Writing, better working, and tool design
By paying more attention to important signals, we can understand them better, and glimpse their unsaid meanings too. But we’ll have to slow down – to hold our nerve like a value investor, or patiently wait as if with a passive index.
“Avoid it”, the style guides write, “unless you really know what you are doing”. The implication is you don’t.
Modern ways of using metadata connect groups, countries, and organizations. Structured content such as DITA XML provides powerful ways to work with this metadata, but also challenges.
Good visual communication is essential, yet graphics are often an afterthought in structured content implementations. We need a new approach to make them work well over an increasing range of screen sizes, devices, and contexts.
Well-thought-out content sets are like a good stew — each chunk has a distinct role. Carrots bring sweetness; potatoes, substance. In the same way, carefully designed information is served in purposeful pages whose structure reflects their intent.
An accessible way for authors, information architects, and schema developers alike to understand or refine a content model.
A mature approach to a structured content implementation has a clear idea of the benefits to be achieved
DITA makes things dramatically easier, but it does not remove the need to define your own processes and architecture. It was never intended to do so. You can’t just fly your stuff from one place to another. The nature of the environment has changed. It’s as dramatic as a frog’s lifecycle from water to land. Put migration aside for now — your content needs to metamorphose, and you with it.
Distributed version control could make collaborative XML authoring faster, more reliable, and clearer. But the piece that’s missing from regular DVCS setups is an XML-aware merge tool. Project: Merge fills this gap. Here’s how I got it working with Mercurial in SourceTree on a Mac.
Every piece of business writing should tell a story. But constructing an argument or plot takes focus. Helpful tools remove the distraction of presentation and allow direct manipulation of the logical structure.
“Word Up!” is a required read for anyone who’s interested in language, wants to improve their writing, or just needs a clickworthy headline about a weird Chinese goat.
Slides from a webinar I presented on February 5th, 2013, organized by [Comtech Services](http://comtech-serv.com/).
Inline semantics connected to specific real-world entities have unrealized potential; they should be separated from specific applications where possible; and they are probably best kept in the source.
