<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"><html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" />
<style type="text/css">.mceResizeHandle {position: absolute;border: 1px solid black;background: #FFF;width: 5px;height: 5px;z-index: 10000}.mceResizeHandle:hover {background: #000}img[data-mce-selected] {outline: 1px solid black}img.mceClonedResizable, table.mceClonedResizable {position: absolute;outline: 1px dashed black;opacity: .5;z-index: 10000}
</style>
</head><body style="">
<div>
My apologies for the format; I seem to be thinking in bullets this morning.
</div>
<div>
</div>
<ul>
<li>Flare is a tool; DITA is a standard (or collection of standards).</li>
<li>You can use Flare to produce DITA (http://webhelp.madcapsoftware.com/flare11/Content/DITA/About_DITA.htm)</li>
<li>There are multiple other tools that can produce DITA output (which is basically a subset of XML).</li>
<li>You can do topic-based writing for other formats. (I did that for WinHelp and WebHelp for years.)</li>
<li>As Shmuel notes, the big step with DITA is that it has a focus on typed content, which can allow you to do additional things with the content more easily.</li>
</ul>
<div>
</div>
<div>
Grant
</div>
<blockquote style="position: relative; margin-left: 0px; padding-left: 10px; border-left: solid 1px blue;" type="cite">
On April 13, 2015 at 8:37 AM Writer <generic668@yahoo.ca> wrote:
<br />
<br />
<div style="color: #000; background-color: #fff; font-family: HelveticaNeue-Light, Helvetica Neue Light, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, Lucida Grande, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">
<div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1428499837008_231573" dir="ltr">
Gillian asked:
</div>
<div dir="ltr">
</div>
<div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1428499837008_232022" dir="ltr">
"How does Flare compare to DITA? It seems like you get all of the advantages of topic-baesd authoring, without having to have someone write scripts for you. Has anyone tried modifying their templates? How easy or difficult is that. How is their help file making product?"
</div>
<br />
<div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1428499837008_232028" dir="ltr">
IMHO, topic-based authoring is writing content in small chunks or modules. To quote Wikipedia:
</div>
<div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1428499837008_231826" dir="ltr">
</div>
<div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1428499837008_231822" dir="ltr">
"
<span style="color: #252525; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 22.3999996185303px; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; display: inline; float: none; background-color: #ffffff;">A topic is a discrete piece of content that is about a specific subject, has an identifiable purpose, and can stand alone (does not need to be presented in context for the end-user to make sense of the content). Topics are also<span> </span></span>
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reuse">reusable</a>
<span style="color: #252525; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 22.3999996185303px; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; display: inline; float: none; background-color: #ffffff;">. They can, when constructed properly (without reliance on other content for its meaning), be reused in any context anywhere needed." (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Topic-based_authoring">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Topic-based_authoring</a>)<br /></span>
</div>
<div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1428499837008_231821" dir="ltr">
</div>
<div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1428499837008_231820" dir="ltr">
It does not imply that the content is typed (specialized).
</div>
<div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1428499837008_232010" dir="ltr">
</div>
<div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1428499837008_231881" dir="ltr">
DITA is content that is marked up semantically. Although you can create content in DITA that is topic-based, you don't have to.
</div>
<div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1428499837008_232011" dir="ltr">
</div>
<div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1428499837008_232012" dir="ltr">
So the difference at the content level between Flare and DITA is that content written in Flare is unstructured and not marked up semantically, and DITA is structured and marked up semantically.
</div>
<div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1428499837008_232483" dir="ltr">
</div>
<div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1428499837008_232484" dir="ltr">
Which approach is more advantageous is going to depend on what you need overall now and in the future.
