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DITA Training – DITA Done Right

Upcoming deliveries

*All times Pacific/US

No open dates? Prefer a specific time and date or private delivery? Contact a Training Advisor to request a delivery that meets your needs.

About this training course

In this workshop your team will learn the basic principles of authoring in DITA, practical application of DITA information patterns to unstructured content, and minimalism. This intense, exercise-driven, workshop-style training class will develop your skills in content analysis, architecture, and the ability to identify, convert, and author good DITA content.

This workshop is good for anyone new to DITA or simply curious about it. No experience required. We walk through authoring and cover everything from creating a new DITA topics to publishing a finished content product. Each attendee will be on a computer building and authoring a standards-based content.

Prerequisite

Training will be done in Arbortext Editor. Attendees should have previously completed Arbortext Editor Basic Training or already have experience using Arbortext Editor.

How do you access the software?

You do not need to purchase Arbortext to attend this class, nor do you need to sign up for a free trial license. Students connect through a standard web browser to access a virtual desktop that already has the software installed.

Where is the class held?

We offer both public and private deliveries, either fully remote or in-person. Regardless of the delivery style, all workshops are led by a live, online expert instructor, making for a fully interactive and engaging experience.

Virtual Public Deliveries are held online and, when you share your screen, it's just as if we're just like we're standing behind you and looking over your shoulder. All students can speak and hear each other and the instructor during lecture and hands-on lab exercises. The only difference between this class and in-person? No travel costs.

Private deliveries can be held virtually using your environment, on-site at your facility, or at a location nearby. Contact a training advisor to discuss specific requirements.

Our training sessions are highly interactive and engaging. All sessions are designed to be hands-on using standard, out-of-the-box Arbortext Editor. Training in your specific configuration will not be covered.

Training includes a combination of the following topics. All training is done through hands-on exercises to increase adoption and solidify learning.

  • Introduction to DITA and the Arbortext DITA Application
  • Creating DITA Topics, Concepts, and Tasks
  • Writing good topics (identifying topic types, converting content, modular writing, dividing content into purposeful blocks, identifying reuse)
  • DITA Cross-References, linking, and referencing (xref, conref, keys, warehouse topics, architectures)
  • DITA Maps and Relationship Tables
  • Conditional text to produce documents that meet the needs of individual readers (e.g., DITAVAL and profiling)
  • Reuse strategies for content within a deliverable, across deliverables, and across content sets (basic concepts, application and gotchas)
  • Graphics
  • Collaboration, content management, shared authoring
  • Using the Resource Manager
  • Localization strategies for content and stylesheets
  • Resources and navigating the DITA Specification

JANICE SUMMERS, Single-Sourcing Solutions, specializes in helping people who’ve only ever used unstructured desktop publishing applications learn structured authoring. She graduated with a degree in I/O Psychology from San Jose State University and finds that her background helps adult learners in mastering new material. In fact, she’s been successfully transitioning Word users to XML authoring since 2005 and hasn’t lost anyone yet! She's the author of “Arbortext for Authoring: An Author's Guide to Getting Started with Arbortext Editor” (available on Amazon).

LIZ FRALEY, Single-Sourcing Solutions, is a long-time Arbortext user, customizer, stylesheet developer, and implementer. In addition to being a senior software architect, she is the founder of Single-Sourcing Solutions, a qualified, experienced trainer of Arbortext Products. She has over 25 years experience programming, teaching, and supporting knowledge growth in the communities she serves. She holds degrees in Computer Science and English from the University of Maryland College Park and a Masters in English from the University of Southern Mississippi. She's the author of “Arbortext 101: Best Practices for Configuring, Authoring, Styling, and Publishing with Arbortext,” available on Amazon, and has several more planned.

I love the pace [of the online DITA Workshop]. This has been a good learning experience for me. The content is presented in an easy to understand way. And Liz has been very patient with me. Thank you all for your help!!

Bryan G

Field Service Technical Writer

Thank you so much, Liz and Janice. This was wonderful and informative. I loved learning about new things, most especially thinking about topic types and how we write them. I feel reassured over what I am already doing in DITA daily. Thank you so much!

Haley

Sr Technical Writer, Medical Device Company

This is one of our most popular deliveries, second only to the Affinity Groups. Managers who experience this workshop come back again and again as they travel throughout their careers.

Liz

CEO, Single-Sourcing Solutions

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