Comments on: Creating DITA Content: Who Says You Can’t Use Microsoft Word? http://thecontentwrangler.com/2008/01/01/creating_dita_content_who_says_you_cant_use_microsoft_word/ Content is a business asset worthy of being managed Fri, 10 Feb 2012 16:31:44 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3 By: Marcus Carr http://thecontentwrangler.com/2008/01/01/creating_dita_content_who_says_you_cant_use_microsoft_word/comment-page-1/#comment-215 Marcus Carr Thu, 10 Jan 2008 22:23:52 +0000 http://localhost:8888/ee/?p=394#comment-215 <p>There has always been a desire to create structured data from Word and in fact Microsoft had a brief attempt at creating an SGML product in the 90’s. The problem with continuing to develop products along these lines is that they ignore the fundamental shortcoming of not being able to support proper collaboration. As long as people are working on personal versions of files, even if they’re creating good structure, they may not be creating the quality of content that they ultimately require. Some problem do move downstream and that’s good, but the more difficult issues remain unresolved. </p> <p> I prefer to think of Open XML as a migration path away from Word, and as such I think it’s pretty good. Generally, I’d prefer to move users to a Word-like interface that supports more of their needs than to let them use Word and try to solve what become very difficult problems further downstream. I suppose it varies from site to site, but users are sophisticated enough these days to adjust to a new but familiar WP approach, I think. </p> There has always been a desire to create structured data from Word and in fact Microsoft had a brief attempt at creating an SGML product in the 90’s. The problem with continuing to develop products along these lines is that they ignore the fundamental shortcoming of not being able to support proper collaboration. As long as people are working on personal versions of files, even if they’re creating good structure, they may not be creating the quality of content that they ultimately require. Some problem do move downstream and that’s good, but the more difficult issues remain unresolved.

I prefer to think of Open XML as a migration path away from Word, and as such I think it’s pretty good. Generally, I’d prefer to move users to a Word-like interface that supports more of their needs than to let them use Word and try to solve what become very difficult problems further downstream. I suppose it varies from site to site, but users are sophisticated enough these days to adjust to a new but familiar WP approach, I think.

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