Re: DITA/docbook vs your own schema

2013-07-11 Thread rebecca officer
You can buy the electronic version from 
http://comtech-serv.com//index.php?main_page=product_infocPath=28_3products_id=10.
 
I really like ebooks. I'm reading it already.
 
Thanks for your replies, everyone. It's been very helpful!
 
Rebecca

 Alan T Litchfield a...@alphabyte.co.nz 10/07/13 15:31 
Unfortunately, that book cannot be sold internationally by Amazon. :(

Alan

On 10/07/13 2:19 PM, Writer wrote:
 Agreed. That has been my go to book since I started using DITA.

 Nadine


 This is a really good book for getting experience in using DITA 1.2. I found 
 that the sample application that is developed was very straightforward to 
 implement in FrameMaker. It won't teach you everything you need to know 
 about DITA, but all the basics are there.

 http://www.amazon.com/Introduction-DITA-Second-Edition-Architecture/dp/0977863433

 An Arbortext specific version of this book also exists. (The one above is 
 not FM specific, but it really doesn't need to be.)

 Craig


-- 
AlphaByte
PO Box 1941, Auckland
http://www.alphabyte.co.nz
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RE: DITA/docbook vs your own schema

2013-07-11 Thread Syed Zaeem Hosain (syed.hos...@aeris.net)
Rebecca Officer wrote:

?  You can buy the electronic version from 
http://comtech-serv.com//index.php?main_page=product_infocPath=28_3products_id=10http://comtech-serv.com/index.php?main_page=product_infocPath=28_3products_id=10.

?  I really like ebooks. I'm reading it already.
Thanks for the info, Rebecca!

1. Do you know the ebook format for this book? What reader are you using? 
The site does not describe it as far as I could tell.

2. If not a downloadable format, do you have to stay connected to the 
Internet while reading, or starting to read, it?
Z
rant
The reason I ask is that I prefer to read on my Kindle Fire and/or a Kindle app 
on my laptop - particularly when travelling on a plane or hotel. And Kindle 
books do _not_ require a live Internet connection while reading!
Last fall, my son decided to try an electronic textbook for a High School class 
to save paper and the result is _extremely_ disappointing. The protections on 
the file (whatever the format is) require a live Internet connection on his Mac 
whenever he starts reading the book ... apparently to check whether he has the 
rights to do so.
And, if he forgets to change his browser to allow cookies, the program will not 
even find the book on the site - the download mechanisms failed from the very 
beginning and the tech support cannot find a solution. This is ridiculous - 
particularly for such an expensive textbook.
This coming fall, we decided to kill trees rather than experiment with text 
ebooks again. If enough people feel the same way, it will probably make the 
publisher think that electronic textbooks are not a good market - despite the 
fact that it was their atrocious rights management system that made it less 
than useful!
And, I am quite leary if the Kindle version of a book is not available - and 
given that the paper book is sold on Amazon, but there is no reference to a 
Kindle version - it gives me pause. I have purchased many non-fiction technical 
books in Kindle format and the format has worked out well - particularly on a 
Fire HD where images and color diagrams are perfectly fine!
/rant
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Re: DITA/docbook vs your own schema

2013-07-11 Thread Robert Lauriston
Neither do PDFs, which are superior in pretty much every way.

On Thu, Jul 11, 2013 at 10:08 AM, Syed Zaeem Hosain
(syed.hos...@aeris.net) syed.hos...@aeris.net wrote:
 Kindle books do _not_ require a live Internet connection while reading!
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RE: DITA/docbook vs your own schema

2013-07-11 Thread Syed Zaeem Hosain (syed.hos...@aeris.net)
Robert Lauriston said:
 Neither do PDFs, which are superior in pretty much every way.

Yes, they are good in many ways, but PDFs don't flow across pages as smoothly 
as Kindle documents on a Kindle when things like the font-size, etc., are 
changed.

