Agreed, DITA isn't designed for long discourse sequences where the reader starts at the title page and reads straight through to the appendices.
But, that's not the only use of books or way to architect books. You can also design minimalist books where the reader is expected to access content in chunks as needed. Reference content and standalone procedures lend themselves particularly to that treatment. I know of many DITA adopters who assemble books from DITA topic content for that reason. The public ranking of the bookmap feature (highest by far) reflects the importance of that scenario. On that basis, I'd submit that minimalist books are solidly within scope for DITA.
For accessing well-defined chunks of information within a minimalist book, the index becomes, if anything, more important.
However, while disagreeing with the particular point, I strongly agree with the general point (which Paul Prescod has also raised) that the TC benefits by thinking judiciously about what belongs in the core and what's belongs in a community of interest and by enhancing the core as a foundation for such communities.
Thanks,
Erik Hennum
ehennum@us.ibm.com
Eliot Kimber <ekimber@innodata-isogen.com>
