Getting started with DITA requires a multi-step process:

• Understand the topic-based architecture underlying the DITA model.

  Topic-based authoring is the basis of DITA. In order to understand the best approach to DITA, first understand how to work with topics and structured writing.

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The DITA OASIS Standard builds content reuse into the authoring process, defining an XML architecture for designing, writing, managing, and publishing many kinds of information in print and on the Web.

The standard is advanced through an open process by the OASIS DITA Technical Committee, a group that encourages new participation from developers and users. 

The following pages provide basic information on DITA.

Topic-based authoring has been a mainstay of technical information development since we first began developing help systems. We learned quickly enough that we couldn't split our existing books into help topics by making every heading level a new help page. Information originally designed with a narrative flow no longer made sense nor assisted users in finding exactly the content they needed. We had to rethink the type of information that our help systems should include and create a new set of standards for its development. The result is topic-based authoring.

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For some, perhaps the real question is Why XML?

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The DITA OASIS Standard defines an XML architecture for designing, writing, managing, and publishing technical documentation in print and on the Web. DITA (commonly pronunced dit'-uh) builds content reuse into the authoring process for document creation and management.

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