Z

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Re: DITA/docbook vs your own schema

2013-07-10 Thread Shmuel Wolfson
If you can't find another option, you can have it forwarded to you by 
this company:

http://www.shipito.com/shop-pricing
They give you a US address to ship it to, and then they forward it to you.
There are a few company that do mail forwarding, but I found this one to 
be the cheapest.

It would probably cost you around $20-$25 including their handling fee.

Regards,
Shmuel Wolfson
Technical Writer
052-763-7133

On 10-Jul-13 6:31 AM, Alan T Litchfield wrote:

Unfortunately, that book cannot be sold internationally by Amazon. :(

Alan

On 10/07/13 2:19 PM, Writer wrote:

Agreed. That has been my go to book since I started using DITA.

Nadine



This is a really good book for getting experience in using DITA 1.2. 
I found that the sample application that is developed was very 
straightforward to implement in FrameMaker. It won't teach you 
everything you need to know about DITA, but all the basics are there.


http://www.amazon.com/Introduction-DITA-Second-Edition-Architecture/dp/0977863433 



An Arbortext specific version of this book also exists. (The one 
above is not FM specific, but it really doesn't need to be.)


Craig






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Re: DITA/docbook vs your own schema

2013-07-10 Thread Yves Barbion
Hi Rebecca

Your to-do list is pretty accurate. I've added my comments below, preceded
by [Yves]

On Wed, Jul 10, 2013 at 9:49 AM, rebecca officer 
rebecca.offi...@alliedtelesis.co.nz wrote:
Hi everyone

Thanks very much for your answers. I really appreciate the expertise on
this list.
[Yves] You're welcome.

I'm asking because I proposed to my team that we investigate going to
DITA. One of my team members asked why not just use our existing set of
paragraph tags etc and convert those to structured Frame and then into an
XML schema? I didn't really have a good answer.
[Yves] Because you'd be reinventing the DITA wheel, and this would mean
a lot of work.

As well as us editing docs in Framemaker, we'd want engineers editing the
same docs in another XML editor, eg Oxygen. So we'd have to round-trip.
[Yves] Good idea and good choice of tools: oXygen XML Author and
FrameMaker+DITA-Fmx play very well together. With FMx-Auto (
http://leximation.com/dita-fmx/fmx-auto.php ), you can even generate Fm
books from within oXygen.

So am I right that if we do our own schema, we'd have to:

- create a template (based on our unstructured FM one): [Yves] correct,
but you may have to create templates (plural), which may be difficult to
maintain
- model tables, cross-references, images, etc: [Yves] correct
- model some equivalent of conrefs if we want content reuse [Yves]
correct, but also think of equivalents of other advanced DITA reuse
techniques, such as conditional text (ditaval), relationship tables, keys
(keyref, keydef, conkeyref...)
- create some equivalent of ditamaps [Yves] correct, this would be Fm
books
- create an EDD [Yves]correct, but you may have to create multiple EDDs
(for authoring and for publishing)
- create a DTD [Yves] correct, but this may be multiple DTDs (for
various information types)
- create read/write rules [Yves] correct
- create XSLT and CSS files in order to output XHTML [Yves]correct
- create an XSL-FO file in order to output PDFs [Yves]not necessarily.
you can also create your PDFs via FrameMaker

[Yves] When doing the information modeling, do not underestimate the
effort to define the metadata and the attributes in particular.

Or am I drastically on the wrong track? [Yves] No, you're doing just
fine. ;-)

Does structured Frame automatically provide any of the above?
[Yves] Structured Frame without DITA (so saving your files as .fm not
.xml)? No. Structured Frame with DITA? Yes, and structured Frame with
DITA-FMx even a lot more than that:

http://leximation.com/dita-fmx/featurecomparison.php

[Rebecca] With DITA, I think we'd use DITA-FMx. Does that make it easier to
muck with your PDF output? From what I've read, PDFs sound like the biggest
pain point so far.

