Unstructured authoring refers to writing content with traditional word processors like Microsoft Word, while structured authoring uses XML. Content authored with XML is inherently structured, describing its meaning and relationships. Organizations are adopting structured authoring using XML because it enables streamlining content processes and facilitating content automation. DITA is an open standard for authoring and publishing structured technical content using XML. DITA supports single-sourcing content to produce multiple outputs and maximizes reuse through topics, conditional text, and other features.

1. dita
Darwin information typing
architecture

2. STRUCTURED (XML) VERSUS
UNSTRUCTURED AUTHORING
 Unstructured vs. Structured (XML) Authoring Tools
 There are two ways to author content: Unstructured and structured. Unstructured
authoring refers to writing content with a traditional word processing application such
as Microsoft Word or Google Docs. The author composes text in a document and
applies formatting. To reuse information in another document, the author copies and
pastes it. Unstructured content is static content that is locked in one format for a single
purpose.

Structured authoring tools are based on Extensible Markup Language (XML) and take
a different approach. Instead of using formatting to differentiate one item from another
(such as making a title larger than a subhead), the writer differentiates by identifying
each item's purpose. For example, the writer would mark a title as a <title>, and not as
24 pt Arial Bold.

Content that is structured inherently describes its meaning, purpose, and relation to
other content.

Organizations are adopting structured XML authoring because structured authoring
enables them to overhaul and streamline their content processes and is the foundation
of content automation. Content automation reduces time to market for business critical
content, improves information quality, reduces costs and facilitates compliance. You
can read more about structured XML authoring if you're interested in learning about its
technology and benefits.
2

3. DOCUMENTATION LIFECYCLE

4. DOCUMENTATION LIFECYCLE REIMAGINED

5. "I'm tryin' to think, but nothin'
happens!" - Curly Joe Howard

6. AUTHORING TOOLS AND ROLES
6

7. MADCAP FLARE –SINGLE SOURCING

Single-sourcing

greater consistency, accuracy and delivery of documentation by
creating, managing, and publishing into multiple formats from a
single source.

8. MADCAP FLARE INTERFACE

9. MADCAP FLARE INTERFACE (PART 2)

10. MADCAP FLARE – TOPIC-BASED

Topic-based Authoring

Through advanced topic-based authoring capabilities, maximize
content reuse and eliminate content duplication. Topics can be
created from templates, or automatically created by importing from
existing sources.

11. MADCAP FLARE – MULTI-CHANNEL

Multi-Channel Publishing

With unparalleled publishing capabilities, Flare can publish content to
a variety of formats, including print, online, desktop and mobile.

12. MADCAP FLARE – CONTENT RE-USE
Leverage Existing Content

Leverage and reuse existing content created in
Adobe® FrameMaker® (.fm, .mif, .book), Microsoft®
Word™, HTML/XHTML, RoboHelp®, HTML Help
projects and DITA.
Maximum Content Reuse

Improve authoring efficiency and consistency through
the use of conditional text, variables, snippets, and
more.

13. MADCAP FLARE – TEAM COLLABORATION

Team Collaboration and Content Management

Easily incorporate document contributions from others and send and
receive topics for review and feedback. Seamless integration with
industry source control systems.

14. THE DITA PROCESS

15. WHAT IS DITA?

The Darwin Information Typing
Architecture or Document Information Typing
Architecture (DITA) is an XML data model (and
open standard) for authoring and publishing. It is an
open standard[1]
that is defined and maintained by the
OASIS DITA Technical Committee.[2]

The Darwin Information Typing Architecture (DITA)
is an XML-based, end-to-end architecture for (1)
authoring, (2) producing, and (3) delivering
technical information. This architecture consists of a
set of design principles for creating "information-
typed" modules at a topic level and for using that
content in delivery modes such as online help and
product support portals on the Web.

At the heart of DITA, representing the generic
building block of a topic-oriented information
architecture, is an XML document type definition
(DTD) called "the topic DTD." The extensible
architecture, however, is the defining part of this
design for technical information; the topic DTD, or
any schema based on it, is just an instantiation of the
design principles of the architecture.
15
Laptops, desktops,
mobile phones.
Author Produce Deliver
Info-modules (topics)
DITA (XML)

16. WHAT IS A STORY?

“A story has pieces.” (topics)

User stories are one of the primary
development artifacts for Scrum and
Extreme Programming (XP) project teams.

