DITA Tutorials

We are developing a number of tutorials for DITA. Some of these will be self-paced online tutorials. Others will be used for instructor-led webinars.

Attendees will do the exercises in their workspace folders on this website. Successful completion of both kinds of tutorials can result in certificates of completion.

Tutorials are locked () members-only content. Join us today to access them.

Other Tutorials
Getting Started with DITA Tutorial from Lone-DITA (PDF).

Supporting files for DITA Tutorial from Lone-DITA (Zip file).

Specialization Tutorial by Eliot Kimber.

DITA Basics

Why concepts, tasks, and references? You learn the three basic information types. Writing a concept. Writing a task. Writing a reference.

Topic elements

Title, ID, shortdesc, prolog metadata, body, sections, examples, paragraphs, lists, tables, phrases, keywords, images, multimedia, related links, topic nesting. How to find every element in the language specification.

DITA maps

What is a DITA Map? How to design a map hierarchy. How to assemble your topics into maps.
Conditional processing

What is metadata? How to set attributes and filter or flag output for different audiences, products, etc.
Reuse

Designing content for reuse. What is a conref? How does it differ from a topicref?
Relationship Tables

Adding reltables to your DITA Maps. Why are reltables better than related links in topics?
Specialization

Specialization of a DITA topic. Inheritance rules.
Localization

Why is DITA ideal for content that must be localized? Writing for translation. Best practices for translation.
DITA CMS

Why does DITA need a CMS? Locating your reusable components.
DITA as a Help Authoring Tool

DITA map as a Help TOC. DITA Open Toolkit Help options – CHM files, Eclipse Help, Java Help.
Open Toolkit

Working with the toolkit. Build files. Output files.
Plugins

What are plugins? How to design a plugin for the OT.
Stylesheets

Designing stylesheets for your deliverables.
Publishing

Publishing with the Open Toolkit and Publishing Engines.
Vendor Tutorials

Some DITA vendors have published tutorials. When the tutorial is as instructive about DITA as it is about their tool, we will link to it here.