Painless XML Authoring?: How DITA Simplifies XML - Presentation Transcript
Painless XML Authoring? How DITA Simplifies XML Bob Doyle [email_address] [email_address] 617-876-5676 Skype: bobdoyle
A brief poll. Who’s heard of…
Structured writing? Information Mapping?
Task-oriented Documentation? vs. ?
Minimalism? John Carroll?
Single-source publishing? vs. Reuse?
Component Content Management?
Topic-based authoring?
Bob Horn, John Brockmann, JoAnn Hackos, Ginny Redish, Ruth Clark?
All heard of DITA?
Information Typing
Topics: Concept, Task, and Reference
DITA Maps
DITA Open Toolkit
DITA is Simplified XML
Specialization
Heard of me? Ph.D. Astrophysics, Harvard, 1968 Collaborative Observing Program, NASA Skylab 1970-72 Super8 Sound, 1973-78 Merlin and 5 other computer games– 1977-81 iXO Telecomputer – 1980-87 MacPublisher – 1984-1987 Digital Video Editor, New Media Magazine -1993-1999
Parker Brothers Games
iXO Telecomputer
Computer-initiated dialogues (AI)
Yes, No, Help, Repeat keys
“ Operators are standing by”
Stock trades, airline reservations, bill paying.
Hearing-impaired
Powered from phone line
Venture capital $13 million
Never developed the backend database services
Huge NOL carry-forward
MacPublisher
First Desktop Publishing Program
11 th Certified Mac Developer
Shipped in 1984
Laserwriter in 1985
First “spot color” text on Apple Imagewriter
First rotated text/gaphics
Sold 20,000 copies
MacIndexer
Mac-Hyphen
Sold to Letraset in 1987
Doing What Recently CEO, skyBuilders.com Editor, CMS Review related websites – CMS Wiki, CMS Forum, CMS News, CMS Calendar, CMS Glossary, CMSML, CMS Boston, Open Internet Lexicon, TaxoTips Founder, CM Professionals Contributing Editor, EContent Magazine Founder, DITA Users related websites – DITA Infocenter, DITA News, DITA Newsletter, DITA Blog, DITA Wiki, and DITA Tutor
The First Podcast - 2003
Christopher Lydon (NPR’s “The Connection”)
Dave Winer
Adam Curry
Bloggercon
BlogAudio.org
Lydon’s “Open Source” Show
EContent Magazine
Contributing Editor
6 columns per year
XML Authoring Tools Review
12 online columns per year
EC100 selection
Joined OASIS - 2006
Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards
Member – DITA Technical Committee
Member – Learning and Content SC
Member – Help SC
Observer – Translation SC
Member – Editorial Board
Organizer – Boston DITA User Group
DITA Users – Launched in March
DITA Users is an international membership organization
~400 members from 21 countries.
Members learn topic-based structured writing.
Author DITA with DITA Storm browser-based editor
Deliverables for web (XHTML), print (PDF), Help (Eclipse) from single-source documents.
Members have a personal workspace folder.
Finished work on web to show colleagues and clients.
Member directory has contact information.
Discounts on major DITA conferences, on tools (?), on
DITA tutorials and workshops, and on the DITA Report.
DITA Infocenter – Launched April
DITA Infocenter is Eclipse-based Online Help
DITA Architectural Specification (1.0 and 1.1)
DITA Language Specification (1.0 and 1.1)
Open Toolkit User Guide (1.3.1)
Full-text search
Index of keywords
Table of contents
Generated from DITA files with Open Toolkit
DITA News – Launched June
Aggregates blog posts from DITA bloggers.
Extensive listings of DITA tools from A to Z.
Events calendar with conference listings,
Websites, Publications, Webinars.
Glossary of DITA terms.
Content syndicated to other websites
Single-source publishing tools.
DITA Blog – Launched July
Group blog
Anyone may join
RSS feeds syndicate to DITA News
DITA Wiki – Launched July
Resources with comments and discussions.
Mediawiki software (Wikipedia)
Architectural and Language specifications
Vendors and Products
Professional Services
Edited directly by the vendors
User comments
People section - major DITA players
Glossary of terms
DITA Newsletter – Launched September
Monthly summary of DITA news
Industry mailing list for press releases.