A user story is a very high-level definition of
a requirement, containing just enough
information so that the developers can
produce a reasonable estimate of the effort
to implement it.

User Login Procedures might be a story
(the Help file/s should explain the whole
“journey”(story))
16

17. PURPOSE OF DITA

Create modular topic-based content

A framework for creating modular
documentation and task-oriented learning
systems that could be used across different
platforms

Single sourcing: a single document can be
used to produce a variety of output formats
(Word, PDF, XML, XHTML, ePub, HTML5,
Microsoft Help, JavaHelp)

As ITIL is to ITSM, DITA is to procedural
(instructional) document editing, production
and management
17

19. TECH WRITERS AND DITA
19

20. DITA AND WORD

DITA: This architecture is not merely a technology; it also enforces
topic-oriented writing (with a “topic” roughly equal to a “task”).
Every topic should be a piece of content that is about a specific
subject, has an identifiable purpose, and can stand alone. Typically,
a DITA topic is equivalent to one XML document. DITA offers default
topic types (such as task, concept and reference) to help authors
create a consistent documentation structure.

Word: Content in Word resides on pages and ends up as a
“document”. Word doesn’t restrict what can go on a page. So it can
cover one or several topics.
And in fact, nothing compels you to write in a topic-oriented manner
at all. That’s because Word is not a specialized help authoring tool.
By default, it also poses no restrictions on topic or page types. But
at the same time, Word can be equipped with
custom page templates, plugins or structuring macros that allow
users to write in a topic-oriented way.*
20

21. INPUT AND OUTPUT
Input
Formats
In terms of input, RoboHelp can import files in any of
the following formats:

HTML

Word

FrameMaker
PDF

XML

Other Help Projects
21
When a file is imported, RoboHelp will attempt
to make sense of this file, and will create one
or more HTML files from this. RoboHelp
seems to make a better job of the conversion
than many applications, but obviously not all
formatting and functionality provided by the
source format are supported in HTML, so it is
essential to ensure that the source documents
are 'HTML-friendly' first. RoboHelp will also
generate a Cascading Style Sheet for the 'help
project', based on the styles in the source
document.
Alternatively, you can use your own CSS
across all documents, which is probably what
you'd want to do in most cases, to ensure
consistency.
At this point, it is possible to change the
generated HTML (using either RoboHelp's
HTML: editor or the editor of your choice).
Any changes to the HTML will not be reflected
in the source document (the document that
was imported). Additionally, if the source
document changes, it will be necessary to re-
import the document (and then possibly re-
tweak the generated HTML).
Once the HTML files are correct, the actual
on-line help can be generated.
RoboHelp
Output Formats

FlashHelp - their format

WebHelp - their format

Word, PDF

HTML Help

WinHelp

XML

HTML

Oracle Help

JavaHelp

RoboHelp allows you to select multiple
output formats and generate all of these at
the same time.

22. MR X 22
With XML, content
becomes more
•Accessible
•Reusable
•Relate-able
•Focused
•Useful
•Searchable*

23. DITA WITH WORD & SHAREPOINT

DITA Exchange is a suite of software tools designed specifically to
enable Microsoft Office and Microsoft SharePoint users to create,
manage and deliver DITA content. It includes modules that aid in
the creation of topic-based DITA content from within
Microsoft Word, making it possible to efficiently manage the
production of topics in SharePoint, while also enabling non-
experts to easily create DITA content and publish DITA maps
(collections of topics) to a variety of outputs.

Plain and simple. It prevents those who do not need to understand
DITA, XML, and the DITA Open Tool Kit (yuck!) from the pains
associated with moving to DITA by allowing them to work within
the confines of software products with which they are already
familiar.

Instead of struggling to learn a new XML authoring tool, while
simultaneously learning a new approach to creating and
managing content, DITA Exchange empowers content creators of
all skill levels to make the jump to DITA without specialized
knowledge and in-depth software training.
23

24. WHAT YOU CAN DO WITH TOPICS AND
DOCUMENTS
1. Create
2. Edit (re-use, link by topic/task, X-
ref, related topics, index,
glossary, variables, conditional
text/output)
3. Output
4. Access (use)
5. Store*
6. Manage
7. Cross-reference
8. Re-use (e.g. conditional text,
build tags, cross-references,
links, “Related Topics”, )*
9. Share (portability)**
24
Obviously one could do a number
of other things with documents
(like throw them out, or even read
them).
The title should really read “What
Do Technical Writers commonly
do with Topics and Documents”,
except for number nine, which
everyone does.

