Re: xmetal and dita training classes: necessary?

[Yves Barbion <yves -dot- barbion -at- gmail -dot- com>]

Hi Scott

Sure, the "XML-awareness" of the students has an impact too. I often see a
"paradigm shift" here on various levels:

   - From book authoring to topic authoring, separating content from
   context.
   - From WYSIWYG to WYSIOO (What You See Is One Option), separating content
   from presentation (layout). Many authors are used to WYSIWYG authoring,
   using tools like Adobe FrameMaker, Word, InDesign, QuarkXPress etc. Now,
   they have to learn that the layout in which the text is presented on their
   screen is not necessarily the same layout of their output (PDF, XHTML,
   Help...). They still focus too much on layout and formatting things like
   indent, spacing, the bullet in bulleted lists etc.

Indeed, Scott, to understand DITA, it helps if you have a background in XML.
Many technical writers, however, don't have this background, which is why I
also teach them a class of "XML for non-developers". They don't need to be
able to design DTDs or Schemas, or to develop XSLT, but they do need to
understand the main concepts.

Ideally, I teach them these classes in the following order:

   1. Structured, topic-oriented authoring.
   2. XML for non-developers.
   3. DITA authoring.
   4. DITA publishing.


Cheers

-- 
Yves Barbion â Managing Director â Adobe-Certified FrameMaker Instructor
www.scripto.nu  â skype: yves.barbion  â T: +32 494 12 01 89



On Wed, Feb 11, 2009 at 4:41 PM, <quills -at- airmail -dot- net> wrote:

> Yves,
>
> What was the skill level of the students in regard to XML and structured
> language in general? Did that have an impact?
>
> Since I have a background in XML, DITA seems to be just another schema when
> I examine it and the features you mention dovetail nicely into general
> structured language.
>
> Scott
>
>
> Yves Barbion wrote:
>
>> Hi David
>>
>> I have already taught several DITA classes and my experience is that my
>> students find it harder to learn all about DITA (principles of
>> topic-oriented authoring, content units, content model, conref,
>> ditaval...)
>> than to learn how to use the tool.
>>
>> In my DITA classes, I teach my students how to create a prototype DITAmap,
>> using their content and the DITA-FMx plug-in for FrameMaker and/or XMetaL.
>> I
>> also teach these classes over the Web, using skype (audio) and
>> Acrobat.com.
>>
>> If you're interested, feel free to contact me off-list.
>>
>> Best regards
>>
>>
>>
>>
>
>
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