ a-makeover-for-the-dita-ots-pdf-plugin/❖ Contact us at info@scriptorium.com

❖ Sarah O’Keefe❖ www.scriptorium.com❖ okeefe@scriptorium.com❖ @sarahokeefe

Attractive DITA: It is possible!

by Scriptorium Publishing on Feb 08, 2011

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