25. DITA DOES A LOT

DITA satisfies a very wide scope of requirements, from very simple
documents with just headings and paragraphs to the most
complex task and reference information to learning content with
formal objectives, interactive assessments, and so on.

DITA is not a single document type or application. Rather it is a
framework and set of building blocks by which specific applications
are built while ensuring interoperation and interchange among all
conforming DITA content sets and all conforming general-purpose
DITA processors.

At the same time, you can simply take the DITA document types
as provided by the OASIS DITA Technical Committee and start
creating documents using your favorite XML editor. While
configuration is possible (and encouraged) it is not a cost of entry.
25

26. CAN WORD DO DITA?

It’s a fact: Microsoft Word is a word processor. Two more facts. Microsoft has not
marketed Word as an XML editor. And, they don’t plan to. Why? Because MS
Word is not an XML authoring tool, no mater what your IT team—or you—may
believe. While Word may indeed understand and use some XML, it doesn’t use
XML in the way technical communicators need it to. Instead, it uses XML to
transfer information back and forth between MS Office products. Useful? Yes.
Structured XML authoring? Not even close.

That said, it’s also a fact that XML authoring tools like XMetaL and Arbortext can
do what Microsoft Word alone cannot (even in the newest version of MS Office
for Vista). But that doesn’t mean you have to switch to a totally new XML
authoring environment in order to enjoy the benefits of XML. Nor does it mean
that your staff will need to continue creating documentation the old-fashioned
way. A new breed of tools – called XML word processors – can help you
develop structured XML content (even DITA content!) without the need to switch
to a new, unfamiliar XML authoring environment.
Ref. http://thecontentwrangler.com/2008/01/01/creating_dita_content_who_says_you_cant_use_microsoft_word/#

27. DITA AND AGILE

DITA has a well-established ecosystem of
supporting tools, both commercial and free
open source, as well as an active and growing
community of users, consultants, and tool
providers.

DITA is well supported by all the major
commercial XML editors and XML component
content management systems. The open-
source DITA Open Toolkit provides the main
DITA processing implementation used by the
community.

DITA's modularity and extensibility make it
well adapted to agile development
methodologies because you can get started
quickly and then iteratively refine your use of
DITA as required, either removing the things
you don't need or adding new things to meet
your specific requirements.
27

Agile software development describes a set
of values and principles for
software development under which
requirements and solutions evolve through the
collaborative effort of self-organizing
cross-functional teams.[1]
It advocates adaptive
planning, evolutionary development, early
delivery, and continuous improvement, and it
encourages rapid and flexible response to
change.[2]
These principles support the
definition and continuing evolution of many
software development methods.[3]

The term agile (sometimes written Agile)[4]
was
popularized by the
Manifesto for agile software development,[5]
which defines those values and principles.
Agile software development frameworks
continue to evolve,[3]
two of the most widely
used being Scrum and Kanban.[6]

28. WORD TO XML (DITA)
28
Speech
House of
Commons debate
Aide-memoire
Legislative Draft
Output to
Word
Import to
RoboHelp
DITA (RoboHelp)
Word files
(documents)
Transform XML files
(topics)
Speech
House of
Commons debate
Aide-memoire
Legislative Draft
Edit in Word Edit in RoboHelp

29. DITA AND MADCAP FLARE

Darwin Information Typing Architecture (DITA) file content is
supported in Flare. DITA is an XML-based markup language with its
own schema for authoring, producing, and delivering technical
information.

It is a standard of the Organization for the Advancement of
Structured Information Standards (OASIS), and

it consists of a set of design principles for creating "information-
typed" modules at a topic level and for using that content in various
delivery modes.
29

30. FLARE AND DITA 30

31. DITA ENHANCES DOCUMENT USEFULNESS
DITA lets companies
(especially larger ones)
maintain better consistency in
their documentation by
establishing structural rules
and standards for all its
authors to follow. (The idea is that
writers will spend more of their time
authoring content, rather than worrying
about the presentation of that information).
DITA is not for everyone (e.g.,
smaller companies, individual
writers). But if you are in need of
very tightly structured content
solution, DITA might be
something to consider.
DITA allows for greater content
findability, re-use and re-
purposing (thus making any one
piece of information or
document more useful)

32. SHOULD I USE IT?Here are some questions to ask when deciding whether or not a DITA authoring environment could be of benefit in your situation.
 Do you have a large body of content to deal with – have you found yourself doing a Google search to find
content that you should be able to locate through a content repository search?

