2. To view in PowerPoint, press the F5 key (or in the menu bar go to Slide Show > View Show ), and click through the slides.
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8. At the end, you’ll make this over. Isn’t this already in chunks?
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22. What elements make up topics? From Introduction to DITA: A User Guide to the Darwin Information Typing Architecture Elements Topics Depends on your needs. Here’s one example: Mini building blocks
23. Concept topic — example 1 From The Internet for Dummies, 2 nd edition Elements Topic
24. Concept topics — example 2 Can be read in any order. From Boys’ Life, July 2006 Topic Topic Topic Topic Topic Topic Topic
25. Task topic — example 1 Elements Topic From Polaris ® PowerPAC online help
26. Task topic — example 2 Setting Categories Elements Topic From FranklinCovey ® planning software online help
27. Reference topic — example 1 Elements Topic From The Internet for Dummies, 2 nd edition Sidebar adjacent to other topics
28. Reference topic — example 2 Table tucked away in an appendix Topic Elements
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36. Mixed info types — example This descriptive interruption goes on for another page before we reach step 6! Concept info embedded in task. Might want to keep bits of it here.
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39. Topics as hubs — example Task ABC 1. Do this. 2. Do that. Related Information Concept PQR Reference XYZ Concept PQR This explanation tells all about PQR. Related Information Task ABC Reference XYZ Reference XYZ Item Description Blah Blah blah blah Blah Blah blah blah Related Information Task ABC Concept PQR Hub Hub Hub Kurt Ament calls such cross-references “cognitive bridges.” Keep “Related Info” lists short and highly relevant.
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44. Makeover #1 — after If a lead-in grows, you might spin it off into its own concept topic.
47. Ideal: Topics that stand alone AND read well in “browse sequence” You can jump to these topics in any order AND scroll from one to the next.
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Hinweis der Redaktion
REUSE: Maximized if using CMS. Limited in Word, FrameMaker, etc. Example: Easy to reuse same chapter in different Frame books. Might reuse topics by importing them. Might reuse smaller elements using cross-references. Not ideal. TRANSLATION: (1) Can send topics for translation as they're approved vs. waiting for a whole document to be approved. Doesn't save costs, but reduces wait time. (2) Since topics make sense in any context, they can be reused without any tweaking in any language. (3) Easier to update translated text in standalone topics.
Thanks to Mark Baker in the Single Sourcing SIG, and to online Help expert Neil Perlin, for helpful discussions on these questions. Some customized topics that people have mentioned: planning methods facts processes principles troubleshooting Show-Me demos
JoAnn Hackos 9/8/06 response to a query posted by a single-sourcing SIG member : “ These components (methods, methodology, results, findings, conclusions, and recommendations) are standard parts of research reports everywhere. One of our clients, The Research Foundation of the American Waterworks Association, uses exactly the same format, as do most research organizations. It would be worthwhile to consider a DITA subcommittee on a research report specialization. Perhaps the specialization would not have to be structural , in that the generic topic might work well structurally. Remember that the generic topic is closest to the concept information type. However, it seems that research reports might require a domain specialization, which means developing specific semantics in the form of XML tags and possibly metadata categories that would assist in properly labeling content in the reports.”