"Top of mind subjects for technical documentation managers today include content reuse, multilingual, multichannel publishing, and rapid publishing. There's a clear need to produce high-quality content faster and deliver it across multiple devices. XML authoring is integral to achieving these goals, and DITA XML aids the process even further with standardized processing and content schemes. With changing industry requirements and end-user demands, this is the right time to move to XML. Fortunately, Adobe FrameMaker can help ease the transition to structured authoring by giving authors powerful publishing tools in an easy-to-use interface."
"Thinking XML? ID issues facing your team, your business, and your customers. If you have poor process, poor products, or poor markets, then XML will not save you on its own. If you aren’t effectively reusing content, managing translations, controlling reviews, leveraging multi-channel publishing, delivering to multiple devices, creating high-value (not high-word count) content, or running into documentation-based delays, then explore XML."
"We've been working with a major automotive client (top 10 car manufacturer) to migrate content to DITA for authoring and publishing. When working with sample files in Adobe FrameMaker (2017 release) it could take hours to generate output from some massive document sets. With Adobe FrameMaker (2019 release) we've seen a reduction to just minutes. Now, we can achieve hundreds of outputs in dozens of languages within days! For a day-to-day user the time and money saved is huge."
"Adobe FrameMaker (2019 release) is an easy to use solution for beginners to become acquainted with XML/DITA, convert their legacy content, and still hit their KPIs."
"Not everyone should be using structure. But the larger your document set, and the longer your document life cycle, the more you’ll benefit from a structured environment. Choosing a content model like DITA, S1000D, or other industry standard helps you quickly shift to a structured environment and ensure that your partners and your audience enjoy a seamless experience. I like to use Adobe FrameMaker for both structured and unstructured work, since I can help clients start in a simpler, unstructured environment and then later smoothly transition to their ideal content model."
"The 'right time' to move to XML authoring is highly variable, depending on need and situation. The general wisdom is that XML is best for large organizations with high volumes of information to manage and strong potential for reuse. However, I am using DITA in a small startup situation with a small quantity of information. It's a new product (developed from scratch - thus no legacy content to migrate) and we have-despite the low volume—high reuse potential. This, combined with the product's projected evolution, makes DITA a good choice."
"Something that is often overlooked is that XML enables the automation of certain processes. If the XML is lean and efficient, it's possible to imagine parsing XML on the fly, passing it through an automation script, and delivering dynamically customized content to any device, anywhere, tailored to each user. The opportunities for this are only beginning to be developed."
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