Are there standard words, phrases, or paragraphs that you repeatedly use – do you often search and
copy phrases or even whole sections from elsewhere in your body of content?

Do you maintain a set of documents that differ slightly from one context to another? Similar documents
that are almost the same but still different for different markets, target audiences, products?

Do you have ongoing issues with consistent use of language between topics – for example, certain
sentences or paragraphs that should be identical in a large number of instances?
 Is the content subject to change volatility – that is, the organization changes the names of features or
products on an ongoing basis?

Is your organization in an industry where compliance is an issue – accuracy is important?

Does your company have multiple product lines where descriptions could be quite similar but with key
differences?
 Is your content highly structured – that is, do you create many of the same type of content, where
formalizing the schema could be beneficial?

Can your content benefit from being created in a modular way that has mix-and-match qualities to the
topics?

Is your organization a target of lawsuits – so you need to be able to find all of your content and update
immediately when products, services, or market or legal conditions change?

Does your organization need to respond to market conditions quickly by gathering and modifying existing
content – for example, if your organization has a rapid adoption rate for new products with similar
features?
 Does your organization translate into multiple languages, making a key consideration content
consistency in the source language?

Do the writers in your organization have the skill and discipline to learn an XML editor and work in a
structured authoring environment?

If you have little content and little or no re-use, then DITA is likely not the solution for you. However, if you have answered yes to at
least two of these questions, and you are looking for ways to manage the content lifecycle more efficiently, then you should seriously
consider using DITA on a regular basis.
32

33. CONTENT STRATEGY
33

34. TOPIC RE-USE
 The various information architectures for online deliverables all tend to focus on
the idea of topics as the main design point for such information.

A topic is a unit of information that describes a single task, concept, or reference
item. The information category (concept, task1
, or reference) is its information
type (or infotype).

A new information type can be introduced by specialization from the structures in
the base topic DTD. Typed topics are easily managed within content
management systems as reusable, stand-alone units of information.

For example, selected topics can be gathered, arranged, and processed within
a delivery context to provide a variety of deliverables. These deliverables might
be groups of recently updated topics for review, helpsets for building into a user
assistance application, or even chapters or sections in a booklet that are printed
from user-selected search results or "shopping lists.“

* Topics can also equate to tasks or requirements. The idea is to establish chunks
of content that can be juggled around later, translated to a different language,
cross-referenced, or printed in seven different versions (using conditional text).
34
The topic as the basic architectural unit
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35. SPECIALIZATION & INTEROPERABILITY
DITA's architecture is driven by two
related but distinct requirements:
1)Enable interchange and
interoperation of XML content from
a wide variety of sources without
requiring everyone involved to agree
on a single overarching document
type definition.
2)Enable reuse of content among
different publications and within the
same publication.
Requirement (1), interoperation, is satisfied by
DITA's specialization facility, which allows for
controlled extension of document vocabularies
while guaranteeing the interoperability of the
documents in the context of general-purpose
DITA processors. Conforming DITA documents
35

36. RE-USE OF CONTENT
Requirement (2), reuse, is satisfied by three DITA features:

The map and topics model, which separates the concern of
publication structures (maps) from the concern of content (topics).
Maps are simply collections of links to topics. This approach allows the
same topic to be easily reused in multiple publications (different maps)
or multiple times within the same publication. While not required, this
usually leads to an approach where content is managed as many
small components that are then combined into different publications as
needed.

The DITA content reference feature ("conref"), which allows any
element to be a use-by-reference link to any other element of the
same or more specialized type.

The "keys" indirect addressing feature. When you reuse elements
that have embedded links (cross references, content references, etc.)
there is the inherent challenge that a link, when used in different
contexts, may need to resolve to different targets. Keys make it
possible to have reused content that contains embedded links and
ensure that the links resolve to the appropriate targets in all use
contexts.
36

37. DITA ADVANTAGES
DITA offers a number of advantages over tools and languages such as
FrameMaker and DocBook:

DITA uses about half as many tags as DocBook does. The tags are easy to
understand, and you’ll quickly find that you’ll use only a small percentage of
them regularly.

Because DITA is based on XML, the source files are plain text. They can be
opened in any editor and used on any operating system without a loss of
formatting.

DITA is a good choice for single sourcing documents. Single sourcing involves
identifying all the types of documents you create, and what content is shared
among those documents. From there, you combine the information as needed
and output it into various formats as needed. (What goes into a user manual
will differ from the content of a product overview or a help system.)

