Comparing Lightweight Markup to DITA
In recent years many documentation teams have shunned the use of semantically-rich languages such as DocBook and DITA in favor of lightweight markup languages such as Markdown and reStructuredText. These languages have especially found a niche in the realms of open source and Web application development due to their low cost and ease of use. But can lightweight approaches cope as a company grows, as products get more complex, as document management gets more challenging?
To try and answer this question, I performed an experiment. First of all, I identified five characteristics of a documentation language that I consider most useful for supporting complex document sets. Then I performed an experiment where I created two versions of the same example topic-based document. First using DITA; second using a lightweight markup language (reStructuredText published using the Sphinx documentation framework). By comparing the documents on the five criteria, I will present some pros and cons of using a lightweight markup language versus DITA for documenting large, complex projects.
What can attendees expect to learn?
Information managers are under increasing pressure to choose lightweight markup languages for technical document creation. Software architects and developers often have a preference to create content in plain text using the same tools they use for writing and versioning software code. At the same time, the low cost of the required tools make a compelling case for choosing a lightweight approach. However, lightweight languages may not be the best option for larger, more complex documentation projects. This presentation aims to help information managers weigh the pros and cons of lightweight approaches versus DITA. It aims to help them choose the most appropriate tool for their particular documentation project based on its potential size and complexity.
Meet the Presenter
Raymond Gillespie has 20 years experience in the field of information technology. For the past 14 years, Raymond has lived in Budapest, Hungary, working as both a software engineer and a technical writer, mainly in the fields of telecommunication, medical imaging, and navigation software. He is currently working for Nokia as an R&D System Verification Engineer.
He holds an MSc in information management from Lancaster University Management School (UK).