Articles on Content Structure
Users’ Advocate: Nobody Reads Documentation
The problem is, people really don’t read the documentation. That is, they do not sit down in a comfortable chair with a cup of coffee and set out to read manuals from cover to cover. People read novels. They don’t read documentation.
How Does DITA Change Authoring?
Today, authors must deliver content designed for quick consumption a whole array of media. And authors working within Darwin Information Typing Architecture (DITA) must shift their thinking about the content writing process itself. Because within the DITA model, you no longer write books or even chapters. You write topics.
Product Review: Samalander DITA XREF Manager Fills A DITA Tools Void
Up to now there’s been a great dearth of tools that leverage DITA to the maximum. Even CCMS vendors are falling down on the job a bit, often limiting themselves to being the storage solution and little more. But now (I’m so excited), there is a company that is filling this void: Samalander.
Book Review: Every Page is Page One is One to Add to your TechComm Toolbox
I had high expectations when I picked up my own autographed copy of Mark Baker’s “Every Page Is Page One” at LavaCon 2013. I even picked up a second copy for the local STC chapter to give as a raffle prize at the next program meeting. Then I was asked to review the book for TechWhirl.
Intelligent Content Conferences Features Speakers Who Break Down Barriers
The sixth annual Intelligent Content Conference will be held at the Hilton DoubleTree Hotel February 26-28 and features a dynamic lineup of 70 presenters who will focus on the skills and tools needed to break down barriers and deliver better content across the organization.
Still Relevant User Support Documentation? (poll)
Whether you’re looking for info on a 2014 version of the 1980’s quick reference card, or ammunition to bolster an argument about placement of revision information, we think there’s a good chance that you haven’t gone completely digital, omnichannel, and responsive in building out your technical content, no matter how much you’d like to.
DITA and Findability: Big ROI and Radical Improvements to the User Experience
Patrick Bosek of easyDITA believes that DITA offers organizational value beyond the tech comm team, and to prove it he presented an unusual case study. The client was a financial services firm (name withheld) that was experiencing a huge quantity of calls to their help center from a small subset of agents. Because these agents generated very little revenue for the company, the client needed a way to minimize the cost of supporting them.
With the advent and growth of digital media, technical communication and content management professionals are challenged to find better ways to produce and manage content. They aim use structured writing to produce reusable content more efficiently, reduce duplication and rework, and to support more efficient localization and translation.
Arising out of the development of Standard Generalized Markup Language (SGML) in the late 1990′s, structured writing makes use of consistent rules of syntax, metadata, and markup to group and organize content into information types such as concept, task and reference. Authors who practice structured writing make use of approaches such as topic-based writing and minimalism to support the overall content structure.
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