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PROMISE TO PRACTICE continues from page 1 information is prescribed based largely Leveraging XML intelligent graphic forms
around “topics.” such as SVG, CAD-related standards like
electronic and Web simultaneously—is now DITA also anticipates the need for the CGM and multimedia capabilities such as
the norm. standard to evolve—hence the Darwin an- Flash graphics, animations and videos, com-
While most enterprises agree that these gle—and provides a specific mechanism panies are exploring ways to enrich the user ex-
pressures exist, few are willing to increase staff called “specialization” for accommodating perience. PDF support for multimedia is one
to address these new challenges. The result? such changes. Industry work groups are now sign of this change, but the format is still es-
“Do more with less,” while the potential cost developing specializations for specific in- sentially page-based. Rich-media platforms
and revenue impact of late delivery or inaccu- dustries to ensure data interoperability and now use powerful database technology that
rate information has never been higher. The old exchange. By defining the mark-up, granu- supports XML natively, delivering a wide ar-
adage “publish or perish,” once reserved for ac- larity and even the mechanisms for collect- ray of graphic formats, and using embedded in-
ademics, now eerily applies to almost any or- ing and exchanging content, DITA goes be- telligence to serve up the appropriate content
ganization. yond prior standards. dynamically.
These business drivers (with translation DITA is an open standard in the public do- For instance, rather than a table of contents
costs typically taking the lead) require that main, and is officially supported by OASIS, the or standard text search, users will be able to ask
organizations rethink their authoring, con- Organization for the Advancement of Struc- questions or describe symptoms or problems
tent management and publishing processes. tured Information Standards, an independent and be presented with only the specific content
To remain competitive, an increasing num- standards body. Adopters and developers have that pertains to their requests. Animations will
ber of companies are turning to component- contributed to its development and ongoing show step-by-step installation or assembly pro-
based CMS technology and XML. evolution. Vendors (such as XyEnterprise) are cedures that can convey far more than text de-
submitting enhancements and extensions to scriptions and have the added benefit of being
DITA, improving the standard and its related globally applicable. For diagnostics and trou-
A New Generation components. A prime example is the DITA bleshooting, these devices will be able to con-
of XML Standards Open Toolkit which is available to all, and nect to the PC, automobile or appliance that has
includes a powerful set of software transfor- a problem and be intelligently guided based on
XML has demonstrated significant value mations that automatically convert DITA-struc-
for those who have embraced it. Until recent- the error codes reported by the device. The po-
tured content to a variety of output formats tential is enormous; and user expectations of
ly, most organizations developed proprietary including XSL-FO for print and PDF
document type definitions (DTDs) or schemas interactivity and graphic richness are rising
rendering, HTML for Web delivery and com- steadily as the Web has changed everyone’s
tailored to their specific needs or the needs of piled help formats for embedded or online
selected business partners. Using XML, com- perception about dynamic content delivery.
help delivery.
ponent-based authoring and CMS systems, or-
ganizations were able to share and reuse infor- A Road Map for Success
mation and more easily transform XML data “The DITA Open Toolkit can
to print, electronic and Web-based outputs. The With more than 15 years experience in pub-
implementation process, however, was com- lishing and structured content management,
plex and time-consuming. Developing a DTD
significantly reduce the cost XyEnterprise has implemented solutions for
required data modeling, and determining the some of the most demanding environments in
and learning curve associated a wide variety of industries including aerospace
appropriate level of granularity could be chal-
lenging. Developing and maintaining the trans- and defense, legal publishing and hardware and
with a move to XML.” software technology companies. From this van-
formations for multi-channel output was also
costly. In addition, since the DTD was devel- tage point we have evangelized for XML (and
oped in-house, the goal of easily sharing and In addition to technology, many best prac- back in the day, SGML), promoted component
exchanging data externally often fell short be- tices are supported by using DITA, including management versus document management
cause business and industry partners were un- minimalistic authoring and consistency of ter- and demonstrated the cost savings of highly au-
likely to use the same DTD. Where industry- minology. Component-based authoring and tomated publishing. We are encouraged by the
standard or government DTDs did exist, they consistent authoring styles provide the foun- significant increase in the number of compa-
were not always adopted; if they were adopt- dation for significant savings in language trans- nies that are adopting and embracing the best
ed, they were often modified to accommodate lation, particularly when combined with com- practices we have long promoted.
unique internal needs. puter-aided or automated language translation The compelling business challenges in
Fortunately, a new generation of XML technologies. today’s global market demand that compa-
standards has emerged that provides a com- A similarly prescriptive XML environ- nies rethink their content development and
prehensive environment for moving to XML— ment—S1000D—is gaining increased adoption delivery strategies to remain competitive.
including a well-defined DTD or schema. in defense-related and commercial applications. Moving away from the traditional docu-
Though the terminology is different (e.g. “data ment-based publishing processes, embrac-
modules” instead of “topics” and “publication ing XML, leveraging component-based au-
Welcome to DITA and S1000D thoring and deploying automated CMS and
modules” versus DITA “maps”), the potential
DITA—the Darwin Information Typing returns on investment are very similar. publishing technologies can substantially re-
Architecture—is an XML standard, origi- duce costs and improve accuracy and turn-
nally promulgated by IBM, that is acceler- around time. If you are considering such a
ating the rate of XML adoption worldwide.
Look Into the Future move, the time has never been better and the
Think of DITA as a complete XML starter The rapid adoption of XML, DITA and tools and environments available have nev-
kit which provides tools as well as best S1000D represent a significant evolution in er been richer. Looking forward, new tech-
practices to help you hit the ground run- how people approach the publishing process, nologies and delivery platforms will create
ning. The DTD is provided so you don’t but there are even greater changes on the new opportunities for forward thinking com-
have to create your own, and the level of horizon. Companies are exploring new and panies to interact with their customers.
granularity for managing components of richer forms of electronic content delivery. These are indeed exciting times. ❚
April 2007 S3
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