DITA and PDFThere is more than the

DITA Open Toolkit...

Tech writers’ rule n° 1: know your audience

■ Who is currently using DITA?

Tech writers’ rule n° 1: know your audience

■ Who is currently using DITA?

■ Who is publishing DITA-sourced content in PDF format?

Tech writers’ rule n° 1: know your audience

■ Who is currently using DITA?

■ Who is publishing DITA-sourced content in PDF format?

■ How do you publish DITA-sourced content as PDF?

DITA2PDF: some explored options

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DITAOpen Toolkit

Word

FrameMaker

AcrobatDistiller

FOPRender X

Antenna House

The DITA Open Toolkit (DITA-OT)

■ Java-based publishing engine

■ Available on sourceforge.net

■ Integrated in DITA editors: oXygen XML Editor/Author, XMetaL...

■ Uses Apache Ant, a Java-based software tool for automating software build processes

■ Open-source, “reference implementation” of the OASIS DITA standard

■ “Reference implementation”:

■ = a start, an example

■ ≠ ready-to-use product which gives you high-quality output “out of the box”

■ FREE, but “the most expensive free software ever created” (J. Griffith)

DITA-OT > XSL-FO > PDF

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DITAOpen Toolkit

FOPRender X

Antenna House

DITA-OT > XSL-FO > PDF: “plain” PDF or ...

2. Write the other steps of the task.

Caution:

Mind the chunking limit: do not write (a lot) more than 9 steps.

3. Do one of the following:

• Use the <choices> element when the user has to make a decision, based on simple conditions.• Use the <choicetable> element when there are multiple or complex conditions.

4. Use the <wintitle> element to refer to name or title of:

• Windows• Dialog boxes, for example the Print Setup dialog box• Wizards, for example the Installation wizard• Panes, for example the Resources pane

The <result> element describes the expected outcome for the task as a whole.

Note: If the result is the outcome of a specific step, put this in the <stepresult> element instead.

... medium-quality PDF ...

2.

Caution:

3.

●

●

4.

●

● Print Setup

● Installation

● Resources

Note:

... after some serious DITA-OT customization and XSL-FO development work

DITA > Word > PDF

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DistillerMS Word

DITA > Word > PDF: DITA Exchange Word Publisher

DITA > Word > PDF: DITA2Go

www.dita2go.com

DITA > FrameMaker + DITA-FMx > PDF

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DistillerFrameMaker

DITA > FrameMaker + DITA-FMx > PDF: high-quality PDF

2 Write the other steps of the task.

Mind the chunking limit: do not write (a lot) more than 9 steps.

3 Do one of the following:

■ Use the <choices> element when the user has to make a decision, based on simple conditions.

■ Use the <choicetable> element when there are multiple or complex condi-tions.

4 Use the <wintitle> element to refer to name or title of:

■ Windows

■ Dialog boxes, for example the Print Setup dialog box

■ Wizards, for example the Installation wizard

■ Panes, for example the Resources pane

RESULT:

The <result> element describes the expected outcome for the task as a whole.

NOTE: If the result is the outcome of a specific step, put this in the <stepresult> element instead.

DITA > FrameMaker > PDF: fully automated process with FMx-Auto

➊ Author content in any DITA editor

DITA > FrameMaker > PDF

➋ Publish the DITA-sourced content using a “build file”

DITA > FrameMaker > PDF

➌ FrameMaker starts and generates a FrameMaker book from the ditamap or bookmap

DITA > FrameMaker > PDF

➍ FrameMaker saves the book as PDF, fully “automagically”

More (unexplored) options

■ DITA4Publishers: DITA > InDesign > PDF

■ Help Authoring Tools (“HATs”):

■ MadCap Flare

■ RoboHelp

■ WebWorks ePublisher

■ High-end enterprise-level publishing tools:

■ SDL XML Professional Publisher (XPP)

■ Arbortext Publishing Engine

Demo?