xDoc Pro and DITA
CambridgeDocs recognizes the
growing importance of the DITA DTD in your documentation
department, and provides out-of-the-box xDoc solutions
geared towards the DITA specification.
What is DITA?
DITA stands for
Darwin Information
Typing Architecture. It was developed by IBM and represents
both an XML DTD and an architecture/methodology which is
quite useful for content reuse. It has gained popularity as
an XML DTD recently because of its topic-orientation, and
its ability to assemble topics based upon topicmaps.
When should I consider using DITA?
If you want effective
re-assembly of your XML fragments in different ways, and
you are doing technical documentation, you might want to
consider using DITA as your XML DTD.
How does xDoc work with DITA?
xDoc can transform existing
content (Microsoft Word, Adobe Framemaker, Microsoft
RTF, PDF, HTML) into DITA XML. The DITA samples included
in the xDoc
Professional Examples project include several sample
mappings that you can use as the starting point for
your own conversions to DITA:
-
 word2dita – converts
sample Word document (.doc) into XML using
ditabase.dtd
-
mif2dita – converts sample
Frame document (.mif) into XML using database.dtd
-
dita2ditatopics- takes a
sample XML document (which conforms to database.dtd)
and splits it up into separate XML files, creating a
master DITA topicmap XML file to point to each of
the fragments.
To use these mappings for your
own content, you only have to copy and modify their
rules based upon your
usage of styles or formatting to identify topics.
Once the mappings are perfected, they can be deployed
using xDoc Pro APIs..\products\downloads\xDocProfessional.htm for ongoing, "lights-out", or large-scale
conversion projects.
What is a DITA topicmap?
A DITA topicmap assembles
existing topics (which could be concept, reference,
task, or custom topics) into an assembled document. This
is what makes DITA a powerful architecture for re-using
content.
What is database.dtd?
This is a DTD that is used for a fully assembled dita
document. The DITA Open Toolkit provides ways to go from
a topicmap into a fully assembled DITA document.
CambridgeDocs xDoc Converter Desktop mappings allow to go from
a fully assembled Word or Frame document into a fully
assembled DITA XML document, and then break it up into
topics.
Can’t I do content reuse without DITA?
Yes, it is possible to use XML
for content reuse with any XML DTD or schema. However,
DITA has some built-in practices and methodologies which
makes the whole process easier.
For more on how you can utilize the CambridgeDocs
products as part of a DITA-based publishing/authoring
solution, please contact
sales@cambridgedocs.com.
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