</div>
<div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1428499837008_232419" dir="ltr">
</div>
<div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1428499837008_232392" dir="ltr">
Nadine
</div>
<div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1428499837008_231598" style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-Light, Helvetica Neue Light, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, Lucida Grande, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">
<div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1428499837008_231597" style="font-family: HelveticaNeue, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, Lucida Grande, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">
<div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1428499837008_231596" dir="ltr">
<hr size="1" />
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: small;"> <strong id="yui_3_16_0_1_1428499837008_231679"><span style="font-weight: bold;">From:</span></strong> Shmuel <shmuelw1@gmail.com><br /> <strong id="yui_3_16_0_1_1428499837008_232394"><span style="font-weight: bold;">To:</span></strong> Gillian Flato <gill6034@comcast.net>; framers@lists.frameusers.com <br /> <strong><span style="font-weight: bold;">Sent:</span></strong> Monday, April 13, 2015 5:35 AM<br /> <strong id="yui_3_16_0_1_1428499837008_232272"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Subject:</span></strong> Re: Flare vs DITA<br /> </span>
</div>
<div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1428499837008_231599" class="y_msg_container">
<br />If you are interest in switching to topic-based authoring, and you are
<br />using Frame already, it might be easier to stick with Frame and switch
<br />to Structured Frame, which I believe is also topic-based authoring.
<br />(Someone please correct me if I'm wrong.)
<br />
<br />--
<br />Shmuel Wolfson
<br />Technical Writer
<br />052-763-7133
<br />
<br />
<br />On 12-Apr-15 10:52 PM, Gillian Flato wrote:
<br />> How does Flare compare to DITA? It seems like you get all of the advantages of topic-baesd authoring, without having to have someone write scripts for you. Has anyone tried modifying their templates? How easy or difficult is that. How is their help file making product?
<br />>
<br />> Thanks
<br />> Gillian
<br />> _______________________________________________
<br />>
<br />>
<br />> You are currently subscribed to framers as
<a href="mailto:shmuelw1@gmail.com.">shmuelw1@gmail.com.</a>
<br />>
<br />> Send list messages to
<a href="mailto:framers@lists.frameusers.com.">framers@lists.frameusers.com.</a>
<br />>
<br />> To unsubscribe send a blank email to
<br />>
<a href="mailto:framers-unsubscribe@lists.frameusers.com">framers-unsubscribe@lists.frameusers.com</a>
<br />> or visit
<a target="_blank" href="http://lists.frameusers.com/mailman/options/framers/shmuelw1%40gmail.com">http://lists.frameusers.com/mailman/options/framers/shmuelw1%40gmail.com</a>
<br />>
<br />> Send administrative questions to
<a href="mailto:listadmin@frameusers.com.">listadmin@frameusers.com.</a> Visit
<br />>
<a target="_blank" href="http://www.frameusers.com/">http://www.frameusers.com/ </a>for more resources and info.
<br />> .
<br />>
<br />
<br />_______________________________________________
<br />
<br />
<br />You are currently subscribed to framers as
<a href="mailto:generic668@yahoo.ca.">generic668@yahoo.ca.</a>
<br />
<br />Send list messages to
<a href="mailto:framers@lists.frameusers.com.">framers@lists.frameusers.com.</a>
<br />
<br />To unsubscribe send a blank email to
<br />
<a href="mailto:framers-unsubscribe@lists.frameusers.com">framers-unsubscribe@lists.frameusers.com</a>
<br />or visit
<a target="_blank" href="http://lists.frameusers.com/mailman/options/framers/generic668%40yahoo.ca">http://lists.frameusers.com/mailman/options/framers/generic668%40yahoo.ca</a>
<br />
<br />Send administrative questions to
<a href="mailto:listadmin@frameusers.com.">listadmin@frameusers.com.</a> Visit
<br />
<a target="_blank" href="http://www.frameusers.com/">http://www.frameusers.com/ </a>for more resources and info.
<br />
<br />
<br />
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</blockquote>
<div>
<br />
</div>
<blockquote style="position: relative; margin-left: 0px; padding-left: 10px; border-left: solid 1px blue;" type="cite">
_______________________________________________
<br />
<br />
<br />You are currently subscribed to framers as grant@hedgewizard.net.
<br />
<br />Send list messages to framers@lists.frameusers.com.
<br />
<br />To unsubscribe send a blank email to
<br />framers-unsubscribe@lists.frameusers.com
<br />or visit http://lists.frameusers.com/mailman/options/framers/grant%40hedgewizard.net
<br />
<br />Send administrative questions to listadmin@frameusers.com. Visit
<br />http://www.frameusers.com/ for more resources and info.
</blockquote>
<div>
<br />
</div>
</body></html>