I often been asked about what I know about Darwin Information Typing Architecture (DITA). This section is to answer some FAQ about my experience with darwin. DTA is an XML data model for authoring and, with the DITA Open Toolkit, standard, that is defined and maintained by the OASIS DITA Technical Committee.
The name derives from the following components:
- Darwin: it uses the principles of specialization and inheritance, which is in some ways analogous to the naturalist Charles Darwin‘s concept of evolutionary adaptation,
- Information typing, which means each topic has a defined primary objective (procedure, glossary entry, troubleshooting information) and structure,
- Architecture: DITA is an extensible set of structures.
Content reuse
Topics can be reused across multiple publications. Fragments of content within topics can be reused through the use of content references (conref or conkeyref), a transclusion mechanism.[4]
Information typing
DITA includes three specialized topic types: Task, Concept, and Reference. Each of these three topic types is a specialization of a generic Topic type, which contains a title element, a prolog element for metadata, and a body element. The body element contains paragraph, table, and list elements, similar to HTML.
- A (General) Task topic is intended for a procedure that describes how to accomplish a task. A Task topic lists a series of steps that users follow to produce an intended outcome. The steps are contained in a taskbody element, which is a specialization of the generic body element. The steps element is a specialization of an ordered list element.
- Concept information is more objective, containing definitions, rules, and guidelines.
- A Reference topic is for topics that describe command syntax, programming instructions, and other reference material, and usually contains detailed, factual material.
Maps
A DITA map is a container for topics used to transform a collection of content into a publication. It gives the topics’ sequence and structure. A map can include relationship tables (reltables) that define hyperlinks between topics.[5] Maps can be nested. Maps can reference topics or other maps, and can contain a variety of content types and metadata.
Metadata
DITA includes extensive metadata elements and attributes, both at topic level and within elements.[6] Conditional text allows filtering or styling content based on attributes for audience, platform, product, and other properties. The conditional processing profile (.ditaval file) is used to identify which values are to be used for conditional processing.[7]
Specialization
DITA allows adding new elements and attributes through specialization of base DITA elements and attributes. Through specialization, DITA can accommodate new topic types, element types, and attributes as needed for specific industries or companies. Specializations of DITA for specific industries, such as the semiconductor industry, are standardized through OASIS technical committees or subcommittees. Many organizations using DITA also develop their own specializations.
The extensibility of DITA permits organizations to specialize DITA by defining specific information structures and still use standard tools to work with them. The ability to define company-specific information architectures enables companies to use DITA to enrich content with metadata that is meaningful to them, and to enforce company-specific rules on document structure.[4]
Topic orientation
DITA content is created as topics, each an individual XML file. Typically, each topic covers a specific subject with a singular intent, for example, a conceptual topic that provides an overview, or a procedural topic that explains how to accomplish a task.[8] Content should be structured to resemble the file structure in which it is contained.[9