RE: [dita-adoption] dita.xml.org resource about DITA tools

["Troy Klukewich" <troy.klukewich@oracle.com>]

Hi Mary:

I was wondering about OASIS liability, but figured someone who knows better would jump in if needed. :-)

I think the checklist idea would at minimum be useful for us internally for marshalling discussions with vendors. It would also probably help us define what at minimum is required for a successful implementation, at least from a technical perspective, which is important. (Change management is an additional critical area that I will save for later.)

There are an increasing number of tools out there that claim they "do" DITA, which adds to the confusion in the marketplace. Some do a lot more than others. Call me skeptical, but if I discover they don't read and write native DITA files, aren't remotely current, or do not support specialization, I write them off my own personal list of adoption tools for consideration. (Though there is probably a special case for everything.)

I do like the idea of defining or garnering a minimum test set, at least for our own uses. I am currently involved in a series of DITA implementations for a number of products and was involved in a number of non-DITA, XML-based structured documentation projects at a previous company.

In each case, we came up with testing criteria as part of our XML adoption plan. We tested a number of tools and were quite surprised at the results. We avoided a lot of downstream pain and surprises.

The adoption group can probably help with a set of adoption best practices to help guide and protect the marketplace. If those practices weed out the pretenders, or help vendors identify what they really need to support, we'll be helping the marketplace.

Troy


-----Original Message-----
From: Mary McRae [mailto:marypmcrae@gmail.com]On Behalf Of Mary McRae
Sent: Monday, August 18, 2008 11:48 AM
To: 'David J. B. Hollis'; troy.klukewich@oracle.com
Cc: 'Kristen James Eberlein'; dita-adoption@lists.oasis-open.org
Subject: RE: [dita-adoption] dita.xml.org resource about DITA tools


Hi everyone,

  I think it's a great idea to list tools and have a checklist according to
the list below, but the world of conformance testing and certification is
not only complex, it's littered with potential liability. What does it mean
to be conformant to the DITA specification? Are there conformance clauses in
the current OASIS Standard? Has anyone built test suites that correspond to
those conformance clauses?

OASIS now requires conformance statements in all of its specifications; once
that's done, some group may want to take up the challenge of writing testing
guidelines and test suites. OASIS does not currently plan to get into the
certification business; there are companies who do that and their business
model is appropriately structured. That doesn't mean that OASIS couldn't
partner with one or more certification organizations, but unfortunately it's
much more complicated than first meets the eye.

Getting back to the checklist idea for each product, it might be a
worthwhile task for the TC to reach out to each of the product vendors and
talk with them about perceived deficiencies, interoperability problems and
the like. My guess is that you'd get a lot of good feedback that should be
directed back to the DITA TC - why is it that they did something in the
non-standard way? What was the user community telling them that they needed?
What other approaches might have been possible that would not have deviated
from the specification? Is it a matter of writing "best practices" guides?
Was it a misunderstanding in how the specification should be interpreted? Is
the standard unclear?

I think there's some great ideas that can be gleaned from this thread - all
of which could have a positive focus and work to improve both the
specification and the available tools and thereby grow DITA adoption.

Regards,

Mary

> -----Original Message-----
> From: David J. B. Hollis [mailto:dhollis@AandOConsultancy.ltd.uk]
> Sent: Monday, August 18, 2008 2:12 PM
> To: troy.klukewich@oracle.com
> Cc: Kristen James Eberlein; dita-adoption@lists.oasis-open.org
> Subject: Re: [dita-adoption] dita.xml.org resource about DITA tools
>
> Hi
>
> My first thoughts were that Bob Doyle has done a pretty good job on a
> comprehensive tool round up, and how/why should we try to duplicate
> this effort? My main criticism, however, would be that Bob refrains
> from being at all critical about any tool's suitability for use with
> DITA. This can be contrasted with Eliot Kimber's 'Dr. Macro' blog
> concerning tools: 'All Tools Suck!' http://drmacros-xml-
> rants.blogspot.com
>
> If this could somehow be grafted into the dita.xml.org wiki, then
> there is the opportunity for anyone to add their comments about a
> tool's suitability, or otherwise, for use with DITA. To that end, the
> TC becomes a channel for marshalling resources & appropriate comments.
>
> However, I do like Troy's idea of setting some form of standard which
> a tool should achieve. This is surely what a Standards Body should be
> about?
>
> Here's some initial suggestions:
>
> 1. Which version(s) of the DTD/Schema are supported?
>
> 2. Does the tool use the Open Toolkit at all, and how has it been
> modified?
>
> 3. If the Open Toolkit is incorporated, which version is provided?
>
> 4. If the Open Toolkit is incorporated, is it available for use by an
> external publishing workflow?
>
> 5. Does the tool support XML Catalogs?
>
> 6. Does the tool support Specialisations?
>
> 7. Does the tool support content, Map & Bookmap editing?
>
> 8. Does the tool support 'on-the-fly' processing to easily see how the
> current Topic may be rendered?
>
> 9. Does the tool offer any CMS integration?
>
>
> Many of the above would need a 0-10 scale, or similar, rather than a
> simplistic yes/no.
>
> OK, a Tool Standard and Review Process is not going to be achieved
> overnight, but the wiki approach could suffice in the interim.
>
> Hmmm, 'Tool Standard' needs to be added to 'Opportunities'! ;-)
>
> David
>
>
> > Hi:
> >
> > <quote>
> > I wonder if the Adoption Committee has the resources to do a regular
> > analysis of tools and how well they support DITA.
> > </quote>
> >
> > I think this is a great idea. As there are an increasing number of
> > tools, and to keep our resource commitments under control, I have a
> > variation on the idea of a regular tool review.
> >
> > Maybe we could create a DITA Adoption "Gold Circle" for tools that
> > meet a hard core, minimal set of objective requirements. The tools
> > would need to meet the requirements in order to be considered the
> > top tools in use for adoption, tools that we would recommend given
> > our real-world criteria.
> >
> > We could perform a minimal set of reviews of the current top tools
> > and assign an initial "badge of approval" for the tools that pass.
> > After that, we can encourage tool vendors to apply. Otherwise, we'll
> > be performing a large set of regular reviews for tools that probably
> > don't meet the requirements.
> >
> > In other words, going forward, if a tool vendor wants our badge of
> > approval, they need to apply, after reviewing our publicly posted
> > requirements. If they don't meet the requirements, don't apply.
> >
> > I would think that vendors could get some marketing mileage out of
> > our seal of approval. Plus, we would gain more visibility as a body
> > dedicated to easing DITA adoption, a proverbial win-win.
> >
> > There's more to discuss, so maybe we can migrate this discussion to
> > the wiki, but I have to run. :-)
> >
> > Troy Klukewich
> > Information Architect
> > Oracle
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Kristen James Eberlein [mailto:keberlein@pobox.com]
> > Sent: Monday, August 18, 2008 9:04 AM
> > To: dita-adoption@lists.oasis-open.org
> > Subject: [dita-adoption] dita.xml.org resource about DITA tools
> >
> >
> > http://dita.xml.org/resource/dita-tools-from-a-to-z
> >
> > I wonder if the Adoption Committee has the resources to do a regular
> > analysis of tools and how well they support DITA. As someone
> > mentioned,
> > it might help push vendors to do more complete implementations.
> >
> > Kris
> >
> > Kristen James Eberlein
>
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