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My DITA quick reference guide (QRG)

by Tom Johnson on Jul 30, 2014
categories: dita

My DITA quick reference guide, or DITA QRG, is available on my menu bar and here: https://idratherbewriting.com/ditaqrg/. This DITA QRG consists of my own notes for working with DITA.

DITA quick reference guide
My DITA quick reference guide

Why create this quick reference guide? There's a lot to know about DITA. If you look at the DITA 1.2 spec there are many, many elements -- it can be overwhelming when trying to start out. Additionally, I think DITA could benefit from having more information available online.

The information in my DITA QRG is condensed into short, more code-based examples of the various elements. Right now I have about 30 topics, and I will continue to add to it as needed. Also, I focus on DITA in the context of OxygenXML, which is the main editor I'm using to structure my DITA content. (The editor isn't always relevant in the topic descriptions, but sometimes it is.)

My DITA quick reference guide has comment capability at the bottom of each topic. If you have suggestions, corrections, additions, etc., please let me know. Benefiting from your insight is why I decided to publish my notes on the web. I hope to learn from people more seasoned with DITA so that I can adopt best practices early on.

About Tom Johnson

Tom Johnson

I'm an API technical writer based in the Seattle area. On this blog, I write about topics related to technical writing and communication — such as software documentation, API documentation, AI, information architecture, content strategy, writing processes, plain language, tech comm careers, and more. Check out my API documentation course if you're looking for more info about documenting APIs. Or see my posts on AI and AI course section for more on the latest in AI and tech comm.

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