DITA/docbook vs your own schema

[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-bounces at lists.frameusers.com
[mailto:framers-bounces at lists.frameusers.com] On Behalf Of rebecca officer
Sent: Monday, July 08, 2013 2:06 AM
To: framers at 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


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