Feature articles by DITAWriter or by other contributors.
Update March 12, 2015: Just wanted to note that the upward trend in Technical Writer hires continues, and in fact for this month (March 2015) I have just recorded the highest number of job postings for Technical Writers since I started keeping track of things three years ago. Expect an update on this and moreRead More
Over the past weekend I worked on updating the popular Companies Using DITA listing and it has reached another milestone: over 450 firms using DITA as part of their technical documentation processes are now listed. The permanent home for this list can be found here. DITA Ubiquity? One thing I came to realize as IRead More
Update June 13, 2014: You can now watch a webinar where Phil Kneer and I talk at greater length about the subjects covered in this article, courtesy of Data Conversion Laboratory. The DITA + RWD examples shown at the end of the presentation are available from the Yellow Pencil website, and the original slidedeck versionRead More
This is a list of the “other” tools that are not DITA-optimized XML editors, or DITA-capable Component Content Management Systems (CCMSes), or DITA Platforms (coming soon). It’s a motley collection of tools, many of them customized specifically for use with DITA.All prices are in $US except where noted. Prices listed are current as of November 29,Read More
DITA software vendors: stop making it a chore for prospective buyers to find out how your product will help them author DITA content. You’d think that this would be self-evident, but as I work on compiling a list of DITA-optimized editors and Content Management Systems I am continually amazed at how hard some vendors makeRead More
One of the great things about YouTube (other than numerous videos of cats) is that if you are looking to learn more about a subject—like DITA XML—there’s plenty of material available for you. George Bina at SyncRO Soft recently sent me a link to several DITA and oXygen-related videos posted online, and I realized thatRead More
In addition to DITA-capable Component Content Management Systems (CCMSes) and DITA-optimized XML editors, there are various other tools available to help documentation teams and individual technical writers who are working with DITA. In the work I have done as a consultant for Yellow Pencil, I often find that organizations require more sophisticated output features thanRead More
One other thing that emerged from the job posting information was that it matches a pattern I have seen before, suggesting that DITA is a “one size fits all” solution. The same pattern is seen here, with very-large, large and mid-size firms being those who are seeking people with DITA experience the most: As youRead More
As mentioned in the previous article there is steady growth in the job market for technical writers with DITA experience. What’s interesting is that there are further signs that DITA usage within firms is maturing, indicating that DITA is now out of the “early adoption” phase. The last time I did a DITA jobs surveyRead More
Job postings seeking DITA experience continue to grow while FrameMaker usage continues to decline. DocBook as a viable technical writing standard in the job market is dead. While it is clear that the majority of firms out there are still asking their writers to create their content in an unstructured manner, there is a clearRead More
