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Subject: Re: [dita] DITA 1.3 documentation -- shall we remove the Contains and "Contains by" tables
Hi, Robert.
We are thinking on the same lines ... I ran some checks having the Contains and "Contains by" content in an appendix, with hyperlinks from the individual Language Reference topics. It greatly improves the search experience, and also would make it easy for people to print content. I'm very glad that everyone is chiming in on this thread. With so much participation, we'll improve the spec experience for DITA 1.3. We've got enough lead time ... Best,
On 9/12/2012 9:28 AM, Robert D Anderson wrote:Kris Kristen James Eberlein Principal consultant, Eberlein Consulting Co-chair, OASIS DITA Technical Committee Charter member, OASIS DITA Adoption Committee www.eberleinconsulting.com +1 919 682-2290; kriseberlein (skype) For what it's worth, we tried having an alphabetical list of elements at the end of the language section, but something tells me it isn't being noticed by most people. I'm not sure how to improve that. The lists are available with a couple of groupings, or as one long list: http://docs.oasis-open.org/dita/v1.2/os/spec/element-quick-reference.html A couple of ideas - the specification previously came in multiple docs (architectural specification and language specification). We could have a companion doc that is part of the specification deliverable, linked to from the main page (like we link to the DTDs and XSDs), and store the contains/contained-by items in there (linked to from the main language spec). That could be done as a single doc, or as individual docs (which would easily let us include only the learning modules with a future learning package). If we did that, and if we found a way to simplify the attribute tables (big if), then the PDF could conceivably become small enough to print out. I know, a fantasy... A less advanced idea would be to store the content models in an appendix, which would at least mean that a search from the front of the PDF would hit the element descriptions before hitting the content models. Robert D Anderson IBM Authoring Tools Development Chief Architect, DITA Open Toolkit (http://dita-ot.sourceforge.net/) From: "Jang F.M. Graat" <jang@jang.nl> To: DITA TC <dita@lists.oasis-open.org> Date: 09/12/2012 00:58 Subject: Re: [dita] DITA 1.3 documentation -- shall we remove the Contains and "Contains by" tables Sent by: <dita@lists.oasis-open.org> Hello all, I agree with Tony that the problem is the search method, not its availability. Having an alphabetical list of elements, possibly having more than one such list - grouped per domain - as hyperlinks in an obvious location (appendix ? or up front immediately following the TOC) would do a lot of good for readers of the specs. Full text search is a must if you want to find that certain phrase you know you have seen before but forgotten where. Paging through those 1200 pages to find the phrase is almost impossible to do. Killing the full text search because some people use it in the wrong way is a bad choice. Removing the tables is a bad choice, too. Rethinking possible ways of disclosing the information is a good one. Ciao Jang JANG Communication Coaching - Copywriting - Consulting Amsterdam - Netherlands Tel. +31 20 755 8466 Cell +31 6 5478 1632 http://www.jang.nl On 12 sep. 2012, at 02:54, Tony Self wrote:Greetings all If the problem is in text searching in PDFs, could we guide readers tousing the index as a means of better locating information? While disabling the search function would push readers to use the index, it may cause more angst than it relieves. Sorry this isn’t a brilliant solution, but I suspect there isn’t one!Cheers Tony Self From: dita@lists.oasis-open.org [mailto:dita@lists.oasis-open.org] OnBehalf Of Kristen James EberleinSent: Wednesday, 12 September 2012 6:50 AM To: DITA TC Subject: [dita] DITA 1.3 documentation -- shall we remove the Containsand "Contains by" tablesAs we start working on DITA 1.3 documentation, we need to considerwhether to include the Contains and "Contains by" tables in the Language Reference topics.Pro = Useful information Con = Makes it impossible to search the spec and find information about aspecific element, since there are so many false hits. For example, if you search the PDF version for indexterm, you get over 130 false hits before you land on the actual topic.Best, Kris Kristen James Eberlein Principal consultant, Eberlein Consulting Co-chair, OASIS DITA Technical Committee Charter member, OASIS DITA Adoption Committee www.eberleinconsulting.com +1 919 682-2290; kriseberlein (skype)--------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: dita-unsubscribe@lists.oasis-open.org For additional commands, e-mail: dita-help@lists.oasis-open.org |
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