Posts Tagged ‘XML’
How to Write Goal-Focused and Structured Technical Documents
PREMISE Most of the technical documentation that exists in the world today is feature-focused. It is also unstructured: there is no well-defined hierarchy between the components of the document. For example, there is no enforcement of a hierarchical rule like “every task description shall be followed by a reference section.” See this related article. PROBLEM…
Read MoreWell Formed versus Valid XML Documents
“Well formed” (or “Well-formed”) and “Valid” are two very important concepts in structured XML authoring. Well Formed Well formed means, the XML tags used in the structured document follow a set of XML rules. Two of the more important rules are 1) tags should be paired with opening and closing tags, and, 2) tag pairs…
Read MoreAuthorIt SaaS Cloud Enterprise-Level Technical Writing Platform – Selected Features
© Ugur Akinci Here are a few really cool AuthorIt features that caught my eye during a recent webinar demonstration by the company founder and CEO Paul Trotter. Searching for Content AuthorIt is a powerful structured-authoring editor that allows you to use the same chunk of content many times over. So searching for reusable content…
Read MoreA Source of Potential Component Conflict when Multiple Authors Work in Structured Authoring Environment
Multiple authors writing “components” instead of “pages” is the future of technical communications (if not technical training and e-learning). When it comes to documentation, it really makes sense to “write once and publish multiple times”, as the saying goes. And that’s only possible if we all get used to writing “components” (sometimes also referred to…
Read MoreThings to Avoid in Modular Component Writing for Structured Authoring and Single-Sourcing
In true “structured authoring” the “components” you create (write, draw, etc.) are saved in the database of a Content Management System (CMS). The negative side of this type of “writing” is that you lose the local context and formatting. What you’re creating is not “only” an X-type of document but a “component” (let’s say, a…
Read MoreGraphic Design & Single-Sourcing — Revitalize Your Technical Communication Career in the Post-Writing Phase
© 2010 Ugur Akinci Technical communication is a great exciting field full of material and non-material rewards. But if you’ve been in the business for 5 or over 10 years, things can start getting a bit stale. You’ll know when that time comes to push your career up to a new orbit. You can spark…
Read MoreStructured Authoring and XML QUIZ
© 2010 Ugur Akinci (Click the Show Results button at the end to see your results…) [QUIZZIN 1]
Read MoreTwo Excellent Reasons Why You Should Learn XML
© 2010 Ugur Akinci There are two excellent reasons why you should learn XML as a technical communicator, both argued well by Jabin White at his seminal post “XML is Here to Say (I Promise)“. The first reason is: XML is platform and application independent. When you create an XML-tagged document, what you’re creating is…
Read MoreTechnical Book Review – THE COMPASS: Essential Reading About XML, DITA, and Web 2.0
© 2010 Ugur Akinci Here is a mighty little volume by Scriptorium.com that should be mandatory reading for all those either brand new to structured authoring or looking for technical details about DITA (Darwin Information Typing Architecture) OT (Open Toolkit) and PDF generation. The last chapter on “Web 2.0 in Technical Communication” is also good…
Read MoreReusable Components in Structured Authoring
© Ugur Akinci It is useful to take an inventory of all the reusable components (text strings) in your technical documents as a prelude to structured authoring. Whether you use DocBook, DITA, or some other XML-based system, identifying the reusable components in your documents is an important prerequisite before you make the switch to XML-based…
Read More