DITA-the Topic-Based XML Standard

123

S P R I N G E R B R I E F S I N

APPLIED SCIENCES AND TECHNOLOGY

Sissi Closs

DITA – the Topic￾Based XML

Standard

A Quick Start

SpringerBriefs in Applied Sciences

and Technology

More information about this series at http://www.springer.com/series/8884

Sissi Closs

DITA – the Topic-Based

XML Standard

A Quick Start

123

Sissi Closs

Hochschule Karlsruhe Technik und

Wirtschaft

Karlsruhe

Germany

ISSN 2191-530X ISSN 2191-5318 (electronic)

SpringerBriefs in Applied Sciences and Technology

ISBN 978-3-319-28348-7 ISBN 978-3-319-28349-4 (eBook)

DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-28349-4

Library of Congress Control Number: 2016934007

© The Author(s) 2016

This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved by the Publisher, whether the whole or part

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Printed on acid-free paper

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The registered company is Springer International Publishing AG Switzerland

Contents

1 What Is DITA? ...................................... 1

1.1 DITA Meets Zeitgeist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

1.2 What Makes DITA so Special? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

1.3 What Comes Free of Charge with DITA? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

1.4 DITA History . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

1.5 What Does DITA Mean? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

1.6 Where Can DITA Be Used? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

2 Basic Principle for DITA: Topic-Oriented Structuring .......... 7

2.1 What Is a Topic? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

2.2 Why Topic Types?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

3 Sample Class Concept . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

3.1 Raw Material for Making Coffee . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

3.2 Developing a Class Concept . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

4 Implementation in DITA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

4.1 Elements for Block Structures and Inline Elements. . . . . . . . . . 15

4.2 DITA Task . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

4.3 DITA Concept . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

4.4 DITA Reference. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

4.5 DITA Glossentry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

5 Assembling Topics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

5.1 Nesting Topics. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

5.2 DITA Map . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

6 Defining Relations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

6.1 Links in the Map . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

6.2 Links in the Topic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

7 Reusing Contents by Embedding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

v