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DITA Metrics: Developing Cost Metrics

November 19, 2008 Blog 12 Comments

By Mark Lewis, special to The Content Wrangler Table of Contents Introduction Cost of Metrics Overview Cost of a Project Cost of a Topic Cost of User Guides Without Topic Reuse Cost of User Guides With Topic Reuse Cost Comparison: User Guides With and Without Topic Reuse Cost of a Reusable Master Topic Cost of User Guides With Reusable Master Topics Cost Comparison: Topic Reuse Versus Reusable Master Topics Conclusion About the author Introduction You’ve read all the papers (and attended all the webinars) on return on investment (ROI) for …

Making the Case for DITA, The Unlikely Demise of Adobe FrameMaker, and Finally, XSLT for MS Word

August 6, 2008 Blog No Comments

The Content Wrangler has the dish on structured writing. Is DITA dead? Is FrameMaker defunct? Has MS Word actually survived the XML wars and emerged as a user-friendly XML authoring tool? It all started with an article by Scott Abel calling on all DITA evangelists to promote use cases and real-world examples designed to help folks understand the DITA value proposition. The article sparked an interesting conversation about whether DITA will–or should–survive, while at the same time the demise of FrameMaker is still being discussed. We should remind you that …

DITA Adoption Committee Forms

July 8, 2008 Blog No Comments

All interested parties are invited to participate in the new OASIS DITA Adoption Committee, which will work to educate the marketplace on the value of the DITA OASIS Standard for document creation and management. By raising awareness of the benefits offered by DITA, the Committee expects the demand for DITA-conforming products and services to increase, resulting in a greater choice of tools and platforms and an expanded DITA community. Proposers include representatives of OASIS Foundational Sponsors, IBM and Oracle, as well as Sponsor member, Comtech, and others. JoAnn Hackos of …

Paradigm Shifts are Never Pretty: Advice on Making the Move to XML Authoring

June 16, 2008 Blog 4 Comments

By Sarah O’Keefe, Scriptorium Publishing Services, Inc. Most people are risk-averse, and profound changes such as the move to structured authoring require new skills and workflows. To ensure a successful transition, XML implementers need to assess their team members, identify allies, and build their implementation strategy around the staff members who embrace change. The term paradigm shift originally comes from Thomas Kuhn’s book, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions. Kuhn defined a paradigm shift as a new idea that required a change in basic assumptions. Because of this, paradigm shifts are …

DITA: Opportunities To Help Shape The Standard, Promote DITA Adoption, Develop Real-World Solutions

June 13, 2008 Blog No Comments

Want to get involved in the formation of one of the most important XML standards impacting content professionals? You can. And, you should. The folks at OASIS—the Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards—have made it easy for just about anyone to participate. Opportunity 1 – The DITA Maturity Model Community and Wiki—Share constructive criticism, make suggestions for improvement, and provide use case scenarios that can help enhance the model. Post comments between 1 June – 31 August 2008 to be automatically entered to win an 8GB Apple iPod …

Let’s Get Real: The Secret To Making The Case For DITA Adoption To The Rest Of The World

June 8, 2008 Blog 19 Comments

By Scott Abel, The Content Wrangler The Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards (OASIS) is seeking participants to help move the adoption of the Darwin Information Typing Architecture (DITA) forward, pushing the value proposition of DITA outside of the technical documentation arena. It’s called the DITA Adoption Technical Committee—and ironically, there’s nothing technical about it. The Purpose of the DITA Adoption Technical Committee The OASIS DITA Adoption Technical Committee members will collaborate to provide expertise and resources to educate the marketplace on the value of the DITA OASIS …