All print materials and course samples are provided to attendees.
 

Follow up support on topics covered is available for 60 days.
 

Please contact us for a list of available dates.
 

This course is 2 days in duration.

Testimonial

Bernard's ability to not only understand deep technical issues, but explain them in terms that anyone would understand is second to none. He has solid reasoning skills and often thinks outside of the box in order to solve complex problems. Whether addressing business users or an entire IT department, his strong interpersonal skills give him the ability to work in any environment and be credible in that environment. If you are looking for someone to help you ensure the success of your project, I can wholeheartedly and without hesitation give Bernard my highest recommendation!

Bret Freeman, Business Development Manager EMEA, JustSystems, Inc.

This article is a part of a multiple article set. You can download and reuse it in numerous formats and lengths. If you plan to edit the content in any way, please contact us for permission first. If you share or distribute the article, please include the full article, including all contact information for the author.

Subsetting and customizing DITA (in 300 words)

Remember:

A complete copy of all 4000 words in the original version of this article can be found online at:

www.publishingsmarter.com

Subsetting means to remove or reorganize elements, attributes and attribute values to customize the way that options are presented, while ensuring all the DITA specifications are followed.

Some tags in the DITA specification may support features that are not required or provide undesired redundancy. Modifications to the default element order allow restrictions to the organization of information.

One of the easiest things you can do is to reduce the number of tags. Remember that many attributes are reused throughout DITA and it may be better to remove them on an element by element basis rather than removing them from DITA completely.

While subsetting helps to implement a stricter implementation of DITA, it also deviates from it. By only supporting a key set of tags you restrict the ability to import other content that complies with DITA. By redefining the order of elements and their frequency, you effectively rule out some combinations of elements that others may use.

Subsetting DITA and modifying the default rules can provide many benefits to an organization. A restricted set of elements reduces the need to develop formatting and transformation rules for all possible combinations of elements. It also allows organizations to further control the types of content used and the way that they are used. This results in far more consistent documentation.

Author information

A recognized publishing technologies expert, Bernard Aschwanden presents at conferences and events across Europe and North America. Bernard is an Adobe Certified Expert, a Certified Technical Trainer, a senior member of the STC and the author of numerous publications on publishing and single sourcing.

Home Page: http://www.publishingsmarter.com