DITA enables technical writers to manage and combine their content easily.
Writers can quickly extract and combine the information they need, when they
need it. For example, when building an online help system, a technical writer
can simply use the DITA topics that represent procedures, leaving out any
superfluous overview information.

DITA enables writers to reuse standard content quickly and easily. For
example, the same introductions, glossaries, and "how to use this program"
sorts of verbiage can be used in multiple documents.
37

38. DITA DOCUMENTS
 A DITA based document is not written sequentially as a complete
document but built from several components called DITA topics.
Each topic is a selfsufficient, reusable piece of content. Several
topics are glued together and structured by a DITA map. Structure
and sequence of content can be controlled by different maps.

Technically, DITA maps and topics are XML files and thus, DITA
provides all benefits of an XML solution: content is separated from
structure and layout. Differently strucutred documents in a variatey of
layouts can be published from a single source by only a few clicks
using transformation profiles.

Why use it?
Since DITA’s introduction, many organizations have realized
significant time and cost savings, as well as increased quality and
flexibility, by using DITA for managing documents and providing reuse
in areas like:

Technical documentation and service manuals

Learning documentation

Legal documents

Marketing material

Process descriptions

Compliance documentation

Organizations have seen other benefits from DITA as well, including
more collaborative development environments helping in case of
engaging external content providers, integrate content of acquired
companies and working with translation agencies. Today DITA has
gained widespread adoption in the technical documentation world, in
companies such as Cisco, IBM, Nokia, SAP, Oracle and many others.
DITA uses the advantages presented by XML and even beyond that.
38

39. CUSTOMIZED OUTPUTS
Easy global changes through customized transforms

With DITA you can update the structure and presentation of an
entire information set by applying a consistent, core transform.
You can automate tasks like building summary tables and listing
linked topics.

And because these global changes get applied during output
generation, you can apply different sets of global changes for
different output. In this way you can generate customized outputs
for print versus online, or for different platform or branding
requirements, without having to edit and adjust the source each
time.

You can quickly respond to customer demands for new and
updated product information.
39

40. Portable through standards

Using DITA, product groups and external business partners
can easily share and exchange content.

Third parties can use common transformation and
presentation models with DITA, or create specialized
processing to offer views and presentation of content that is
company- or brand-specific, or to transform content for
reuse between DITA and other XML formats.

This content portability is critical for maintaining
arrangements with third-party partners and for ensuring that
a writing team remains productive through business
reorganizations, mergers, acquisitions, and spin-offs.
40

41. LINKING AND WEB

Linking and Web management
DITA makes it possible to create and maintain
cross-topic links from outside the topic itself. You
can apply different sets of links in different
situations.

For example, when your topics are included in
product A, the appropriate links for that product
are included. For product B, a second set of links
are included.

Similarly, when you’re incorporating content
produced by another team, you can add
appropriate links to their topics during processing
without editing their source. You can even add
links after topics have shipped to translation.
41

42. CONDITIONAL TEXT AND VARIABLES

Conditional processing and Variables support
With DITA, you can tag parts of a topic by product,
audience, or other characteristics. You can then include,
exclude, or otherwise flag that content for reuse or
specialized presentation.

Conditional text lets you generate subsets of the content
within a project for various purposes or audiences. You
can create conditional build tags to exclude content from
output, and then assign those tags to topics or elements
within topics.

Variables let you use CompanyName (the variable) in
place of XYZ “HiTech Enterprises Ltd” (the variable’s text
value)
42

43. THE DITA NAME
The DITA name derives from the following
components:

Darwin: it uses the principles of
specialization and inheritance, which is in
some ways analogous to the naturalist
Charles Darwin's concept of evolutionary
adaptation,

Information Typing, which means each
topic has a defined primary objective
(procedure, glossary entry, troubleshooting
information) and structure,

Architecture: DITA is an extensible set of
structures.[3]
43

44. TOPIC BASED AUTHORING
In topic-based authoring, a topic is a discrete piece of content that
is about a specific subject, has an identifiable purpose, and can
stand alone
44
ASD STE-100 Simplified Technical English, or Simplified English, is the original name of a controlled language specification
originally developed for aerospace industry maintenance manuals. It is a carefully limited and standardized subset of English. It is
now officially known under its trademarked name as Simplified Technical English (STE). STE is regulated for use in the
aerospace and defense industries, but other industries have used it as a basis for their own controlled English standards.

