We’re hearing a great deal at the moment around Integrated Product Support, the S-Series and the importance of data integration and the data thread. The blue sky thinking of IPS is often very different from the down and dirty reality for many projects especially those with time and budget constraints. These projects must get on…
Technology pitstops are critical items I tell projects that they must consider. The way we produce, deliver and manage tech data today is vastly different to how we will provide data over the coming years. We only have to look at the changes in technological capability over the last few years to appreciate the rate…
Mandating IETP solutions on projects on the face may seem like a sensible strategic decision for many organisations. The reality is very different. There is an upside and downside to mandating a viewing solution to your projects. Some obvious and some not so obvious, so allow me to share some of my thoughts and feelings.…
Writing for the formatted output is one of the key differences between traditional technical writing and structured writing methods. (video available on YouTube) In structured writing practise, we focus on the correct and schema conformant building blocks of our documents. We remove the emphasis from style, layout and look and feel and turn it to…
Five things to expect from TDW and the content coming your way, premium, free and other industry events. This week no formal tutorial for our weekly update. We are running around like crazy, completing some customer-specific projects. To keep you informed, here are some of the things you can expect from TDW and our members…
Sensible modular breakdown question is an excellent topic of debate when we deconstruct our technical content, especially around S1000D, DITA, or other methods. This question came in from a subscriber looking to adopt S1000D for the first time. Embarking on S1000D adoption can be intimidating at the best of times, then add into the mix…
Issuing unverified S1000D modules was the question of the week this week. S1000D provides many controls over our data module’s state, ranging from version control numbers for controlling draft states and issues states of our modules. S1000D also includes quality assurance states for each module, enabling us to identify the module’s quality assurance status, be…
Can’t be bothered reading the blog? Watch the video Selecting our technical documentation’s viewing solution is always a bit of a challenge, especially if we are not 100% sure of the existing alternative options. The starting question is, “are we using S1000D?”. As I have mentioned in many blogs and articles, S1000D is one way…
Data reuse in S1000D – the good, the bad and the reality! Often I am asked to explain what is meant by data reuse, specifically when it comes to S1000D. Confusion exists as this is a common buzzword thrown around when being ‘sold’ S1000D. We will often hear S1000D is all about ‘data reuse’, ‘writing…
Confusion in S1000D is not uncommon! I often have to spell out for clients the difference between eXtensible Markup Language (XML), or structure, S1000D (specification) and the role of supporting software (both XML and S1000D). XML delivers many incredible benefits to our content production and deployments. We can be flexible in the way we produce,…
