Re: [dita-lightweight-dita] Promised rewrite

From
Kristen James Eberlein <>
Date
2017-05-29T20:56:55+00:00
ID
Thread
Re: [dita-lightweight-dita] Promised rewrite
No -- I am working on a new version that includes your points.

    

    
Best,

      Kris

      

      Kristen James Eberlein

      Chair, OASIS DITA Technical Committee

      Principal consultant, Eberlein Consulting

      www.eberleinconsulting.com

      +1 919 682-2290; kriseberlein (skype)

      

    

    
On 5/29/2017 10:58 AM, Michael
      Priestley wrote:

    

    My bad for not going
        to the full content
        - please ignore my note

      

        Michael Priestley, Senior Technical Staff Member (STSM)

        Enterprise Content Technology Strategist

        

      

      

      

      From:      
         Kristen James Eberlein
        <>

      To:      
         Michael Priestley
        <>,
        Carlos Evia <>

      Cc:      
         ""
        <>

      Date:      
         05/29/2017 10:44 AM

      Subject:    
           Re:
        [dita-lightweight-dita]
        Promised rewrite

      

      

      

      Michael, have you seen working draft #14? It
        contains
        a rewrite.
      
Best,

          Kris

          

          Kristen James Eberlein

          Chair, OASIS DITA Technical Committee

          Principal consultant, Eberlein Consulting

          www.eberleinconsulting.com

          +1 919 682-2290; kriseberlein (skype)

        

        On 5/29/2017 10:29 AM, Michael Priestley wrote:

        I think there's still a
          paragraph or
          two needed to really focus on the why, rather than the what
          and how - maybe
          something like:

        

            Why Lightweight DITA?

        

          1 Full DITA seen as too complex for some scenarios

        

          DITA is a mature architecture with a deep set of features
          supported by
          a broad range of tools. This same maturity can be intimidating
          for those
          considering adoption, especially for simple scenarios. While
          lightweight
          versions of DITA exist, they are primarily vendor-developed -
          a standardized
          lightweight entry point allows the DITA community to offer a
          common starting
          point for simple DITA scenarios that remains fully compatible
          with full
          DITA solutions.

        

          2 XML not accepted as an authoring platform by some
          communities

        

          Some authoring communities have strong ties to specific
          authoring formats,
          such as Markdown. While these alternative formats do not
          always have the
          same expressiveness as XML, they bring with them a set of
          tools and practices
          that can be a natural fit with a DITA ecosystem, if we can
          define a lower-function
          level of interchange. Lightweight DITA can provide this
          mapping, and become
          the first version of DITA to be truly cross-format - allowing
          authoring
          and delivery in a mix of native formats all mapped to a common
          semantic
          standard.

        

            How we approached the problem

        

          We identified some key authoring communities that were
          interested in the
          benefits that Lightweight DITA could provide, and mapped out
          some scenarios
          including cross-format authoring and reuse. Lightweight DITA
          represents
          the common denomenator for functionality needed by interested
          parties in
          the following authoring communities: learning and training,
          SME-authored
          software documentation, and marketing content. 

          

          Michael Priestley, Senior Technical Staff Member (STSM)

          Enterprise Content Technology Strategist

          

          

          

        

          From:        Carlos
          Evia <>

          To:        Kristen
          James Eberlein <>

          Cc:        ""<>

          Date:        05/22/2017
          10:59 AM

          Subject:        Re:
          [dita-lightweight-dita] Promised rewrite

          Sent by:        <>

        

      

        

        

        I like it very much. I think we should at to the core goals a
        list item
        talking about content sharing and collaboration across formats,
        shouldn't
        we?

        And should we have a disclaimer about specialization in the
        second bulleted
        list?

        

        Carlos

        

        -- 

        Carlos Evia, Ph.D.

        Director of Professional and Technical Writing

        Associate Professor of Technical Communication

        Department of English

        Center for Human-Computer Interaction

        Virginia Tech

        Blacksburg, VA 24061-0112

        (540)200-8201

        

        

        On Mon, May 22, 2017 at 10:24 AM, Kristen James Eberlein <>
        wrote:

        Some comments interspersed ... Please note the paragraph and
        list highlighted
        in blue. This is what we need to agree on, flesh out, and ensure
        that drive
        though the document, 
      
2 Why Lightweight DITA?

      
LwDITA is a proposed specification for
          expressing simplified
          DITA documents in XML, HTML5, and Markdown. 

      
The core goals of LwDITA are the
          following:

      
        
Provide a simpler DITA
            experience

        
Provide representations of
            LwDITA in XML,
            HTML5, and Markdown that enable individuals to author
            content in whatever
            representation is their preference

        
Enable the growth of new
            tools and applications
            that support LwDITA

      
      LwDITA offers the core features
        in the DITA standard: 
      
        
Semantic tagging

        
Topic orientation

        
Content reuse

        
Conditional publishing

        
Specialization

      
      However, LwDITA
        deliberately limits itself to generic structures that are highly
        applicable
        across many industries. This results in a much smaller standard
        in terms
        of elements, attributes, and complexity. 
      
This pragmatic design has benefits for both
          small and large
          projects, as well as new and existing DITA implementations.
          The learning
          curve for LwDITA will be shorter. Implementing LwDITA might
          involve less
          change management and so lower costs. The ability for
          engineers to author
          in Markdown, marketing writers in HTML5, and technical authors
          in DITA
          will enable collaboration across divisional silos.

      
Of course, LwDITA users who decide that they
          need a richer
          set of features and functionality for their content can easily
          transition
          to full DITA.

      

          -- 

          Best,

          Kris

          

          Kristen James Eberlein

          Chair, OASIS DITA Technical Committee

          Principal consultant, Eberlein Consulting

          www.eberleinconsulting.com

          +1
              919 682-2290;
          kriseberlein (skype)

        

--------------------------------------------------------------------- To
          unsubscribe from this mail list, you must leave the OASIS TC
          that generates
          this mail. Follow this link to all your TCs in OASIS at: https://www.oasis-open.org/apps/org/workgroup/portal/my_workgroups.php