Lightweight DITA

©2012, 2013 IBM Corporation
Corporate User Technologies
1
Michael Priestley
Lead IBM DITA Architect
Total Information Experience Technology Strategist
Senior Technical Staff Member
Lightweight DITA
A preview of the proposed DITA 1.3 feature
April 16, 2013

2
ID Professionals Telecon
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Overview
●Background
● DITA at OASIS
● Lightweight DITA status
● DITA across the enterprise
● Full vs light
●The proposal
● Lightweight topics
● Lightweight maps
● Lightweight specialization
● Out of the box: building blocks and starter types

4
What is DITA?
Darwin Information Typing Architecture
is an XML standard for modular content,
collections and classification that allows
an enterprise to:
 Keep many versions of content current across multiple
audiences, multiple media, multiple deliverables, multiple
translations across many geographies
 Deliver improved information quality through structured and
reused content
 Experience faster response time when content for custom
products is needed
 Leverage traceability and accountability features when a problem
is found (fix it once, fix it everywhere; inform other affected
authors)
DITA has the largest membership of any OASIS technical
committee
Who uses it (selected from
http://www.ditawriter.com/companies-
using-dita/ )
●
Accounting
●
Automotive
●
Aerospace
●
Biotech
●
Computer
hardware/software/networking
●
Consumer electronics
●
Consumer goods
●
E-learning/education
●
Manufacturing
●
Entertainment
●
Financial services
●
Health and wellness
●
Hospital and healthcare
●
Industrial automation
●
IT services
●
Insurance
●
Management consulting
●
Medical devices
●
Oil and energy
●
Pharmaceuticals
●
Publishing
●
Retail
●
Semiconductors
●
Telecom
Who uses it (selected from
http://www.ditawriter.com/companies-
using-dita/ )
●
Accounting
●
Automotive
●
Aerospace
●
Biotech
●
Computer
hardware/software/networking
●
Consumer electronics
●
Consumer goods
●
E-learning/education
●
Manufacturing
●
Entertainment
●
Financial services
●
Health and wellness
●
Hospital and healthcare
●
Industrial automation
●
IT services
●
Insurance
●
Management consulting
●
Medical devices
●
Oil and energy
●
Pharmaceuticals
●
Publishing
●
Retail
●
Semiconductors
●
Telecom
IBM contributed DITA to the OASIS standards organization in March of 2004,
where it is now managed by the OASIS DITA Technical Committee.
IBM contributed DITA to the OASIS standards organization in March of 2004,
where it is now managed by the OASIS DITA Technical Committee.

5
Lightweight DITA
● Requirements from community for lightweight version of DITA to ease
adoption by groups who don't need all the features of full DITA
● Currently part of DITA 1.3 development, although some discussion of
splitting off
● Many solutions already implementing lightweight versions of DITA, but lots
of variability – different authoring communities want different subsets
● Standard should provide a lightweight starting point and be easy to extend –
alternative to starting with full DITA and subsetting
Everything that follows is a work in progress –
it's not normative, and it's likely to change

6
Some scenarios to consider
● Contribution – SME (developer, customer, etc.) creating content to
be used by a full DITA system
● Collaboration – SME maintaining content that is used by a full DITA
system
● Parallel adoption – authoring team with need for lightweight DITA
can share CMS, publishing capabilities with full DITA team
● New adoption – authoring team in a company with no existing DITA
usage can start with lightweight DITA and then evolve to full DITA
where it makes sense

7
Across the enterprise
Manage
Publish
Author
Manage
Publish
Author
Manage
Publish
Author
Today:
Silos inhibit
reuse of content
and infrastructure.
Content delivery reflects company
organization, not customer needs
Manage
Publish
Author
Manage
Publish
Author
Author
content
Tomorrow:
Authoring with common standards allows sharing
of content and consolidation of infrastructure.
Content delivery can be organized around
customer needs, not organizational boundaries
Taxonomy

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Lightweight DITA vs full DITA
Full DITA Lightweight DITA
Topics 94 elements 27 elements
Maps 10 elements
(+30 shared with topic
2 elements
(+2 shared with topic)
Specialization Structural: any element starting with
topic
Domain: any element except topic
Attributes: @props or @base
Constraints: following constraint model
Structural: topic and body only
Domain: section and ph only
Attributes: @props only
Constraints: predefined
Out of the box 23 document types (for basic, bookmap,
learning, machine industry, technical
content, subject schemes)
~15 (basic topics and maps,
specialization authoring, basic DITA
types, basic Information Mapping types)
Building
blocks
37 structural and domain specialization
modules
To be determined