DITA Mentor Awards
Next month’s events listings
Member discount offers
DITA Tutor – Launched September
Learning management system (Moodle LMS)
Self-paced online tutorials
Instructor-led online workshops
Powerpoint presentations
Some with audio recording
Recorded webinars
Courses in DITA techniques
Certificates of completion.
DITA User Groups
[email_address]
http://dita.xml.org/user-groups
Encouraging remote attendance
Recording meeting presentations
Archiving to DITA Tutor
Possibly repurpose as eLearning
What collaboration tools should we use?
Structured Writing – 1960’s and 70’s
Structured writing requires an analysis of content and a reorganization into the smallest possible coherent topics. Decades of research on such analysis and organization have been done by Information Mapping™ , who identified common document types, information types, and information blocks (chunks or topics) in use in education and commerce.
The reduction in structured authoring time may be offset by the increased time needed to analyze the content and break it into reusable chunks. There is no doubt that granular content, with well-defined purposes for each paragraph and sentence, is easier to author than linear content. But you may need skilled (i.e., more expensive) information developers to chunk your material.
Task-oriented Documentation – 1980’s
Task-oriented docs have replaced system-oriented or product-oriented docs - the old comprehensive user manual.
ROI - The number of calls per month to the help desk on a product will almost certainly change when product documentation is task oriented and minimalist. And task-oriented content can feed directly into help-desk scripts.
Minimalism – 1990’s
Minimalism aims to provide just what the impatient user is looking for. Remember, the web surfer is always just one click away from going to your competition's website. Your job is to strip away unnecessary content and get to the point. You can measure the return by pre-testing and post-testing content that has been re-architected along minimalist principles.
Minimalism appears to promise reduced costs for the simple reason that there is so much less content in well-prepared minimalist material. But it takes talented people to write succinct, action-oriented procedures that get users to understand quickly what they need to know and successfully do it. And minimalist material is best when it is tested for effectiveness, adding to costs.
Single-source Publishing – 1990’s
The original definition of single-source publishing was providing multiple output formats like Web, Print, and Online Help from the original documents.
When you have one source for each piece of content, you get the astonishing ability to change it in one place and have the change propagate everywhere. A product name change becomes much more manageable. Your business-critical marketing messages are standardized everywhere. Some call single source a "single source of truth" because you are assured that your customers are not getting mixed messages that can confuse them, reduce sales, and increase the need for tech support.
Single-source plus Reuse
Reusable content has a single source, of course, but reuse generally refers to content originally developed for one context that can be reused in another. This requires content that is topic-based and written for reuse by avoiding explicit references to context.
The cost savings associated with reuse of content increase greatly when your content goes through a workflow with distinct review and approval stages, for example legal approval. Content that is reused generally can avoid all or most of the extra steps in the workflow that involve accuracy of content. You will still need design approval of the in-context appearance of the reused content.
Component Content Management
The latest buzzword in CMS is "component." Most web content management (WCMS) segment content at the web page. While this may be adequate for simple websites written by one or a few content contributors, it is not acceptable for websites whose pages act as portals to diverse kinds of interactive content.
Modern corporate pages pull content in from multiple sources. Each content block is filled with a content component managed independently of all the other blocks on the page. A component has its own versioning and scheduling, its own writers, reviewers, and approval process.
Topic-based authoring
A topic is a unit of information with a title and some form of content, short enough to be specific to a single subject or answer a single question, but long enough to make sense on its own and be authored as a unit.
A topic aims to be context-free, so it contains no links to other topics.
In DITA, the topic is the basic unit of authoring and of reuse.
A topic is a content component
Why Concept, Task, and Reference?
Remember Macintosh doc guidelines?
Learning MacPaint, Using MacPaint, the MacPaint Reference.
The DITA Map provides context for your context-free topics – the content .
You can have many maps, each one arranging the topics for different requirements – a reference manual, a tutorial, a help desk.
The map is like a table of contents that rebuilds the book dynamically.
What’s the DITA Open Toolkit?
The Open Toolkit is an open-source end-to-end single-source publishing system.
It takes your topics and your maps and generates multiple output format deliverables, like print (PDF), web (HTML), and Help.
It is free and has been integrated into leading DITA editing and CMS tools.
Why Simplified XML?
DITA is XML.
XML is way harder than HTML and most writers want no part of HTML.
So how can DITA be easier than XML?
