Content Managment Frequently Asked Questions
What is content management?
Content management is a methodology of chunking content to individual pieces and manipulating them by assembling themvin particular deliverables. Having separate portions of content, which can be managed independently, open many possibilities for technical writers, including:
- Effective content reuse.
- Flexible customization of content for specific audiences or product versions.
- Fast generation of multiple deliverables from the same set of content chunks.
- Keeping control on multiple documentation projects with shared content.
- Facilitation of a translation process, especially when original content is frequently updated.
- Structural and formatting consistency.
Is content management for large documentation teams only?
Not at all! Even technical writer swho work alone in a company that regularly releases new versions of a product knows how more effective they can be with a convenient mechanism for content reuse and customization.
A content management solution does not necessary requires investment of tens of thousand dollars. As a vendor-neutral solution provider, we evaluate various solutions that can meet your needs and offer the most cost-effective one.
To learn more about content management solutions for small, middle, and large documentation teams, attend our training courses and seminars.
Do I need a special content management tool to manage content?
A tool chain you should use, completely depends on your needs. While a combination of a low-cost XML editor, open-source version control tool, and a publishing engine, can be a beneficial solution for one documentation team, a powerful content management system can be required for another organization.
To learn more about building a tool chain for content authoring and publishing, attend our training courses and seminars.
How can DITA help me develop technical documentation more effectively?
DITA, which stands for Darwin Information Typing Architecture, is an XML-based standard that introduces a minimum unit of content called topic. A topic is a portion of content that focuses around a single subject. A topic is context-independent and can be used in multiple documents.
Content within a topic can be flexibly customized for different audiences and products. For example, if you document a procedure that slightly differs for Windows and Unix users, content can be filtered basing on conditions you can set.
Topics can be rearranged and assembled to particular documents, from which various output formats, including PDF, HTML, and Microsoft Help, are generated.
Topics have an internal structure that is dictated by the nature of its content. For example, the topic called “task” is intended for describing procedures and should contain prerequisites, steps, result, and example.
DITA topics can be customized for your specific needs. For instance, if you feel that the task structure does not sufficiently describe your procedures, you can add new elements or modify the existing ones.
How can I contact you for more information?
To receive professional advice, call us at 02-571-6668 to arrange a meeting with a consultant or learn more about the content management courses and seminars we offer.