[Yves] There are various ways and tools to generate PDFs from
DITA-structured content:

   - DITA  FrameMaker  PDF
   - DITA  FrameMaker+DITA-FMx  PDF
   - DITA  XSL-FO  PDF
   - DITA  Word  PDF
   - DITA  WebWorks ePublisher  PDF

My favourite way is to generate PDFs via DITA-FMx because it is very easy
to design custom (or variants of) FrameMaker bookbuild templates.
Bookbuild templates (aka component templates) are used to generate Fm
books from the DITA map. Then, you save this Fm book as PDF. If you know
how to design professional unstructured FrameMaker templates, you can also
design DITA-FMx bookbuild templates. These videos show you how the
bookbuild process goes:

http://youtu.be/rkQHuxtRmk0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ULFJ53RTHxo

Cheers


Yves
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Re: DITA/docbook vs your own schema

2013-07-10 Thread Writer
What about directly from Comtech Services? 
http://comtech-serv.com//index.php?main_page=product_infocPath=28_3products_id=10

Nadine


- Original Message -
 From: Alan T Litchfield a...@alphabyte.co.nz
 To: framers@lists.frameusers.com
 Cc: 
 Sent: Tuesday, July 9, 2013 11:31:49 PM
 Subject: Re: DITA/docbook vs your own schema
 
 Unfortunately, that book cannot be sold internationally by Amazon. :(
 
 Alan
 
 On 10/07/13 2:19 PM, Writer wrote:
  Agreed. That has been my go to book since I started using DITA.
 
  Nadine
 
 
  This is a really good book for getting experience in using DITA 1.2. I 
 found that the sample application that is developed was very straightforward 
 to 
 implement in FrameMaker. It won't teach you everything you need to know 
 about DITA, but all the basics are there.
 
 
 http://www.amazon.com/Introduction-DITA-Second-Edition-Architecture/dp/0977863433
 
  An Arbortext specific version of this book also exists. (The one above 
 is not FM specific, but it really doesn't need to be.)
 
  Craig
 
 
 -- 
 AlphaByte
 PO Box 1941, Auckland
 http://www.alphabyte.co.nz
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Re: DITA/docbook vs your own schema

2013-07-09 Thread Yves Barbion
Hi Rebecca

I don't think any content maps perfectly to DITA, which is logical. But
then again, you can specialize DITA to make it match your content. Some
will even say that DITA must be specialized.

Others have already given you some good arguments in favor of DITA or
DocBook. With DITA, you will also get:

   - Excellent free support from clever people in various DITA user groups:
   Yahoo dita-users, DITA Awareness Group on LinkedIn...
   - Books: http://www.ditawriter.com/dita-books/
   - Conferences
   - DITA-aware tools (editors, CMSs) but also DITA-aware technical writers

I've been involved in projects in which customers chose to develop their
own schema. It has taken them months to develop the schemas, integrate them
in the tools and set up the publication process. With DITA, you can be up
and running in just a couple of days (or weeks).

If you develop your own schema, you will also have to document it. You get
this for free with DITA:

http://docs.oasis-open.org/dita/v1.2/spec/DITA1.2-spec.html


This may help too (source:
http://www.scriptorium.com/2009/12/assessing-dita-as-a-foundation-for-xml-implementation/):

Implementing DITA versus implementing custom XML architecture

With a basic understanding of DITA, it’s time to tackle the $64,000
question: Should you use DITA for your content? First, you need to
determine whether XML in general makes sense for your content requirements.
If you decide that XML is appropriate, take a look at DITA. The following
table outlines a few possible scenarios.

*Scenario*

*Recommendation*

Content must conform to a specific standard, such as S1000D (manufacturing
and aerospace), SPL (Structured Product Labeling, pharmaceuticals), or
NewsML (newspaper articles).

Use the required standard.

DITA, out of the box, meets all requirements.

Use DITA.

A customer or business partner requires you to deliver DITA content.

Use DITA.

Content contains lengthy narratives that cannot be broken into reasonable
modular chunks.

DITA is probably not a good fit. Consider a different standard, perhaps
DocBook, or build your own.