Because XML separates content from presentation
And it also separates content from structure
What Is Content Anyway?
It’s not the Presentation or the Structure!
Separate Presentation Layer from Content
Structure the Content
Tag Content with Meaning (semantics) by Metadata
Three Kinds of Markup
The three layers use different “markup”
Style - <font>, <b>, <i>
Structure - <p>, <ol>
Semantics <name>, <price>, <product>
Three Kinds of XML
The three layers use different technologies
XSLT Stylesheets (CSS)
XML Schemas (DTDs)
XML/DITA Documents
Three Different Professions
The three layers are the work of different professionals
Designers for Style
Architects for Structure
Authors for Content and metadata
Simplified XML again
The DITA Open toolkit is XML with a starter set of stylesheets (XSLTs) and schemas (DTDs) so your organization does not have to invest in months or years of development
But simplified can be too simple…
DITA is not for writers alone..
Without style designers… (XSLTs)
Without structural architects… (DTDs)
DITA sucks!
It’s like publishing your annual report in Notepad text!
Although topics are components, they don’t have the metadata needed to assemble them intelligently.
So what’s the benefit for writers?
Your work can feed into the dynamic assembly of complex information products
Websites, Help systems, Custom Print Documentation, Mobile snippets
You are an assembly line writer in the age of information automation!
Love it or hate it?
Topics are Content Components
Even subtopic elements can be reusable components
Elements just need unique IDs
Then they can be conref ’d (content referenced) which means you can include them by reference in other topics.
Specialized topics have metadata created by the structure architects.
So what is specialization?
You can specialize structures
You can specialize element names
Then valid topics can be written in DITA-compliant authoring tools without knowing anything about the underlying XML
And they can be assembled automatically using the metadata implicit in the specialization.
Three examples of specialization
Concepts are specialized topics
Tasks are specialized topics
References are specialized topics
By understanding those specializations, you will know how specialization works
But remember that specialization is the work of document architects and information designers
A close look at a topic
A topic has only three required elements.
an id attribute in the main topic tag (for reuse)
a title
a body
A close look at a topic…
It can have dozens of optional elements, many of which are very familiar HTML elements, like paragraphs <p>, lists <ul>, and tables <table>
A close look at a topic…
Elements are shown schematically as colored boxes in a hierarchy.
They are actually XML tag structures, properly nested and well formed.
<topic id="1">
<title>My Topic</title>
<shortdesc>About my topic...</shortdesc>
<body>
<p>Some content</p>
<p>Some more content</p>
</body>
</topic>
The Concept Type
The concept type specializes topic element names and topic structure.
The root element is renamed concept and the body element is renamed conbody .
Any number of paragraphs , lists , tables , etc. may appear, but none of these are allowed after the first section or example .
Sections and examples can then appear in any order.
The Task Type
The task type specializes topic element names and topic structure.
The root element is renamed task and the body element is renamed taskbody .
One task prerequisite and one context (both specializations of section ) are followed by steps (a specialization of ordered list ).
Each step must have a command , then optional info , a step example , choices , and a step result .
The set of steps is followed by the task result , examples , and any task postrequisite .
The Reference Type
The task type specializes topic element names and topic structure.
The root element is renamed reference and the body element is renamed refbody .
The refbody includes a properties element (a specialization of simpletable ) a three-column table of property types, values, and descriptions.
The element refsyn (reference syntax) is a specialization of the section element.
Eight top XML Editors were studied Chosen from 6 5 i n CMS Review Editor Listings P ublished in the June issue of EContent Magazine Extended version - XML Editors Report
Which Editors Do You Use?
A quick poll of your experience
The XML Editors Report
Personal use license
Corporate license
One year of release versions
Online consulting included
Screen share to look at interfaces
CM Pros Best Practices
CMS Trends
Open Source (and Open Documents)
Online (ASPs and Web Services)
Offshore? (Globalization)
Enabling technologies (XML, Javascript)
AJAX, Web 2.0
Information Architecture and Content Management.
Two Kinds of Information Architecture
IA of document sets, books in a library, a website, the World Wide Web – organization, cataloging, metadata tagging, accessibility, findability.
IA of a single document - page structure, allowed navigation elements and reusable content components.
Defining Content Management
What is a CM System?
What Is Content Management?
What Is Content?
What is a CM System?
It is humans using computers and software to assist in managing content.
