Re: Cheicken and eggs scenario for structred writing

[Yves Barbion <yves -dot- barbion -at- gmail -dot- com>]

Hi David

If you are going to move to DITA-structured authoring next year, you can
already do the following this year:

   - *Learn the basics of DITA-structured authoring*. Even if you're not
   using a DITA XML editor (such as Arbortext) yet, you can already get to
   know the DITA content models and structure your content accordingly, using
   DITA-styled Word documents. We teach DITA-structured authoring classes and
   we can help you to develop DITA-styled Word templates. The main advantage
   of these DITA-styled Word documents is that you can learn DITA and
   topic-based authoring without having to know XML. And when you move to DITA
   XML, you will already know the DITA structures and the most commonly used
   DITA elements.
   For more information about our DITA-structured authoring classes, see
   http://www.scripto.nu/en/structured-authoring/
   - *Read some DITA books*. You can find a complete list here:
   http://www.ditawriter.com/dita-books/
   If Arbortext is going to be your editor, you may want to read this book
   first: "Introduction to DITA: A User Guide to the Darwin Information Typing
   Architecture, Arbortext Edition" (Paperback) by Joann T. Hackos
   - *Prepare your content for conversion*. Once you know the basics of
   DITA, you can already prepare your content for conversion. For example, you
   can check whether styles have been used consistently. Or you can apply DITA
   styles to your content to make the (automated) conversion process easier.
   An important aspect of DITA is that it splits up content into information
   types: concept, task, reference. You can also do this with your style-based
   content and use corresponding styles.
   - *Participate in DITA user groups*. There's the DITA Awareness group on
   LinkedIn (
   http://www.linkedin.com/groups/DITA-Awareness-Group-162465?gid=162465&mostPopular=&trk=tyah)
and a dita-user group on Yahoo (
   http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/dita-users/ ).
   - *Watch DITA webinars*. There are tons of free DITA webinars (and
   recordings).
   - *Bookmark and read the DITA specification* (or parts of it). Reading
   the whole spec from cover to cover may a bit of a challenge: it's 1236
   pages and much (or probably most) of the content may not relevant to you
   because it describes each and every element. But you may want to discover
   the main elements and use those to develop your content models. Examples of
   some important DITA elements are:
      - topic:
      http://docs.oasis-open.org/dita/v1.2/os/spec/langref/topic.html
      - map: http://docs.oasis-open.org/dita/v1.2/os/spec/langref/map.html
      - task: http://docs.oasis-open.org/dita/v1.2/os/spec/langref/task.html
      - concept:
      http://docs.oasis-open.org/dita/v1.2/os/spec/langref/concept.html
      - reference:
      http://docs.oasis-open.org/dita/v1.2/os/spec/langref/reference.html
   - *Learn the XML basics*. It helps when you know what XML elements and
   attributes are and how they interrelate:
   http://www.w3schools.com/xml/default.asp


Kind regards


-- 
Yves Barbion
www.scripto.nu


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