DITA can be intimidating to those who attempt to learn it on their own. There’s an awful lot of theory and unnecessary jargon surrounding DITA. However, there is another way to learn DITA--by approaching it from the practical side and not the theory side. This presentation provides a rough guide to that approach. Presented at AODC 2010

1. Who’s afraid of the DITA Wolf? Suchi Govindarajan, MYOB Presented at AODC 2010 http://www.aodc.com.au/overview10.aspx

2. An origami exercise

3. Valley, mountain, and crease are the three types of folds from which all origami springs. But even a valley fold is not necessarily the same as another valley fold if the layers of paper do not lie flat. When models move into three dimensions, both valley and mountain folds can vary in another way: the fold angle, which can take on many values. [Origami Design Secrets, Robert Lang] What if we’d started with this bit of theory instead?

4. There are four mathematical rules for producing flat-foldable origami crease patterns: crease patterns are two colorable at any vertex the number of valley and mountain folds always differ by two in either direction Kawasaki's theorem: at any vertex, the sum of all the odd angles adds up to 180 degrees, as do the even. a sheet can never penetrate a fold. Or this? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mathematics_of_paper_folding

5. Theory versus practice

6. "I actually made something straight away“ No more fear "I remember doing something like this before“ Builds on what you know "I wonder how it works” Piques your curiosity "How did they come up with that? How would I make my own designs?” Path to more learning Practice is fun for beginners

7. Barriers to learning DITA You already know DITA The secret road Doubts? Go further And now to DITA

8. Barriers to Learning DITA(Theory & Jargon)

9. Let’s look at some DITA material “In this tutorial, you will learn the basic elements in a DITA topic and how they are specialized to become the three core DITA information types: concept task reference" [http://www.ditausers.org/training/DITATopics/]

10. DITA material (continued) “Darwin because its topics can be specialized to inherit properties of basic topics. Three basic Information Types are Concept, Task, and Reference topics. The Architecture is an XML standard, with Schemas and DTDs (document type definitions) maintained by OASIS. Topics can include other topics and sub-topics for flexible content reuse. ....” [http://www.ditausers.org/about_us/what_is_dita/]

11. DITA material (contd.) “Darwin Information Typing Architecture (DITA) is an XML-based, end-to-end architecture for authoring, producing, and delivering readable information as discrete, typed topics.” [http://www.oasis-open.org/committees/dita/faq.php] “A method for organizing and publishing content based on reusable content components.” [http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_DITA_for_technical_documentation]

12. “The Darwin Information Typing Architecture (DITA) is an XML-based method for writing and delivering information in a variety of forms....” DITA is a standard for technical documents that’s designed to be used with XML. It comes with some free publishing tools. A good, jargon-free definition for beginners http://www.informit.com/articles/article.aspx?p=663081

13. You already know DITA

14. DITA buzzword bingo DITA Buzzword Pre-DITA usage Content re-use Content model Single-sourcing Multi-channel publishing Topic-based authoring Maps Robohelp FrameMaker and friends Madcap Flare Tech writing principles

15. Separation of content and form

16. DITA versus Frame

17. The Secret Road Or “Just Do It"

18. DITA Users need not install anything1 or know XML to begin topic-based structured writing today. The other way to DITA [http://www.ditausers.org/]

19. XML editor WYSIWOO view DITA-aware So DITA is just a matter of File> New So DITA rules are embedded So you can look up the DITA specifications in context Examples: XMLMind, XMetal The tool for this hike

20. Theory Elements Attributes The barest idea of Concept, Task, Reference Tips How to use the ID attribute Quirks of using the ENTER key Using the Insert options Things you need to know

21. Specialisation Customisation The DITA “topic" topic Inheritance Relationship tables DTDs XML rules, validation, well-formedness (really?) Things you don’t need to know

22. DITA OpenToolkit A closed mind Wolves on this road

23. Doubts?

24. In one hour, nine writers were able to: Write a concept and a task Create a map to pull them together They didn't know what elements were available They discovered them They guessed what they were for The XML Editor used was critical DITA-aware. Used insert options to learn DITA rules DITA in a day workshop

25. Elements, attributes DITA being topic-based Authoring mechanics Basic structures No memory of previous DITA tutorials Minimalist introduction

26. Start with a great example Learn simple things first The task/concept/reference decision Notes Cross-references Hyperlinks Tables My rough guide

27. Download and analyse sample topics: http://dita‐ot.sourceforge.net/SourceForgeFiles/doc/user_guide.html Follow the tutorial in DITA for Solo Writers: http://www.ditausers.org/tutorials/lone‐dita/ditaguide.pdf Sample topics

28. http://docs.oasis-open.org/dita/v1.1/langspec/ditaref-type.html Description Example Contains Contained by Inheritance Attributes Refer to the DITA specification

29. Go further

30. WinANT It took 1 hour for the writers in my workshop to install DITA-OT, WinANT and publish to HTML, CHM and PDF XMLMind DITA Converter Publishing tools you may already own Publishing

31. Reinforce your learning Let your requirements guide you Let the possibilities guide you Don’t get taken in by the hype Don’t be cynical about the hype Iterations of theory and practice

32. Picture credits: Title credit: Ron Tierney www.flickr.com/photos/bookgrl/482232222/ www.flickr.com/photos/jon_tucker/4275210416/ www.flickr.com/photos/popupology/4105433338/ www.flickr.com/photos/shereen84/3187315381/ www.flickr.com/photos/origomi/17213276/ www.flickr.com/photos/vaguelyartistic/132177047/ www.flickr.com/photos/origomi/33173530/ www.flickr.com/photos/vaguelyartistic/132177047/ www.origami-fun.com/origami-pelican.html www.flickr.com/photos/vaguelyartistic/132177047/ http://tpettit.best.vwh.net /dolls/pd_scans/52valentine www.flickr.com/photos/ oschene/2497103604/