While working on a feature article for the DITA Adoption SC that discusses troubleshooting for DITA 1.3, I have come across a deficiency in the content model for the <cause> and the <remedy> elements. I now believe that <cause> and <remedy> ought to allow an optional <title> element at their beginning rather than relying upon static, stylesheet-supplied strings for labeling.
The stylesheet-supplied, string method is sufficient for troubleshooting topics that contain a single cause-remedy pair (simple troubleshooting topics). But, in topics that contain two or more cause-remedy pairs (complex troubleshooting topics), the author is left with no good way to distinguish them from each other through labeling. At a minimum, the titles for the causes need to signal the essence of each cause.
You can make a case a title is also needed for remedy in complex troubleshooting topics, whenever remedy appears without an associated cause. For example, a common final fallback would be a stand-alone remedy such as this:
<remedy><title>Contact technical support</title><steps-unordered><step><cmd>Contact technical support at either support@foo.com or 800-555-1234</cmd></step></steps-unordered></remedy>
I am sorry to raise this objection at this point. However, I don't think that the current model fully supports complex troubleshooting information without this change.
Best Regards,
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Bob Thomas
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Bob Thomas
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