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Interoperability between lightweight and full DITA
● Lightweight DITA is a valid implementation of DITA – it is a subset of full DITA
● If a tool supports full DITA 1.3, it should support lightweight DITA 1.3 as well
● To simplify the schema architecture, lightweight DITA uses its own set of
DTD/XSD files instead of reusing the (larger and more complex) full DITA set
● Lightweight DITA content should be convertible to full DITA simply by
changing the doctype line to point to an equivalent full DITA doctype
● Lightweight DITA and full DITA topics should be able to reuse from each other
via conref with relaxed constraints in DITA 1.3

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A deeper look
● Topics
● Maps
● Specialization
● Out of the box
Again, this is all work in progress –
the examples are intended to be suggestive, not normative

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Simplified topic
● Eliminate advanced features
● No prolog metadata or related links
● Eliminate redundant markup
● No CALS table (simpletable only)
● Simplify content models
● No mixed content: the only place to author
text is in a , and doesn't contain
lists or other block-level content
● Predefined constraints to:
● Get rid of sections or get rid of content
outside of sections
● Limit lists to one level
● Attributes added as functional
groups:
● “block-level reuse” adds @id and @conref
to , <ul>, <li> etc.
● “phrase-level variables” adds @keyref to
<ph>
<topic id="mini"
domains="(lwdita-c)(no-nesting-c)
(no-sections-c)">
<title>Mini topic</title>
<body>
This topic has constraints
that disallow sections and list
nesting.
None of the optional attribute
groups have been included, so no
conditional processing, no conref,
etc.
<ul>
<li>Everything you write
goes inside a paragraph.</li>
<li>You can add
paragraphs, tables, lists, and
media.</li>
</ul>
</body>
</topic>

12
Simplified map
● Eliminate advanced features
● No metadata or reltable
● Simplify content models
● Add <title> element to topicref, eliminate
alternatives
● Attributes added as functional
groups:
● “TOC referencing” adds @href
● “Classification/variables” adds @keys
● “Link indirection” adds @keyref
<map id="simpleTOCmap"
domains="(lwdita-c) (tocref-c)">
<title>Mini TOC map</title>
<topicref href=”mini.dita”>
<title>Mini topic</title>
<topicref href=”another.dita”>
<title>Another topic</title>
</topicref>
</map>
<map id="simplevarmap"
domains="(lwdita-c) (taxo-c)">
<title>Mini variable map</title>
<topicref keys=”prodname”>
<title>My Product</title>
<topicref href=”installpath”>
<title>[root]/something</title>
</topicref>
</map>

13
Simplified specialization
● Pull together a new specialization
out of building blocks
● Assemble section types
● Add phrases and attributes
● So simple it can be authored instead
of coded
● Use a specialized authoring topic
● Fill in the fields and generate the
specialization
● Generate more than just DTDs
● Schemas, RNG... with lightweight schemas
or starter sets for full
● Overrides for publishing transforms and
editor prompts
● Even a lightweight authoring prototype for
testing
<meeting id="abc123" domains="(lwdita-c)(all-
sections-c) (goals-d) (agenda-d) (minutes-d)>
<title>Minutes for 2012 July 18<title>
<shortdesc>Discussions of editor scenarios
and processing expectations.</shortdesc>
<meetingbody>
<goals>...</goals>
<agenda>...</agenda>
<minutes>...</minutes>
</meetingbody>
</meeting>
<specdef id=”meeting”>
<title>Meeting specialization</title>
<specdefbody>
<sectiondef>
<dl>
<dlentry>
<dt>Goals</dt>
<dd>
<xref href=”goals.dita”/>
Fill the goals of the meeting
</dd>
</dlentry>
......

14
Out of the box
● Building blocks
● DITA section types such as those used in
task
● Information Mapping section types
● Some common attribute and phrase
domains
● Starter topic types
● DITA concept, task, reference –
reassembled to match a valid subset of full
DITA
● Information Mapping common topic types
● A super-lightweight simple topic
● A specialization definition type
● Starter map types
● Navigation map
● Classification/variable map
<task id="mini" domains="(lwdita-c)
(all-sections-c) (task/prereq)
(task/context) (task/steps-informal)
(task/result) (task/example)
(task/postreq)">
<title>Do something</title>
<shortdesc>It's better than
nothing</shortdesc>
<taskbody>
<prereq>...</prereq>
<context>...</context>
<steps-informal>
<ol>
<li>Do this first</li>
<li>Do this second</li>
</ol>
</steps-informal>
<result>...</result>
....
</taskbody>
</task>

15
Review: why lightweight DITA?
● DITA can make it easier to share content and infrastructure across
the enterprise
● But full DITA can have a high learning curve that pays off with high
functionality only for full-time professional authors
● By clearly defining a lightweight DITA adoption point, we make it
easier for new groups to adopt DITA with occasional, contributing, or
just lighter weight authoring needs
● And we also make it easier for vendors who specialize in a particular
area to add DITA support that suits the needs of their customers
without the overhead of supporting the full DITA spec
● Full DITA and lightweight DITA are meant to play together to meet a
broad spectrum of authoring and publishing needs across the
enterprise

