DITA Users Progress Blog

DITA Users Progress Blog http://www.ditausers.org/about_us/blog/index.html skyBuilders.com timeLines en-us http://backend.userland.com/rss Bob Doyle and Bob Doyle editor@cmsreview.com Tue, 28 Oct 2008 16:23:58 EDT New Paying Memberships and Vendor Sponsorships http://www.ditausers.org/about_us/blog/index.43.en.html <p/> Now with 750 members from 36 countries, DITA Users will eliminate free memberships and look for DITA vendors who want to sponsor DITA Users and our other popular DITA resource popular websites (contact <a href="mailto:editor@cmsreview.com">Bob Doyle</a> for information on sponsorships available). <p> We now offer three paying membership packages - <a href="https://www.ditausers.org/timelines/ShopReceiveOrder.html?ProductID=13&Quantity=1"><strong>$150</strong></a>, <a href="https://www.ditausers.org/timelines/ShopReceiveOrder.html?ProductID=7&Quantity=1"><strong>$100</strong></a>, or <a href="https://www.ditausers.org/timelines/ShopReceiveOrder.html?ProductID=2&Quantity=1"><strong>$50</strong></a>. </p> <table width="100%" border="1" bordercolor="9999ff" cellpadding="6"> <tr> <th>  </th> <th>$150 </th> <th>$100 </th> <th>$50 </th> </tr> <tr> <th>Benefits </th> <td><em>Both</em> JoAnn Hackos' <br/><a href="http://www.comtech-serv.com/publications.shtml#book3" title="Introduction to DITA">Introduction to DITA</a> and the <a href="http://www.oxygenxml.com" title="oXygen XML Editor"><oXygen/> XML editor</a> with WebDAV access to your online workspace folder. </td> <td><i>Your choice</i> of <br/>JoAnn Hackos' <br/><a href="http://www.comtech-serv.com/publications.shtml#book3" title="Introduction to DITA">Introduction to DITA</a> <br/><em>or</em> <br/>an <a href="http://www.oxygenxml.com" title="oXygen XML Editor"><oXygen/> XML editor</a> with WebDAV access to your online workspace folder. </td> <td>Optional WebDAV access to your workspace folder, so you can work with any desktop editor that supports WebDAV. </td> </tr> <tr> <th>Docsets </th> <td><a href="/examples/comstar/">Comstar User Guide</a> docset <br/>(from <em>Introduction to DITA</em>), <br/>IBM docsets <a href="/examples/garage/">Garage Concepts</a> and <a href="/examples/grocery/">Grocery Shopping</a>. </td> <td><a href="/examples/comstar/">Comstar User Guide</a> docset <br/>(from <em>Introduction to DITA</em>), <br/>IBM docsets <a href="/examples/garage/">Garage Concepts</a> and <a href="/examples/grocery/">Grocery Shopping</a>. </td> <td><a href="/examples/comstar/">Comstar User Guide</a> docset <br/>(from <em>Introduction to DITA</em>), <br/>IBM docsets <a href="/examples/garage/">Garage Concepts</a> and <a href="/examples/grocery/">Grocery Shopping</a>. </td> </tr>  </table> <p> As a member, you get your own workspace folder and permanent storage, with a single-user license to the powerful <a href="http://www.ditastorm.com">DITA Storm</a> browser-based based editor. You also get a listing in our international <a href="https://www.ditausers.org/membership/member_directory/">member directory</a>, now over 750 members from 36 countries (Fall 2008), and a subscription to our monthly <a href="http://www.ditanewsletter">DITA Newsletter</a>. </p> <p> All members get discounts on our for-fee tutorials (once we produce them), <a href="http://www.ditanews.com/events/conferences/">discounts for major DITA conferences</a> that more than offset membership cost, and optional WebDAV access to your workspace folder, so you can work with a desktop editor. </p> <p> All memberships are renewable for $50/year - dues are $50 (US), paid annually by credit card (MasterCard, Visa), by PayPal, or by check. Anyone from any country may join DITA Users, but only U.S. members may pay by check or money order. International members may only pay by credit card or PayPal. (Sorry, international check clearance costs are prohibitive.) </p> <p> For those who want paper documentation to submit for expense recovery and who need more than a printout of their online transaction, we have a <a href="/membership/membershipform.html">printable HTML membership form</a>. But we still require new members to go online, in order to setup their access password and provide basic information for the <a href="/membership/member_directory/">Member Directory</a>. </p> <hr width="50%" align="left"> <p> <a href="https://www.ditausers.org/timelines/ShopReceiveOrder.html?ProductID=2&Quantity=1"><strong>$150 membership</strong></a> </p> <p> You get both JoAnn Hackos' book <a href="http://www.comtech-serv.com/publications.shtml#book3" title="Introduction to DITA">Introduction to DITA</a> and the <a href="http://www.oxygenxml.com" title="oXygen XML Editor"><oXygen/> XML editor</a> with WebDAV access to your online workspace folder. </p> <p> <a href="https://www.ditausers.org/timelines/ShopReceiveOrder.html?ProductID=1&Quantity=1">Click here to join with a $150 membership</a>. </p> <hr width="50%" align="left"> <p> <a href="https://www.ditausers.org/timelines/ShopReceiveOrder.html?ProductID=2&Quantity=1"><strong>$100 membership</strong></a> </p> <p> You get <i>your choice</i> of a free copy of JoAnn Hackos' book <a href="http://www.comtech-serv.com/publications.shtml#book3" title="Introduction to DITA">Introduction to DITA</a> or an <a href="http://www.oxygenxml.com" title="oXygen XML Editor"><oXygen/> XML editor</a> with WebDAV access to your online workspace folder. </p> <p> <a