rdfs:comment
| - The Darwin Information Typing Architecture (DITA) is an XML-based architecture for authoring, producing, and delivering technical information. The name of the architecture was derived as follows: Darwin: Named for the naturalist Charles Darwin, DITA uses the principles of specialization and inheritance. Information Typing: DITA capitalizes on the semantics of topics (concept, task, reference) and of content (messages, typed phrases, semantic tables). Architecture: DITA provides vertical headroom (new applications) and edgewise extension (specialization into new types) for information.
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abstract
| - The Darwin Information Typing Architecture (DITA) is an XML-based architecture for authoring, producing, and delivering technical information. The name of the architecture was derived as follows: Darwin: Named for the naturalist Charles Darwin, DITA uses the principles of specialization and inheritance. Information Typing: DITA capitalizes on the semantics of topics (concept, task, reference) and of content (messages, typed phrases, semantic tables). Architecture: DITA provides vertical headroom (new applications) and edgewise extension (specialization into new types) for information. DITA divides content into small, self-contained topics that can be reused in different deliverables. The extensibility of DITA permits organizations to define specific information structures and still use standard tools to work with them. The ability to define company-specific and even group-specific information architectures enables DITA to support content reuse and reduce information redundancy. DITA specifies three basic topic types: Task, Concept and Reference. Each of the three basic 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 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. The DITA architecture and a related DTD and XML Schema was originally developed by IBM. DITA is now an OASIS standard.
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