Re: [dita-adoption] Comprehensive Feature List For DITA 1.2

["Dr. Stanley Doherty" <stan@modularwriting.com>]

Thanks Eliot. Yes -- I agree.

It's apples (visible features/capabilities) to oranges (underlying XML infrastructure/architecture).

In many cases, the challenge here will be phrasing the description of the DITA "features" so that some of the subtle distinctions are clear. The sum of all these subtle distinctions is significant when applied to a mature documentation set.

The items you reference below are biggies --- many thanks.

/stan

On August 23, 2013 at 11:39 AM Eliot Kimber <ekimber@rsicms.com> wrote:
> This is a difficult comparison to do meaningfully because there's a lot of
> apples to oranges comparisons.
>
> A key difference, of course, is maps. Some DocBook folks will claim that
> using XInclude gives you the equivalent of maps.
>
> This is not true, as XInclude is functionally equivalent to using a parsed
> entity reference, which <topicref> is a true hyperlink that separates the
> parsing of the referenced content from the processing of the composite
> document.
>
> Likewise, XInclude is completely without constraints--you can use XInclude
> to reference any element in any context. This means that you can't impose
> the types of constraints that both maps and conref enable.
>
> XInclude vs. topicref/conref, plus specialization, are the two big
> distinguishers between DITA and DocBook.
>
> There is also DocBook's support for indirect addressing, which is not as
> completely baked as DITA's key/keyref facility.
>
> By the same token, any argument along the lines of "DocBook has markup for X
> and DITA doesn't" is pretty weak since through specialization one can add
> pretty much any vocabulary you want to DITA (although it may not be
> structurally identical to the non-DITA vocabulary you're trying to replace).
>
> Cheers,
>
> Eliot
>
> On 8/23/13 9:58 AM, "Stan Doherty" <stan@modularwriting.com> wrote:
>
> > Hi all --
> >
> > I am involved in one of those DocBook-to-DITA migration proposals. A recent
> > twist in the project involves my developing a comprehensive list of
> > out-of-the-box (OOTB) DITA 1.2 features against which the DocBook folks can
> > check off:
> > __ Yes, DocBook does this too OOTB
> > __ No, DocBook does not support this OOTB
> > __ Maybe, I'll need to get back to you
> > I'm OK with collating my own list of features from the DITA 1.2 spec and from
> > the many "DITA benefits" presentations that I have collected through the
> > years. I'd be glad to pass it along to you when I am done (if I am every
> > done).
> >
> > Before preforming that task, I figured that I'd ping you fine folks to ask
> > whether you have had opportunity to build such a list or subsets of it.
> >
> > Stan Doherty
> > DITA TC
> > MathWorks Inc.
>
> --
> Eliot Kimber
> Senior Solutions Architect, RSI Content Solutions
> "Bringing Strategy, Content, and Technology Together"
> Main: 512.554.9368
> www.rsicms.com
> www.rsuitecms.com
> Book: DITA For Practitioners, from XML Press,
> http://xmlpress.net/publications/dita/practitioners-1/