DITA Boot Camp

Description

Want to know why structured, topic-based authoring is the technical communication solution of the future? Been asking what DITA is really all about? Want to know if it's the right direction for your organization? Confused about how to get started? The JoAnn Hackos Workshop Series invites you to a weeklong intensive DITA Boot Camp.

Structured Authoring, Minimalism, XML for Writers, and DITA—these four workshops taken separately cost $3,700. Combine the key concepts from all four workshops at the low cost of $1,950. Send your entire team and take a year off your learning curve.

Managers, this is a great opportunity to get your staff expertly and efficiently trained to implement DITA in one all-inclusive workshop. There's more to using DITA correctly than just the DTD. Your staff will learn what they need to know at DITA Boot Camp!

The Boot Camp begins with DITA Basics. By structuring a task in DITA, learn the structure inherent in the core DITA information types: task, concept, and reference. Work with your own content. Learn how to structure your content so that it works in DITA.

DITA is the starting point for introducing structured writing to your organization. The Boot Camp takes you from the DITA Basics to the skills you'll need to create a specific standard for your organization and your content.

In the Structured Authoring portion of the workshop, you'll learn

• the core requirements of an Information Model
• the business value of structured writing
• about setting up an information architecture team
• the DITA information Types and Content Units
• how to develop an Information Model for your content

Minimalism comes next. Learn why eliminating empty text and focusing on what users really need to know is a critical first step toward structured authoring. You can't create structured topics out of text that nobody wants and no one ever reads.

During the Minimalism portion of the Boot Camp, you'll learn

• when minimalist strategies should be used
• the minimalist agenda
• why minimalist information is read by 90% of users
• how major corporations have implemented minimalism in their technical information

This workshop covers the basics of HTML and XML. You’ll gain an understanding of

• basic XML concepts and terminology
• how XSLT and style sheets transform XML tagged text into formatted deliverables

Move from structured authoring and minimalism into the details of the Darwin Information Typing Architecture (DITA). DITA is the OASIS standard for topic-based information development. Learn why it is fast becoming the standard for technical communication worldwide.

During the third and longest portion of the Boot Camp, you'll learn to

• build a business case for moving to DITA
• plan a topic-based project using annotated topic lists
• transform your own topics based on the three core information types: concept, task, and reference
• create a DITA map to organize your topics into deliverables for PDF, HTML, and help output
• set up relationship tables to link topics
• handle conditional processing and content reuse through conrefs and keyrefs
• understand the basic concepts of a DITA specialization
• process a DITA map using the DITA Open Toolkit

The Boot Camp workshop requires that you bring a laptop computer and sample documents to complete exercises. Be prepared to use an XML editor to author topics.

During the wrap-up session, discuss how to evaluate XML editors and XML-compliant content management systems. Conclude with an open discussion of applying change management principles to your organization.