Driving DITA off the Map

Jang F.M. Graat

Who’s talking ?• Jang F.M. Graat

• Amsterdam

• Part-time tech comms specialist (25+ years)

• Full-time philosopher

• Box ? What box ?

• Addicted to challenge

Driving DITA off the Map

Toward (Much) More Intelligent Information Disclosure

What’s the problem ?

Minimalism

Only what the user needs

One Size Fits All ?

Who is the user ?

What do they know ?

Progressive disclosure

Workflow diagram

Trouble-shooting

Organizing topics

Where to look ?

Outdated paradigm

Slightly better paradigm

Modern (lazy) paradigm

What is installed ?

A B C D E F G H

GUI a X X X X

GUI b X X X

GUI c X X

library 1 X X X

library 2 X X X X X X

library 3 X X X X

.NET X X X X

SQL X X X

PHP X X X X

Can users figure it out ?

User-side configuration

Intelligent disclosure

information elements (multiple versions)

maps, indexes, cross-refs, search results

product a product b product c

c X

X

X

Dynamic toc, index, etc.

information elements (multiple versions)

a b

Dynamic topic linking

information elements (multiple versions)

a b c

Only what users need

Questions ?

jang @ jang . nl