|
|
Migrating your User Assistance to the DITA Architecture |
Monday |
|
Alan Houser, Group Wellesley |
10:45 am - 12:00 pm |
|
The Darwin Information Typing Architecture (DITA) is an XML-based information architecture for authoring, managing, and publishing topic-oriented user assistance. The DITA Open Toolkit implements DITA's capabilities for re-using information and creating customized sets of user assistance for a range of products. DITA provides an appealing option for organizations that wish to obtain the benefits of XML publishing. — YOU WILL LEARN —
|
|
|
Customizing DITA Output - Web-based XHTML and PDF |
Monday |
|
Pam Noreault, Sophos Inc. |
1:15 - 2:45 pm |
|
|
This session discusses how you can effectively brand your XHTML and PDF outputs from the DITA Toolkit. Both beginner and advanced CSS and XSL style sheets will be discussed. Additionally, this session will provide information on integrating your XHTML files into a frameset and implementing a search and index. The PDF customizations require the use of the RenderX XEP product which comes as part of XMetal Enterprise or it can be purchased separately. The DITA Toolkit is open source software that comes with pre-defined CSS for Web-based output and XSL for PDF output. This session requires some advanced knowledge of the DITA Toolkit, CSS, and XSL. — YOU WILL LEARN —
|
|
|
Innovative Techniques with Cascading Style Sheets |
Monday |
|
| This time slot features presentations by two different speakers with a common theme. | 1:15 - 2:45 pm |
|
| CSS: Image Maps Using Backgrounds Dave Gash, HyperTrain dot Com |
||
| In the Olden Days of UA (you know, four or five years ago), image maps were all the rage for putting multiple hotspots on one graphic; they did the trick, but you had to code them by hand or use a separate image slicing utility. Then, image rollovers came into vogue; they worked great, but ate up bandwidth and required complicated scripting. Today, CSS can do all that and more with one background image, a few simple rules, no extra downloading, and absolutely no scripting. This session explores an easy and elegant technique for creating multiple-hotspot, "shiftable" CSS backgrounds that look great, work fast, and travel light. CSS rules! (Get it?) | ||
| CSS: Creating Table "Styles" Matthew Ellison, Matthew Ellison Consulting |
||
|
Tables represent one of the biggest formatting challenges for authors working on HTML-based content, with a single table potentially including up to 10 different HTML tags. There are also numerous possible formatting properties that make it possible to control table layout, borders, padding, background color, caption position, and whether the borders collapse. With all this complexity, how can it be possible to quickly apply a complete set of formatting properties to a table using a single “table style”? This part of the session will show you how using CSS! And you’ll discover a number of other table tips and tricks that you can apply whatever your authoring tool. |
|
|
Double Scoop Case Studies • Theme: "DITA" |
Tuesday |
|
| This time slot features two separate case studies by two different speakers with a common theme. | 8:30 - 9:45 am |
|
| Single-sourcing with DITA in Support of a Web-based Application Steven Anderson, salesforce.com |
||
| This case study examines how salesforce.com has implemented single-sourcing utilizing XML and DITA. The focus will primarily be on the aspects of engineering such a process, and will only touch on issues relating to creating content. He will discuss the use of the Ant output tool, the DITA Open Toolkit, plug-ins for the open toolkit, in-house customizations, using batch processes to ensure reproducible deliverables, and a plan to integrate our content with content from other internal teams, including customer support and training. | ||
| Customization Options to Maximize Content Reuse with DITA Debra Bissantz, LSI Corporation |
||
| This case study will show how LSI has successfully reused content to produce online help systems for multiple programs. These online help systems were also customized for OEM customers, using OEM-specific terminology and OEM-specific content. LSI used variables available in Structured FrameMaker to provide custom terminology. LSI used DITA attributes to provide conditional processing. LSI also used features offered through the content management system to create custom content. By using customizations, LSI was able to maximize content reuse. LSI was able to use approximately 450 DITA topics to produce 12 different online help systems. Attendees should be familiar with Structured FrameMaker and the DITA standard. |
|
|
How to Run a Successful DITA Pilot User Assistance Project |
Wednesday |
|
Mark Wallis, IBM Internet Security Systems |
1:30 - 2:45 pm |
|
This session addresses how to mitigate the risk of a major technology change such as DITA. It is based on experiences from the first pilot DITA project at IBM Internet Security Systems -- a security appliance with a web-based Java interface. Issues include migrating content, compatibility with existing delivery mechanisms, absorbing the learning curve without disrupting group productivity, avoiding unexpected costs, and addressing technology obstacles. — YOU WILL LEARN —
|
|
|
Introduction to XSL Transforms |
Wednesday |
|
Dave Gash, HyperTrain dot Com |
1:30 - 2:45 pm |
|
It's always something: Learn one technology and you'll soon find that to do anything really juicy you need to learn another one that sits on top of it! Examples abound: HTML/CSS, JavaScript/DHTML, and of course XML/XSL. In this session, we will discover XSL, the XML stylesheet language, and learn some coding basics. In particular, we'll explore transforms (the T in XSLT), and how they interact with XML documents to create powerful and flexible pages that choose not only what to display, but how to display it -- without scripting! — YOU WILL LEARN —
|
|
|
Rapid Prototyping Techniques for Developing User Assistance |
Wednesday |
|
Alan Houser, Group Wellesley |
1:30 - 2:45 pm |
|
|
Minimalist documentation strategies can be used to develop effective, usable user assistance while minimizing the total cost of the documentation lifecycle (content development, management, production, and translation). A task analysis is a critical first step in developing minimalist documentation. The results of a task analysis will provide the necessary tasks, plus supporting concept and reference information, that must be documented in order to effectively support a product or service. — YOU WILL LEARN —
|
|