16
Join the discussion
● Lightweight DITA discussion groups at yahoogroups and linkedin
● Blogged about it here:
● http://dita.xml.org/blog/lightweight-dita
● Birds of a Feather at lunch table 25

17
Questions

18
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IBM and the IBM logo are trademarks of International Business
Machines Corp., registered in many jurisdictions worldwide. Other
product and service names might be trademarks of IBM or other
companies. A current list of IBM trademarks is available on the Web
at “Copyright and trademark information” at
www.ibm.com/legal/copytrade.shtml

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Appendix

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Topic content
● Minimal elements (27 total)
● Eliminated redundancy
● Simplified content models (no mixing and <ph>)
● Core structure: topic, title, shortdesc, body, section
● Blocks: p, ul, ol, dl, pre, simpletable, image, object, note
● Phrase-level: ph, xref, image
● Modified by predefined constraints
● no-nesting: lists are limited to one level
● no-sections: body element contains blocks only, no sections
● all-sections: body element contains sections only, no blocks
● What's missing?
● Metadata elements. Use attributes if you need metadata.
● Full table support. If you need the CALS model, you'll need to extend beyond simple
DITA, or go to full DITA.
● Related links. You can use a section with xrefs, or use map-based linking. ... to do

21
Topic attributes
● Core required (21; or 7, excluding object and param)
● every element: @class
● topic: @id, @domains
● xref, image: @href, @scope, @format
● object: @declare, @classid, @codebase, @data, @type, @codetype, @archive,
@standby, @height, @width, @usemap, @name, @tabindex
● param: @name, @value, @valuetype, @type
● note: @type
● Controlled via domains organized by function (adding another 5)
● Conditional content: @props on section, p, ul, ol, li, dl, dlentry, pre, simpletable,
strow, image, object, note
● Content reuse: @id/@conref on section, p, ul, ol, li, dl, dlentry, pre, simpletable,
strow, image, object, note
● Variable links: @keyref on xref
● Variable content: @keyref on ph, image
● Class extension: @outputclass on everything

22
Simplified map
● Minimal elements – most of
the work done by attributes
● Only four elements:
● map
● title
● ph (in title)
● topicref

23
Map attribute model
● Core attributes (3):
● every element: @class
● map: @id, @domains
● Other attributes grouped into optional domains by function
● Referencing content: @href on topicref
● Variable and metadata control: @keys on topicref
● Conditional content: @props on map, topicref
● Content reuse: @id/@conref on topicref
● Variable text: @keyref on ph
● Variable links: @keyref on topicref
● Class extension: @outputclass on everything

24
Specialization model
● In lightweight DITA, you start with a set of building blocks:
● specialized sections for organizing block-level content
● specialized phrases for adding semantics to phrase-level content
● specialized attributes for supporting conditional processing
● Each new topic specialization:
● Defines new topic/body elements
● Sequences a set of specialized sections to provide structure
● Incorporate phrase-level and attribute domains
● If you need new specializations of section, ph, or the @props
attribute:
● You define them separately, so they can be reused by multiple specializations
● And then incorporate them into your topic specialization
● If you need new block-level specializations (eg a new type of table):
● You can do it, you're just going beyond the basics of lightweight DITA

25
Authoring a specialization
● Creating a new specialization should be as simple as filling in a form
● No coding or special skills required
● Outputs could include:
● Generated DTD and XSD artifacts that allow the new specialization to be validated
● “Full-DITA” DTD and XSD equivalents if someone wants to use this approach to
create starter doctypes for full DITA
● Output overrides for generated section titles
● An authoring prototype – such as an HTML5-based form/editor
● When someone wants to share content authored using the new
specialization:
● They could bundle the generated artifacts (DTD, XSD, output overrides) along with
the content
● Or they could just share the authored specialization topic itself – allowing the reuser
to generate XSD or DTD schemas as they prefer, and potentially generate their own
output overrides.

26
Out of the box
● Basic topic types:
● Lightweight topic
● Super-lightweight topic
● Specialization authoring topic
● Basic map types
● URI-based TOC map (@href)
● Classification/variable map (@keys)
● Key-based TOC map (@keys, @keyref, @href)
● Basic DITA types
● Concept
● Task
● Reference
● Basic Information Mapping types (topics built up out of IM blocks)
● TBD

27
The building blocks
● Harvest existing building blocks from full DITA so existing semantics
can be reused
● Section-level specializations
● example (from topic) (technically not a section specialization)
● prereq, context, steps-informal, result, postreq (from task)
● refsyn (from reference)
● prelreqs, closereqs (from learning domain)
● Phrase-level specializations
● still to do
● Attribute “specializations”
● product, platform, audience (from topic) (technically not specializations of props)
● Coming soon:
● Section types based on the Information Mapping information types

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