Cheaper, Faster, Better DITA Implementations, Part 2
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The document outlines a webinar presentation by Lasselle-Ramsay on improving DITA implementations, covering various specialization best practices, sample documentation sets, and findings related to content alignment and user experience. It emphasizes the importance of defining user personas, conducting task analysis, and optimizing workflows to address identified content gaps and redundancies. The presentation also includes steps for prototyping specialization and highlights the need to maintain the DITA architecture and standards throughout the process.
Cheaper, Faster, Better DITA Implementations, Part 2
- 1. Prepared by © 2009 Lasselle-Ramsay Presented by Secrets to Cheaper, Faster and Better DITA Implementations Part 2 Presenter from Lasselle-Ramsay Tom Voltz
- 2. Welcome! • Today’s event is being recorded – link available in follow- up email • Use Q&A panel to submit questions for Q&A session • Full screen view available for slides
- 3. Our Presenters Joan Lasselle President Tom Voltz Technology Consultant
- 4. Lasselle-Ramsay Industry Expertise 27 years supporting Fortune 100 clients with their content infrastructure
- 5. Overview for Today • Part I Review • Sample Documentation Set • Specialization Best Practices
- 6. Poll – Part I Question: Were you able to watch the first part of this webinar? Yes No
- 7. Part I Review DITA – Out of the Box DITA – Specialized
- 8. • Fundamental DITA Open Toolkit architectural feature: Myth Busting
- 10. Sample Documentation Set • 7 Product Variations • User Manual • Context Sensitive Online Help
- 12. Define User Experience • Develop Personas – Representative customers • Task Analysis – Lifecycle of product from customer perspective – Specific tasks, connected to personas
- 13. Finding: Distinct Audiences • Jake – End User – Manual to big, not useful – Context sensitive help too brief, frustrating • Sam – Field Service Technician – Insufficient detail – Can’t lookup error codes quickly – Procedures are confusing (inconsistent with user interface)
- 14. Analyze Workflow • Map of current content lifecycle • Alignment of other related processes • Opportunity assessment
- 15. Finding: Process Misalignment Product Development Agile Process Content Development Traditional Release 3.0
- 16. Finding: Process Misalignment Product Development Agile Process Content Development Aligned
- 17. Feature as ‘Content Envelope’ User Guide Field Manual Marketing
- 18. Content Analysis Findings • Content audit • Redundancy and overlap • Gaps • Content to retire
- 22. Structural Elements – Maps Name Based On Contains Blocks Owned by UserGuide Bookmap Introduction Chapters Support Guide Index Tech Docs ReferenceManual Bookmap Description HowTos Error Codes Tech Docs Feature DITA Map Description HowTos Error Codes Configuration Notes Marketing Tech Docs QA
- 23. Block Elements – Topics and Concepts Name Based On Contains Notes Description DITA Topic Keywords ShortDescription MediumDescription LongDescription ShortDescription Topic – Section Paragraph Used in marketing materials, User Guide, Field Manual MediumDescription Topic – Section Paragraphs Used in marketing materials LongDescription Topic – Section Sections Paragraphs Used in UserGuide
- 24. Inline Elements – Domains Name Based On Notes UI DITA UI domain Available: Paragraphs Table Cells BrandElement Company specific domain Available: Anywhere Product names, etc. Programming DITA programming Available: Anywhere Only using 6 of the standard 25 elements, added 3 custom elements
- 25. Attribute Specializations Name Based On Notes @audience @audience Limit to following options: User Technician Internal-Only QA-Team @translate @translate Limit to valid language codes (‘en,’ ‘fr,’ ‘de,’ etc.) @legal_status @otherprops Required for specific block elements (e.g. copyright notice). Values (‘modified,’ ‘approved’)
- 26. Steps for Prototyping Specialization 1 Mock up representative content using generic DITA 2 Carefully review the existing domains and specializations 3 Remove as much as you can 4 Build the DTD 5 Revise mock up content with specializations 6 Iterate with SMEs
- 27. Specialization Best Practices Know the public DITA specializations Know the current DITA domains Preserve DITA Open Toolkit architecture
- 28. Specialization Best Practices Make sure DTD is easy to update Support ‘default’ and ‘flexible’ formats containers Create a DTD maintenance process
- 29. Questions and Next Steps www.lr.com Tom.Voltz@lr.com Joan.Lasselle@lr.com www.justsystems.com sales@justsystems.com 1-866-793-1542