Single sourcing is a requirement. No existing content. Can be flexible with
markup requirements in exchange for quicker implementation.

DITA is a good fit.

DITA is not an exact match; customization would be required.

Compare the cost of DITA customization to the cost of custom implementation.

Markup requirements are industry-specific, complex, and strict.

Look for an existing standard in your industry or build a custom structure.




Kind regards



-- 
Yves Barbion
www.scripto.nu
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Re: DITA/docbook vs your own schema

2013-07-09 Thread John Sgammato
This article by Bernard Aschwanden on subsetting DITA may help:
http://www.stc-siliconvalley.org/newsletter/2006_05/articles/aschwanden-subsetting-dita.htm



On Mon, Jul 8, 2013 at 3:06 AM, rebecca officer 
rebecca.offi...@alliedtelesis.co.nz wrote:

  Does anyone know of a nice, clear list of what you save by using
 DITA/docbook instead of developing your own schema?

 The content maps reasonably well to DITA, but not perfectly. I'm trying to
 figure out whether we're better off working within the limitations of DITA,
 or whether we should take the DIY approach. A clear list of what you save
 by using DITA would be really helpful.

 Many thanks!
 Rebecca


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RE: DITA/docbook vs your own schema

2013-07-09 Thread Craig Ede
Okay, I'll start from the assumption that DITA or Docbook as standards are
the way to go if you don't want to spend all kinds of time and money on
development. Of course changing to DITA or Docbook will cost time and money,
too. Just less of both.

 

So which: DITA or Docbook

 

DITA is much more restrictive. The topics are formed from a very finite set
of elements which your crew can learn to use adroitly with a little study
and practice.  Docbook has everything plus the kitchen sink thrown in as
elements because it is meant to do, well, just about everything. For my
money DITA makes a lot more sense, but your writers have to understand the
conceptual framework and work within that relative simplicity. Don't imagine
that you can do things like four levels of nested lists. Docbook, by
contrast, let's you do just about anything you've been doing in unstructured
FrameMaker, you just have to learn which of the many many elements lets you
go ahead and do that.

 

For my money, DITA is the way to go .

 

Craig

 

From: framers-boun...@lists.frameusers.com
[mailto:framers-boun...@lists.frameusers.com] On Behalf Of rebecca officer
Sent: Monday, July 08, 2013 2:06 AM
To: framers@lists.frameusers.com
Subject: DITA/docbook vs your own schema

 

Does anyone know of a nice, clear list of what you save by using
DITA/docbook instead of developing your own schema? 


The content maps reasonably well to DITA, but not perfectly. I'm trying to
figure out whether we're better off working within the limitations of DITA,
or whether we should take the DIY approach. A clear list of what you save by
using DITA would be really helpful.

 

Many thanks!

Rebecca


NOTICE: This message contains privileged and confidential
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If you have received this message in error please
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Any views expressed in this message are those of the
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RE: DITA/docbook vs your own schema

2013-07-09 Thread Craig Ede
This distinction between a narrative and topics is a good one. 

 

I just worked through a series of manuals that were written as narratives. 
There was a lot of repeated content and procedures that were actually four or 
five procedures mixed together and then occurring later with the mixture 
slightly varied at other points in the manual.

 

For the content of these operator manuals, the focus on topics both reduced the 
need for repetition and allowed breaking things down procedures into units were 
both stand-alone AND understandable. The links to stand-alone topics allowed 
redefining confusing procedures by allowing the operator to focus on the big 
picture.

 

For this particular situation, DITA was a logical choice. 

 

BTW: The previous approach had created a maintenance nightmare since changing 
anything resulted in having to find all the other places where the same or 
similar text had to change as well. The conversion process uncovered numerous 
places where such changes had been not been done or was done incompletely.

 

Craig 

 

snipped-

IMHO, Docbook vs DITA is a choice between ecosystems. While Docbook is leaning 
towards the narrative, and DITA towards topics, the differences are getting 
less pronounced. E.g., DITA is slowly leaving DTDs behind, and Docbook is 
slowly getting assemblies (maps).

