Hi Eric
Agile, modular documentation, reuse ("bits of information about a product
that could be shared in multiple manuals and possibly other documents"):
all good reasons to "go DITA".
An agile User Story is a standalone feature that is meant to answer one
customer need. Similarly, a DITA topic is a standalone piece of content
that answers a single question, for example:
- How can I do task X?
- What is a given concept?
- Where can I find a given component or software command?
So, in DITA, the idea is that you write standalone topics, which you then
assemble into a DITA map. A DITA map corresponds (more or less) to a
FrameMaker book, but the difference is that each DITA topic is a separate
XML file, whereas the components in a FrameMaker book are usually chapters
in a binary FrameMaker format. This means that reusing information in
unstructured (binary) FrameMaker is more difficult than it is in DITA. In
DITA, you can reuse topics as a whole in various DITA maps, but you can
also reuse parts of a topic, such as a section of a topic or even
individual sentences or paragraphs.
You are already using unstructured Frame 12, which supports DITA, and the
DITA-FMx plugin supports DITA even better:
http://leximation.com/dita-fmx/featurecomparison.php
Y
ou can google "DITA" and "Agile" and you'll find lots of pointers, but
here are some interesting ones:
-
www.embedded.com/design/prototyping-and-development/4230902/DITA-and-the-death-of-technical-documentation-as-we-know-it
-
www.slideshare.net/IXIASOFT/agile-content-development-and-the-ixiasoft-dita-cms?qid=443e7abe-6abe-4772-866b-b627a215cea9&v=default&b=&from_search=2
-
http://www.slideshare.net/nabayanroy/agile-meets-dita-developing-user-documentation-in-an-agile-environment?qid=7d2e654f-15a6-48a4-ae87-4f13f669b22f&v=qf1&b=&from_search=1
And if you'd like to see how your content would look like in DITA, feel
free to send me a sample FrameMaker book.
Cheers
--
Yves Barbion
www.scripto.nu
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