#TechnicalWriting#DITA#XML#DITAXML#Documentation#InformationArchitecture#StructuredAuthoring: "DITA is defined in its specification as “an XML-based architecture for authoring, producing, and delivering topic-oriented, information-typed content that can be reused and single-sourced in a variety of ways”. Originally developed by IBM in the early 2000s, DITA stands for Darwin Information Typing Architecture. “Darwin” refers to the naturalist Charles Darwin and his theory of evolution, reflecting DITA’s principles of specialization, inheritance, and adaptation.
DITA topics are standalone, context-free blocks of content, with content types kept clearly separate. There are three main topic types in DITA, all of which are inherited from the base topic type <topic>:
<concept>: background information that users must know before using the product
<task>: step-by-step instructions that users need to perform a task
<reference>: product specifications, commands, or other reference material
You create a document by selecting which existing topics should be reused and referencing them in what’s called a DITA map (similar to a table of contents).
Being an open standard, DITA has no proprietary restrictions. But while you’re not forced to buy a specific tool to use it, commercial XML editors have many features, such as visual editing and validation, that make writing DITA content much easier."
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