 

 

 

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RE: DITA/docbook vs your own schema

2013-07-09 Thread Craig Ede
This is a really good book for getting experience in using DITA 1.2. I found 
that the sample application that is developed was very straightforward to 
implement in FrameMaker. It won't teach you everything you need to know about 
DITA, but all the basics are there.

 

http://www.amazon.com/Introduction-DITA-Second-Edition-Architecture/dp/0977863433

 

An Arbortext specific version of this book also exists. (The one above is not 
FM specific, but it really doesn't need to be.)  

 

Craig

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RE: DITA/docbook vs your own schema

2013-07-09 Thread Craig Ede
Amen to that!
Craig

-Original Message-

And unless you're very clever, it's easy to paint yourself into a corner with 
an in-house system. It might be simple to develop something for what your 
needs are now, but you neglect to make it open-ended or scalable for whatever 
changes you need to make in the future.

And then there's portability...

Nadine


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Re: DITA/docbook vs your own schema

2013-07-09 Thread Writer
Agreed. That has been my go to book since I started using DITA.

Nadine


This is a really good book for getting experience in using DITA 1.2. I found 
that the sample application that is developed was very straightforward to 
implement in FrameMaker. It won't teach you everything you need to know about 
DITA, but all the basics are there.
 
http://www.amazon.com/Introduction-DITA-Second-Edition-Architecture/dp/0977863433
 
An Arbortext specific version of this book also exists. (The one above is not 
FM specific, but it really doesn't need to be.)  
 
Craig

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Re: DITA/docbook vs your own schema

2013-07-09 Thread Alan T Litchfield

Unfortunately, that book cannot be sold internationally by Amazon. :(

Alan

On 10/07/13 2:19 PM, Writer wrote:

Agreed. That has been my go to book since I started using DITA.

Nadine



This is a really good book for getting experience in using DITA 1.2. I found 
that the sample application that is developed was very straightforward to 
implement in FrameMaker. It won't teach you everything you need to know about 
DITA, but all the basics are there.

http://www.amazon.com/Introduction-DITA-Second-Edition-Architecture/dp/0977863433

An Arbortext specific version of this book also exists. (The one above is not 
FM specific, but it really doesn't need to be.)

Craig




--
AlphaByte
PO Box 1941, Auckland
http://www.alphabyte.co.nz
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Re: DITA/docbook vs your own schema

2013-07-08 Thread Writer
And unless you're very clever, it's easy to paint yourself into a corner with 
an in-house system. It might be simple to develop something for what your 
needs are now, but you neglect to make it open-ended or scalable for whatever 
changes you need to make in the future.

And then there's portability...

Nadine


 From: Alan Houser a...@groupwellesley.com
To: framers@lists.frameusers.com framers@lists.frameusers.com 
Sent: Monday, July 8, 2013 6:50:36 PM
Subject: Re: DITA/docbook vs your own schema
 


I gotta generally agree with Matt. Occasionally I run into an information 
modeling project that I can knock off in an afternoon, but that's pretty rare. 
Remember that you will not only need to model block content (topics, 
headings, paragraphs, lists, etc.), but also tables, cross-references, images, 
etc. The latter set can be a bit tricky. Plus, oh, your metadata.

With DITA or DocBook, you also get a publishing framework. Also
  usually non-trivial to create from scratch, especially if you are
  publishing to multiple output formats, using filtering, content
  re-use, etc.

I'll mention with some regret that FrameMaker's DocBook support is
  pretty poor. I've never figured out why...the typical use cases
  for both (books, PDF) line up very well. It may be a
  chicken-and-egg issue...I suspect more people would use DocBook if
  FrameMaker provided better DocBook support.

-Alan

On 7/8/13 6:31 PM, Matt Sullivan wrote:

A list of what you'll save using DITA or DocBook rather than creating your own 
schema: 
1. Time
2. Money


(Hey, someone had to say it…)

-Matt
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