Re: Status of LwDITA (Was "Re: [dita-lightweight-dita] Removing specialization topics from Committee Note draft")

[Carlos Evia <cevia@vt.edu>]

Dear Kris,

We will talk about this in our SC meeting.

I do think that number 2, Mappings from XML to HTML and Markdown, is more than 1/4 complete. We need to address the use of some attributes, but most elements are mapped.

Best,

Carlos

-- 

Carlos Evia, Ph.D.

Director of Professional and Technical Writing

Associate Professor of Technical Communication

Department of English

Center for Human-Computer Interaction

Virginia Tech

Blacksburg, VA 24061-0112

(540)200-8201

On Mon, Jan 9, 2017 at 10:50 AM, Kristen James Eberlein <kris@eberleinconsulting.com> wrote:

Hi, Carlos.

I think that here we are starting to see conflicts between the following:

• The committee note as a way for the subcommittee to present its design for Lightweight DITA to the DITA TC
• The committee note as something that could be approved by the DITA TC and released to a public audience in 1Q 2017

This is a bit of a chicken-and-egg problem -- I'd prefer that the overall design for LwDITA be in a more solid form (and approved by the DITA TC) before we release an official document about only a part of it.

Time to get feedback from the TC on this. And it's definitely time for the DITA TC to give the SC some concrete directives about what the TC requires in the form of a proposal.

To my eye, LwDITA has several components, all at direct stages of "being done":

1. Subset of DITA 1.3:
1. DTD (Close to done, maybe 85%)
   
2. XSD (Intended? No work done)
   
3. RNG (Intended? No work done)
2. Mappings from XML to HTML and Markdown (Maybe 1/4 complete?)
   
3. New multimedia domain (Raw design concept done; no grammar files)
4. Template-based specialization:
1. New elements and attribute (First design concept done, needs to be reworked to not use @outputclass)
2. Proof-of-concept tool
3. Specialization in HDITA and MDITA? [Re "How does a specialized LwDITA topic affect HTML and Markdown?" I suspect that it doesn't; I think you are hitting the limits of what can be done in HTML and Markdown. I just don't think that HDITA and MDITA can have the full functionality of DITA expressed in XML.]

As far as sponsoring LwDITA as an OASIS standard work product,I suspect that the DITA TC will only want to do that ONCE -- So, we'll need to have a complete design for LwDITA that includes all of the components before the DITA TC can move forward to consider it.

Or does the LwDITA SC want to consider simply going with #1, "Subset of DITA 1.3" as the initial release of LwDITA?

Best,
Kris

Kristen James Eberlein
Chair, OASIS DITA Technical Committee
Principal consultant, Eberlein Consulting
www.eberleinconsulting.com
+1 919 682-2290; kriseberlein (skype)

On 1/8/2017 1:44 PM, Carlos Evia wrote:

Dear Kris and all,

The specialization mechanism is part of LwDITA and a work product of the subcommittee. It has been in LwDITA since the early skeletons that Michael presented years ago. 
However, I was under the impression that at our call to discuss the committee note there was concern about how the specialization section was not as developed as those related to the authoring formats. This concern implies that this would delay the release of our committee note. 
Someone (maybe it was me?) mentioned that the specialization section could be saved for later, and some of those on the call agreed. I talked to Michael after the call and he also agreed.
If the specialization section needs to be on this committee note, we can put it back for sure. Can we do it as a coming attraction and not expecting the same level of development as the authoring formats? There are many unresolved issues about the specialization (how does a specialized LwDITA topic affect HDITA and MDITA? Should it?) that we are not ready to address on this committee note if we plan to release it in the first quarter of 2017. 

Best,

Carlos 

On Jan 8, 2017, at 12:47 PM, Kristen James Eberlein <kris@eberleinconsulting.com> wrote:

Hi, Carlos.

Are you suggesting that the template-based specialization mechanism will not be part of Lightweight DITA? If so, I'm fine with removing it from the committee note.

If template-based specialization is still intended to be part of Lightweight DITA, then it needs to be covered in this committee note. Remember that the initial audience for this committee note is the DITA TC, who has yet to approve Lightweight DITA as a work product.

-- 
Best,
Kris

Kristen James Eberlein
Chair, OASIS DITA Technical Committee
Principal consultant, Eberlein Consulting
www.eberleinconsulting.com
+1 919 682-2290; kriseberlein (skype)


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