Product Review

Documentation is generally the final step in the software development cycle and while it is a very important component of the entire software package, last-minute changes in software can lead to major alterations in documentation. The inability to quickly incorporate such amendments in software into documentation has made it difficult for technical writers to author and produce quality deliverables applicable to all audiences without delaying the software production cycle. Additionally, ensuring consistency in documentation published across a wide range of media can lead to further delays. XMetaL Author 4.6 Service Pack 2 DITA Edition (XMetaL Author DITA) by Blast Radius does a successful job of alleviating this very problem.

Open source DITA (Darwin Information Typing Architecture) has become the standard for producing technical documentation. Rather than producing a document in a traditional fashion with chapters and pages, DITA individually classifies all of the components in a document, thereby allowing each element to be reusable, customizable, and easily adopted throughout the rest of the document.

Blast Radius has now taken the DITA technical standard and applied it their already popular XMetaL Author. While XMetaL Author DITA is essentially a DTD at its core, on the surface it offers the simple functionality of a basic word processor, thus allowing anyone from amateurs to advanced technical writers to have the ability to create or edit complex documents in XML or SGML. Through DITA the author also has the ability to set predefined DTD or XML Schema rules to allow many users to contribute to a document while ensuring consistency and validation throughout the document.

Content Reuse
As I mentioned, one of the major benefits of DITA is the ability to ensure reusability and consistency of various document components. The most common types of content reuse in XMetaL Author DITA involve topics and content references. Topics are short paragraphs related to a single subject while content references involve specific details that are outlined within each topic. During the preparation of a technical document in XMetaL Author DITA each topic and content reference is tagged, thereby allowing easy reference throughout the document. A built-in map editor in XMetaL Author DITA allows these tags to then be dragged and dropped in an Explorer-like structure to quickly move content around - all while maintaining consistency with the document based upon the established DTD or XML Schema rules.

DITA Map Creation and Editing
The DITA map creation in XMetaL Author DITA enables users to lay down the foundation for various documents to be created. Figure 1 shows an example of the mapping capabilities of XMetaL Author DITA. In the Resource Manager, subtopics related to changing a printer cartridge are listed, such as preparing the printer to change a cartridge, removing a cartridge, as well as installing a cartridge. Each subtopic is then broken down into individual components as illustrated in the tree diagram to the right of the Resource Manager in Figure 1. Topics can be easily dragged and dropped using an Explorer-like tree diagram. Once complete, this DITA map can be saved and recalled as a template for other documents such as training manuals, knowledge bases, promotional material, or even online help.

Aside from effortlessly moving content around within the map editor, XMetaL Author DITA allows content references from other sources to be added to any documentation. For example, if an individual in the Marketing department wished to add technical specifications about a printer to an advertisement, they would be able to simply access a list of reusable content from the Product Development department and simply drag and drop references within their own map, thus quickly adding the content to their advertisement. References throughout the document ensure that any updates made by Product Development will be continually updated correctly in the advertisement produced by Marketing. XMetaL Author DITA's smart insert capabilities allow content to be easily inserted into a document without requiring users to concern themselves with the document structure and more on content.

Publication
XMetaL Author DITA allows documents to be edited in a plain-text XML environment, publication mode with tags displayed, or a normal mode similar to that of a standard word processor. This functionality adds to its user friendliness. While providing all of the traditional formatting options available in standard word processing packages, XMetaL Author DITA also enables deliverables to be published in multiple formats such as HTML and PDF, all the while saving the user time. Other timesaving features of XMetaL Author DITA are:

• Conditional text formatting: Depending on the audience or specific publication, captions, headings, or other text can be formatted with specific attributes based upon the XML Schema or DTD.
• Automatic table of contents and indexes: As content is added or edited in a document, the table of contents and indexes are automatically generated, which adds to time saved in document publication.

Summary
Blast Radius's decision to extend their XMetaL Author product with the DITA expansion was a great idea. Because DITA has become the new standard for XML document preparation, XMetaL Author DITA should prove to successfully meet the needs of both beginners as well as experienced technical writers. Several users can now easily collaborate on content as well as quickly develop their own customized deliverables, and they can all the while be confident that their documents will be consistent and valid. Document preparation will definitely be less of an onerous task with the use of this new product. A 30-day trial version of XMetaL Author DITA is available online. At the time of this article's publication, a full version of the program can be purchased from the developer online for $895.00 USD. For more information visit www.xmetal.com