DITA Resources
DITA (Darwin Information Typing Architecture) is an XML-based standard for authoring, managing, and publishing modular, reusable content. There are many resources for learning about DITA.
What DITA is and where the standard lives
DITA is maintained as an open standard, not a proprietary format, which means the authoritative source for the specification and its ongoing development is OASIS rather than any single vendor. The DITA XML site is the best general entry point, and the OASIS technical committee is where the standard's actual evolution happens — including the newer, separate committee overseeing Lightweight DITA for teams that don't need the full specification's complexity.
Sources:
DITA XML — dita.xml.org
OASIS DITA Technical Committee — oasis-open.org/committees/tc_home.php?wg_abbrev=dita
OASIS Lightweight DITA Committee — oasis-open.org/committees/tc_home.php?wg_abbrev=dita-lightweight-dita
Getting started as an author or information architect
For teams starting a DITA implementation, I recommend starting with these three books that cover the standard's structure and conventions rather than its full technical specification. Rockley's introduction and Self's style guide are the two most commonly recommended starting points; Bellamy's practices guide goes further into the editing and architecting workflow specifically.
Sources:
Anne Rockley et al., DITA 101 — bookshop.org/books/dita-101/9780557072910
Tony Self, The DITA Style Guide — amazon.com/Dita-Style-Guide-Practices-Authors/dp/0982811810
Laura Bellamy et al., DITA Best Practices — powells.com/book/dita-best-practices-a-roadmap-for-writing-editing-architecting-in-dita-9780132480529
Going deeper on architecture and technical implementation
Once your team has the basics, the following books are the next step. Together, they cover DITA's technical architecture and enterprise-scale implementation in more depth — including print output specifically, which DITA's topic-first design doesn't handle automatically.
Sources:
Eliot Kimber, DITA for Practitioners — bookshop.org/books/dita-for-practitioners-volume-1-architecture-and-technology/9781937434069
Ann Rockley, Managing Enterprise Content: A Unified Content Strategy — bookshop.org/books/managing-enterprise-content-a-unified-content-strategy/9780321815361
Leigh White, DITA for Print: A DITA Open Toolkit Workbook — bookshop.org/books/dita-for-print-a-dita-open-toolkit-workbook-second-edition/9781937434540
Measuring and managing a DITA program
DITA implementations are usually justified and tracked in business terms, not technical ones — a different skill from authoring or architecting the content itself.
Sources:
Mark Lewis, DITA Metrics 101 — amazon.com/DITA-metrics-101-business-intelligent/dp/0986523348
How DITA is evolving
DITA 2.0 updates the standard for current authoring and publishing practices; two recorded webinars and their accompanying slide decks from OASIS cover what changed and why. Agile documentation is a related, ongoing adaptation — DITA's topic-based structure maps naturally onto iterative development cycles.
Sources:
DITA 2.0 Webinar, Part I — youtube.com/watch?v=WAw_hbFn1C0
DITA 2.0 Webinar, Part II — youtube.com/watch?v=7dDDsZF0W6w
DITA 2.0, Part I (slides/PDF) — oasis-open.org/committees/document.php?document_id=69118&wg_abbrev=dita
DITA 2.0, Part II (slides/PDF) — oasis-open.org/committees/document.php?document_id=69119&wg_abbrev=dita
Tyner Blain, "Agile Documentation" — tynerblain.com/blog/2010/11/16/agile-documentation/
Adjacent standards worth knowing
Two resources outside DITA proper are still commonly referenced by DITA teams: Microsoft's style guide for documenting user interfaces, and a book specifically about the tooling and support experience for content authors, which is a separate discipline from the authoring itself.
Sources:
Microsoft Manual of Style, 4th ed. — powells.com/book/microsoft-manual-of-style-for-technical-publications-4th-edition-9780735648715
Rick Yagodich, Author Experience: Bridging the Gap between People and Technology in Content Management — bookshop.org/books/author-experience-bridging-the-gap-between-people-and-technology-in-content-management/9781937434427
Tools, training, and community
For hands-on learning, software selection, and ongoing discussion, a mix of resources covers the practical and organizational side directly: free structured training, a running list of DITA-related tools, a beginner-level overview of DITA XML content writing, a LinkedIn group for strategic and project-related discussion, and two organizations plus a recurring conference that support DITA's practice more broadly.
Sources:
Learning DITA — learningdita.com
DITA Writer, list of DITA-related software tools — ditawriter.com/dita-related-software-tools/
Componize, "From Zero to Hero in DITA XML Content Writing" — componize.com/zero-to-hero-dita-xml-content-writing/
DITA Awareness (LinkedIn group) — linkedin.com/groups/162465/
Center for Information Development Management (CIDM) — infomanagementcenter.com
Association for Intelligent Information Management (AIIM) — aiim.org
ConVEx — convex.infomanagementcenter.com
Related reading
Check out our list of information architecture resources.
Interested in learning more?
Book a free discovery call with Amber Swope.
First published 9/20/2017.
