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This content was developed by Bob Doyle and is being hosted here to make it more accessible to the user assistance community.
What is DITA?
DITA is Darwin Information Typing Architecture:
- Darwin because its topics can be specialized to inherit properties of basic topics.
- Three basic Information Types are Concept, Task, and Reference topics.
- The Architecture is an XML standard, with Schemas and DTDs (document type definitions) maintained by OASIS.
- Topics can include other topics and sub-topics for flexible content reuse.
- Topics have strong metadata for retrieval and conditional processing.
- DITA Maps assemble topics in hierarchies for publishing various document types.
- Map assembly can depend on audience type and many other properties.
- DITA is an end-to-end architecture, with rules for publishing to XHTML, Help, PDF, and other formats.
- The DITA Open Toolkit is a reference implementation of an end-to-end component publishing system.
DITA has many features, culled from decades of research in methods for technical documentation - modularity, structured writing, information typing, minimalism, inheritance, specialization, simplified XML, single-source, topic-based, conditional processing, component publishing, task-orientation, content reuse, multiple output formats, multi-channel delivery, translation-friendly.
Why DITA? 
To answer the question "Why DITA?" we need to search for the purpose of DITA in the minds of its creators and its current custodians.
DITA is the latest version of several standards efforts going back to the 1960's at IBM to improve technical documentation. The industry goal is to encourage the development of interoperable tools. The organization goal is to make documentation easier to produce. The end-user goal is to make documentation easier to use as well as more valuable for the user.
The high level of current attention to DITA is the result of considerable marketing buzz from software vendors who incorporate DITA technology and from consultants and documentation training specialists who run workshops and conferences on technical publication methods and tools.
The attention is deserved - DITA incorporates many features based on decades of research in methods for technical documentation - like modularity, structured writing, information typing, minimalism, inheritance, specialization, simplified XML, single-source, topic-based, conditional processing, component publishing, task-orientation, content reuse, multi-channel, and translation-friendly.
The Business Case for DITA
To make the business case for DITA, you must align its many powerful features with specific needs in your business or organization.
DITA has many features based on decades of research in methods for technical documentation - like modularity, structured writing, information typing, minimalism, inheritance, specialization, simplified XML, single-source, topic-based, ready-made metadata, conditional processing, component publishing, task-orientation, content reuse, multi-channel, and translation-friendly.
Few organizations are likely to use all the features of DITA, but you should go through our checklist to determine which features could provide a significant return on investment in your particular business case. Use those features with positive returns in building your arguments for DITA.
To get started, calculate your D.Q. (DITA Quotient) to compare your DITA needs with industry averages.
- Translation Savings - the biggest return for global firms
- Single-source - keeps marketing message consistent
- Content Reuse - don't write the same sentence twice
- Structured Writing - reduces authoring time, increases analysis time
- Task orientation - reduces customer service calls
- Minimalism - improves end-user experience
- Specialization - customize topics to fit existing formats
- Multiple Output Formats - Help, Print, Online
- Multi-channel Delivery - add Mobile with minimum extra development
- Simplified XML - greatly reduces development cost of Schemas/DTDs
- Conditional Processing - rapid creation of variations for special needs
- Modularity - assemble documents from manageable chunks
- Component Content Management and Publishing
DITA Tutorial
Watch a 5-minute Flash tutorial on DITA Topics, Specialization, and Maps
References
- Introduction to DITA, by Jennifer Linton and Kylene Bruski (Comtech Services), 2006).
- DITA Pocket Guide, by SiberLogic, 2006.
- Developing Quality Technological Information: A Handbook for Writers and Editors (2nd Edition), by Gretchen Hargis, Michelle Carey, Ann Kilty Hernandez, Polly Hughes, Deirdre Longo, Shannon Rouiller, Elizabeth Wilde (IBM Press, Information Management Series, 2004).
- Information Development: Managing Your Documentation Projects, Portfolio, and People, by JoAnn Hackos (Wiley, 2006).
- From Millwrights to Shipwrights to the Twenty-First Century: Explorations in a History of Technical Communication in the United States, by R. John Brockmann.
- History of Outlining (and STOP).
- Quick Reader Comprehension (1961).
- Hughes STOP - Sequential Thematic Organization of Publications (1965).
- IBM Improving usability of publications (1981). Task-orientation HTML version
- Writing Better Computer User Documentation (1986)
- How To Write Usable User Documentation, by Edmond Weiss, Oryx, (1991)
- Mapping Hypertext, Robert Horn, Lexington Institute (1989).
- Developing Technical Training: A Structured Approach for Developing Classroom and Computer-based Instructional Materials, Dr. Ruth Clark (1989, 2nd edition, 1999).
- Designing and Writing Online Documentation: Hypermedia for Self-Supporting Products, by William Horton (1990).
- The Nurnberg Funnel, John M. Carroll, MIT Press(1990).
- Developing Online Help for Windows 95, by Scott Boggan, David Farkas, and Joe Welinske, (Solutions, 1996).
- Standards for Online Communication, by JoAnn Hackos (Wiley, 1997).
- Visual Language: Global Communication for the 21st Century, Robert Horn (1998).
- User and Task Analysis for Interface Design, by JoAnn Hackos and Janice C. (Ginny) Reddish (1998).
- Minimalism Beyond the Nurnberg Funnel, John Carroll, MIT Press(1998).
- Two Approaches to Modularity (1999). Robert Horn compares structured writing to Hughes STOP.
- Review of the Nurnberg Funnel(1999) Robert Horn compares structured writing to Minimalism.
- The Impact of Single Sourcing and Technology, Ann Rockley, 2001.
- Cisco Systems Reusable Information Object Strategy.
- Content Management for Dynamic Web Delivery, by JoAnn Hackos (Wiley 2002).
- Managing Enterprise Content, by Ann Rockley, New Riders, 2003.
- Single Sourcing: Building Modular Documentation, by Kurt Ament, Andrew Publishing, 2003.
- Robert Horn Powerpoint on Visual Language (2003).
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