It has two main parts:
The user interface.
The database (content repository).
Everything else is magic middleware.
It helps manage the content lifecycle.
What Is Content Management?
Content management is the whole process from creation and capture of original content to the delivery of different versions to many publishing channels:
Print
Web
Cellphone
Etc.
The Content Lifecycle
7 stages
Organize
Rules
Create
Storage
Assembly
Publish
Archive
Context
Users
Content
Brown Television (BTV) Doug Liman
Hi-8 Users Group Funded Videomaker Magazine, Hi-8 Group became Desktop Video Group in 1992
HRTV and Quad Sound Harvard-Radcliffe Film Workshop was in the basement of Holmes Hall (North/Pforzheimer House) where the old Radcliffe Radio Station and Morse Music Library were located. In the mid-80’s it became HRTV and the radio broadcast booth and adjoining sound rooms became Quad Sound Studios.
CMS Review
Other CMS Review Sites
CMS Forum
CMS Wiki
CMSML
CMS News
CMS Calendar
CMS Glossary
CMS Boston
Memography
Open Internet
Lexicon
TaxoTips
List-2-Web
CMS Review Glossary
Finding a CMS
The CMSML project at CMS Review and CM Pros
Select two CMS or enter search terms to find CMS that match your criteria. The directory is a faceted classification scheme. Click compare to get the results below...
CM Professionals
Nearly 1000 members in 2006
Website (7/10 Google PageRank)
Benefits - Mail, Member Directory
Glossary, Resource Library, Calendar
Communi ties - CMSML, DITA, Global
News, Blog aggregation
Globalization, Personalization
CM Professionals
CM Pros Member Directory
CM Pros Calendar
CM Pros Videos
Eighty hours of video from Gilbane Conferences, IA Summit, OSCOM, Bloggercons at Harvard.
Presented at DocTrain East 2007 by Bob Doyle, DITA more
Presented at DocTrain East 2007 by Bob Doyle, DITA Users -- This introduction to XML Authoring will acquaint you with over fifty tools aimed at structuring content with DITA. They are not just DITA-compliant authoring tools (editors) for writers. They also include content management systems (CMS), translation management systems (TMS), and dynamic publishing engines that fully support DITA. You will also need to know about tools that convert legacy documents to DITA and help to design stylesheets for DITA deliverables. The best DITA tools for technical communicators implement the DITA standard while hiding all the complexity of the underlying XML (eXtensible Markup Language).
As a tech writer and not a tech, you should be able to forget about XML - except to know that you are using it (DITA is XML) and that it consists of named content elements (or components) with attributes. You need to know enough about the content elements so you can reference (conref) them for reuse. You need to know about their attributes so you can filter on them for conditional processing. And you should appreciate that because components are uniquely identifiable they lend themselves perfectly to automated dynamic assembly using a publishing engine.
We will describe how you can get started with structured writing without knowing XML or installing anything.
The promise of topic-based structured authoring is not simply better documentation. It is the creation of mission-critical information for your organization, written with a deep understanding of your most important audiences, that can be repurposed to multiple delivery channels and localized for multilingual global markets. You are not just writing content, you are preparing the information deliverables that enhance the value of your organization in all its markets.
To do that well, you must understand the latest tools in structured writing that are revolutionizing corporate information systems - today in documentation but tomorrow throughout the enterprise, from external marketing to internal human resources. Whether you are trying to push a new product into a new market or are “onboarding” a new employee, the need for high quality information to educate the customer or train the new salesperson is a challenge for technical communicators. You need to think outside the docs!
The key idea behind Darwin Information Typing Architecture is to create content in small chunks or modules called topics. A topic is the right size when it can stand alone as meaningful information. Topics are then assembled into documents using DITA maps, which are hierarchical lists of pointers or links to topics. The pointers are called “topicrefs” (for topic references).
Think of documents as assembled from single-source component parts. Assembly can be conditional, dependent on properties or metadata “tags” you attach to a topic. For example, the “audience” property might be “beginner” or “advanced.”
At a still finer level of granularity, individual elements of a topic can also be assigned property tags for conditional assembly. More importantly, a topic element can be assigned a unique ID that makes it a content component reusable in other topics.
As you will learn, DITA is a leading technology for “component content management,” which multiplies the value of your work. You need to leverage DITA and structured content to multiply your income. less
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