DITA Standard

Explanations from Don’s perspective on the design and history of the DITA standard.

The body element

To what can we compare the body element in DITA? It’s not fluff, as in “hair with body.” There’s no inertia as in Newton’s First Law of Motion, “a body in motion tends to stay in motion.”  There’s no official entity as in a corporate body. But it is a collection of information, as in “a body of evidence.” And that thought image leads to some interesting explorations. (more…)

The searchtitle element

You know the feeling: after a busy afternoon of researching and bookmarking the documentation for a product you just bought, you go back to look for the particular link you logged about installing on weekends. But all the bookmark titles just say “Installing FooFram” with no other clue about that weekend issue. Whoever wrote those chapters needed searchtitle for the web version of that document! (more…)

The navtitle element

A navtitle, in DITAspeak, is a shorter version of a longer, actual topic title that can be displayed in navigation menus or other contexts where a more succinct version is preferred. In fact, any application that publishes adaptive content can make use of this version of the title in place of the main title for summary views of the topic such as in a sidebar blurb or for progressive disclosure in a responsive theme. (more…)

The  titlealts element

When you need more than just the regular title as the text for links to your topic, the name to call is titlealts!

Titlealts can push a  shorter version of the title into your navigation when needed, and provide a more specific version of the title for search results. It’s like having your own personal butler, keeping your linked appearance spiffy in all situations. Read more about The Children of Titlealts in the upcoming sequels, navtitle and searchtitle. (more…)

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