Comments on: DITA is not the answer http://www.onemanwrites.co.uk/2007/12/11/dita-is-not-the-answer/ musings on technical communications Sat, 17 May 2008 09:07:51 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.5 By: Paul Wall http://www.onemanwrites.co.uk/2007/12/11/dita-is-not-the-answer/#comment-3012 Paul Wall Fri, 25 Apr 2008 09:26:47 +0000 http://www.onemanwrites.co.uk/2007/12/11/dita-is-not-the-answer/#comment-3012 Good post.Yes you are absulately right. Good post.Yes you are absulately right.

]]> By: one man writes » Back to DITA? http://www.onemanwrites.co.uk/2007/12/11/dita-is-not-the-answer/#comment-2523 one man writes » Back to DITA? Tue, 11 Mar 2008 21:34:25 +0000 http://www.onemanwrites.co.uk/2007/12/11/dita-is-not-the-answer/#comment-2523 [...] mentioned DITA a few times on this blog, and my DITA is not the answer post is still attracting attention. As I’ve said, I think the DITA standard is an excellent [...] […] mentioned DITA a few times on this blog, and my DITA is not the answer post is still attracting attention. As I’ve said, I think the DITA standard is an excellent […]

]]> By: Gordon McLean http://www.onemanwrites.co.uk/2007/12/11/dita-is-not-the-answer/#comment-2231 Gordon McLean Wed, 13 Feb 2008 21:08:13 +0000 http://www.onemanwrites.co.uk/2007/12/11/dita-is-not-the-answer/#comment-2231 I think we need to be careful Tom, not to tar DITA too early because the outputs aren't any good. That's not really the fault of DITA (separate of content from layout and style after all). And you'd specialise topics for mobile devices and quick cards... but that's my point. All of that, the specialisation and 'nice' output templates and engines take time to hone, and time is money unfortunately. I think we need to be careful Tom, not to tar DITA too early because the outputs aren’t any good. That’s not really the fault of DITA (separate of content from layout and style after all).

And you’d specialise topics for mobile devices and quick cards… but that’s my point. All of that, the specialisation and ‘nice’ output templates and engines take time to hone, and time is money unfortunately.

]]> By: Tom Johnson http://www.onemanwrites.co.uk/2007/12/11/dita-is-not-the-answer/#comment-2228 Tom Johnson Wed, 13 Feb 2008 20:05:53 +0000 http://www.onemanwrites.co.uk/2007/12/11/dita-is-not-the-answer/#comment-2228 I really enjoyed this post and the comments exchange. I've explored DITA a bit but was turned off when I realized there was not webhelp output. My main two deliverables are user guides and webhelp, which Flare does a pretty good job with. As far as pushing the same content out to other formats, such as mobile devices and quick cards, I couldn't just use the same text anyway (the writing space is so different), so using DITA to single sourcing beyond these two main deliverables isn't what I need. Also, I once saw a PowerPoint that was created with DITA, and it was extremely plain and unimpressive. I really enjoyed this post and the comments exchange. I’ve explored DITA a bit but was turned off when I realized there was not webhelp output. My main two deliverables are user guides and webhelp, which Flare does a pretty good job with.

As far as pushing the same content out to other formats, such as mobile devices and quick cards, I couldn’t just use the same text anyway (the writing space is so different), so using DITA to single sourcing beyond these two main deliverables isn’t what I need.

Also, I once saw a PowerPoint that was created with DITA, and it was extremely plain and unimpressive.

]]> By: Can DITA train writers? Or does it require too much programming? « just write click http://www.onemanwrites.co.uk/2007/12/11/dita-is-not-the-answer/#comment-2222 Can DITA train writers? Or does it require too much programming? « just write click Wed, 13 Feb 2008 13:35:30 +0000 http://www.onemanwrites.co.uk/2007/12/11/dita-is-not-the-answer/#comment-2222 [...] if you don’t already have a staff with pseudo-programming skills. Gordon Mclean writes “DITA is not the answer” and I think the question he is trying to answer is, “what is a single-sourcing tool we [...] […] if you don’t already have a staff with pseudo-programming skills. Gordon Mclean writes “DITA is not the answer” and I think the question he is trying to answer is, “what is a single-sourcing tool we […]

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