Introduction to DITA

Darwin Information Typing Architecture (DITA) is a modular, XML-based specification used for authoring and managing topic-based and structured documentation projects. Originally designed by IBM, it is now an open-source standard maintained by the OASIS organization.

You can create DITA-based content using various editors, one of which is oXygen XML, as shown in this tutorial.

The name DITA reflects the key principles of this documentation philosophy:

• Darwin - refers to the ability for content to evolve over time.
• Information Typing - describes the typology of content based on its purpose (e.g., task, concept, reference).
• Architecture - signifies a scalable and customizable set of structures that can be adapted for your own content development purposes.

DITA supports content reuse, filtering, and single-sourcing. Content created using DITA can also be easily localized for multilingual documentation. In DITA-based projects, content is separated from layout, which allows authors to focus on creating informative content while visual aspects of DITA projects is handled using stylesheets.

DITA is particularly suitable for large-scale and complex technical documentation due to its structured approach to content. It is built on two core components:

• topics - reusable and self-contained units of content. Examples include tasks, concepts, references, and glossaries;
• maps - configuration files that organize topics and define their structure.

Since DITA promotes content evolution and reuse, its implementation can be beneficial for your documentation project. DITA reduces duplication and maintenance effort required to maintain your docs up-to-date. This might be useful especially if you plan to produce large volumes of documentation in multiple languages.