Structured authoring with XML and DITA has introduced a new way for technical writers to understand, create, and update content. David Trousdale and Tom Voltz of Lasselle-Ramsay will give an overview and practical introduction to authoring using XMetaL as the authoring tool to perform everyday technical writing tasks. It will emphasize how authoring in a structured environment differs from an unstructured approach.
2. A Day in the Life of a Tech Writer
DRATS! SHIPPING
TOMORROW AND
MARKETING JUST
CHANGED THE PRODUCT
NAME AGAIN?!?!
ARRRRRGHHH!! NOW
THEY WANT ONLINE
HELP? THAT WASN’T
IN THE DOC PLAN!
8 AM
12 Noon
3. Just Enough XMetaL
• XMetaL + DITA
– Building Content
– Organizing Content
– Managing Content
• Tools and Workflow
• Challenges Revisited
• Conclusion
4. Tour de XMetaL: Basic Window Panes
Resource
Manager
Document
View
Attribute
Inspector
Element
List
5. DITA Building Blocks: Topics and Maps
• Topics – Containers for Content; Content Units
– Task
– Concept
– Reference
– Generic Topic
• Maps – Collections of Topics; Content Organizers
– Ditamap (Generic)
– Bookmap
20. Reuse and Referencing Content
Reused
unnumbered
list
• Conref
• Maintained
cross
reference
21. Editing and Authoring
• Selecting tags &
text
• Finding and
replacing
• Spell check
• Thesaurus
• Tracking changes
• XMetaL Reviewer
• Validation
• Inserting elements
• Inserting
comments
22. Tools and Workflow
About task
(background)
Before you start
task (preliminaries)
Starting Task
(procedure)
Error with Task
(troubleshooting)
Task Image
(graphic)
Content
Elements
Transformation
Templates
Printed
User’s Guide
PDF
User’s Guide
Quick
Guide
Online
Help
Content
Repository
Structured
23. Conclusion
Why am I doing this?
What do I need to do this?
How do I do this? WHAT DO I
DO NEXT?