45. TOPICS AND XML

In technical communication, topic-based authoring is a modular approach to content creation where
content is structured around topics that can be mixed and reused in different contexts. It is defined in
contrast with book-oriented or narrative content, written in the linear structure of written books.[1]

This authoring approach is popular in the technical publications and documentation arenas, as it is
adequate for technical documentation. Tools supporting this approach typically store content
in XML document format in a way that facilitates content reuse, content management, and makes the
dynamic assembly of personalized information possible.

A topic is a discrete piece of content that is about a specific subject, has an identifiable purpose, and can
stand alone (does not need to be presented in context for the end-user to make sense of the content).
Topics are also reusable. They can, when constructed properly (without reliance on other content for its
meaning), be reused in any context anywhere needed.

The Darwin Information Typing Architecture (DITA) is a standard designed to help authors create topic-
based content. The standard is managed by the Organization for the Advancement of Structured
Information Standards (OASIS) DITA Technical Committee.
45

46. TOPIC-ORIENTED AUTHORING

DITA content is created as topics, each an individual XML file.

Typically, each topic covers a specific subject with a singular intent,
for example, a conceptual topic that provides an overview, or a
procedural topic that explains how to accomplish a task.[8]

Content should be structured to resemble the file structure in which it
is contained.
46

47. CONTENT REUSE
Topics can be reused across multiple publications. Fragments of
content within topics can be reused through the use of content
references (conref or conkeyref), a transclusion mechanism.[4]
47

48. ADOBE ROBOHELP

Adobe RoboHelp software is designed for developing Help systems, e-learning
content, policies and procedures, and knowledge bases. Its enhanced editing and
layout capabilities enable you to create professional looking content. With the new
Responsive HTML5 and mobile layouts (SSLs), you can now take your content
authored in RoboHelp, FrameMaker, or Microsoft®
Word to mobile devices and
tablets. You can create custom fluid layouts to ensure that users can view the output
on a wide range of devices.

With the Responsive HTML5 layout, you can generate output that is suited for
different device sizes and resolutions. For example, you can place the TOC on the
right or design a page for displaying search results. In the multiscreen paradigm,
desktop is another screen with a specific width and height.

You can also publish Responsive HTML5 output to RoboHelp Server 10 to enable
tracking of review comments from multiple users and reporting them for analysis.
48
What does it do?

49. ROBOHELP OUTPUTS 49

50. DITA MAPS
A DITA map is like a table of contents --
listing and linking the topics for a
specific output. DITA maps assemble
topics into sequence and hierarchy
tailored to specific delivery
requirements.
50
• Html5 (web, mobile)
• MS Word
• Responsive HTML5
• ePub
• Mobi (Kindle)
• Books
• PDFs
• eBook
• XML
• Microsoft HTML
Help
• FlashHelp
• JavaHelp
Topics Map(s) Output
You can have multiple maps, each one
arranging the topics for different
requirements, such as a reference manual,
a tutorial, or online Help. A DITA map file
has the extension .ditamap.

51. TOPICS IN DITA
51

52. ROBOHELP OUTPUT TO
WORD
RoboHelp can output
a project of topic files
to Word or PDF
52
RoboHelp 2017’s Word and PDF output options.

53. DITA MAPS

A DITA map is a container for topics used to transform a collection of
content into a publication. It gives the topics' sequence and structure.
A map can include relationship tables (reltables) that define
hyperlinks between topics.[5]
Maps can be nested. Maps can
reference topics or other maps, and can contain a variety of content
types and metadata.
53

54. METADATA

DITA includes extensive metadata elements and attributes, both at
topic level and within elements.[6]

Conditional text allows filtering or styling content based on attributes
for audience, platform, product, and other properties. The conditional
processing profile (.ditaval file) is used to identify which values are to
be used for conditional processing.[7]

Conditional text lets you generate subsets of the content within a
project for various purposes or audiences. You can create conditional
build tags to exclude content from output, and then assign those tags
to topics or elements within topics.
54

55. MS Word and DITA

In Word, the work-unit is a “document”; In DITA,
it is a “topic”

A topic often represents a ‘task”, like “Log On
Procedures” or “Calculating Your Total Cost”

A single set of topics T1,T2….TN can be passed
through a Map (M) to achieve different outputs
(XML, Word, HTML5, PDF, ePub, .mobi)
55

56. BENEFITS OF DITA

57. TOOLS RATED

58. The End