href="https://www.ditausers.org/timelines/ShopReceiveOrder.html?ProductID=1&Quantity=1">Click here to join with a $100 membership</a>. </p> <hr width="50%" align="left"> <p> <a href="https://www.ditausers.org/timelines/ShopReceiveOrder.html?ProductID=2&Quantity=1"><strong>Basic $50 membership</strong></a> </p> <p> Like all paying members, you get discounts on our for-fee tutorials (once we produce them), <a href="http://www.ditanews.com/events/conferences/">discounts for major DITA conferences</a> that more than offset membership cost, and optional WebDAV access to your workspace folder, so you can work with a desktop editor. </p> <p> You will get your own workspace folder and permanent storage. You also get a listing in our international <a href="https://www.ditausers.org/membership/member_directory/">member directory</a>. </p> <p> <a href="https://www.ditausers.org/timelines/ShopReceiveOrder.html?ProductID=2&Quantity=1">Click here to join at the basic rate of $50/year.</a> </p> <hr width="50%" align="left"> <p> Since our founding in 2007, DITA Users has provided free and easy online access to a <a href="http://www.ditastorm.com">DITA Storm</a> editor and <a href="http://dita-ot.sourceforge.net/">DITA Open Toolkit</a> to anyone starting out with DITA. </p> <p> A free solution is course possible by just downloading and installing the DITA Open Toolkit and using a free XML editor like the personal version of <a href="http://www.xmlmind.com">XMLmind</a>. </p> <p> But for most tech writers these downloads and installs are a technical hassle compared to using our structured writing tools online, where your work is <em>automatically published to the web</em> in your own workspace folder. </p> <p> You can immediately show your deliverable documents (web/HTML, print/PDF, and Help/Eclipse) to your colleagues, employers, or potential clients. </p> Bob Doyle http://www.ditausers.org/timelines/PageComment.html?doWhat=ReadSeriesComments&RelDirPath=/about_us/blog/&PageID=5230 Tue, 28 Oct 2008 16:23:58 EDT http://www.ditausers.org/about_us/blog/index.43.en.html New Free Memberships http://www.ditausers.org/about_us/blog/index.42.en.html <p> It is now one year since we started developing DITA Users. We wish you a Happy New Year for 2008! To celebrate we are restoring free memberships in DITA Users! </p> <p> Since we started charging for new memberships, member growth has been very slow. We have added only about 30 new members since October 1, 2007. While we think the annual fee is small considering the benefits, it is obviously not small enough. </p> <p> When DITA Users Beta membership was free, we grew quickly to nearly 400 members (from 24 countries). </p> <p> We would like to restore free memberships and get more people starting with DITA and topic-based writing. </p> <p> A free membership will include the DITA Storm browser-based editor and online DITA Open Toolkit. A workspace folder will have the three sample docsets. It will not include our new WebDAV access to support desktop DITA editors. </p> <p> A full $100/year membership now includes the choice of the leading book on DITA or a desktop DITA Editor to complement the web-based <a href="http://www.ditastorm.com">DITA Storm</a> editor. </p> <p> The book (a $50 value) is JoAnn Hackos' <i>Introduction to DITA</i> - either the original edition by Kylene Bruski and Jennifer Linton or the new Arbortext Edition. </p> <p> The desktop editor is the $48 Academic Edition of the <a href="http://www.oxygenxml.com"><i> <oXygen/> XML Editor</i></a>, now at version 9 with full DITA support. </p> <p> Desktop editors communicate with web servers via FTP or WebDAV (distributed authoring and versioning). DITA Users can now WebDAV enable individual members' workspace folders. </p> <p> DITA Users was delighted to learn that SyncRO Soft <oXygen/> supports WebDAV in their $48 Academic Edition. They made an agreement with SyncRO Soft to offer an Academic License to DITA Users for learning DITA online. </p> <p> Anyone with a WebDAV-enabled DITA authoring tool can use it on their DITA Users document sets. These include two docsets from IBM and the docset from Comtech Services in the <i>Introduction to DITA</i> book. They can also create their own projects. </p> Bob Doyle http://www.ditausers.org/timelines/PageComment.html?doWhat=ReadSeriesComments&RelDirPath=/about_us/blog/&PageID=3242 Tue, 01 Jan 2008 09:30:00 EST http://www.ditausers.org/about_us/blog/index.42.en.html New Member Benefits http://www.ditausers.org/about_us/blog/index.41.en.html <p> A $100/year membership now includes the choice of the leading book on DITA or a desktop DITA Editor to complement the web-based <a href="http://www.ditastorm.com">DITA Storm</a> editor. </p> <p> The book (a $50 value) is JoAnn Hackos' <i>Introduction to DITA</i> - either the original edition by Kylene Bruski and Jennifer Linton or the new Arbortext Edition. </p> <p> <img src="http://www.ditanews.com/images/IntroDITAArbortext.gif" align="right" hspace="8" vspace="4"> </p> <p> The desktop editor is the $48 Academic Edition of the <a href="http://www.oxygenxml.com"><i> <oXygen/> XML Editor</i></a>, now at version 9 with full DITA support. </p> <p> Desktop editors communicate with web servers via FTP or WebDAV (distributed authoring and versioning). DITA Users can now WebDAV enable individual members' workspace folders. </p> <p> Most DITA authoring tools offer WebDAV, some as a premium only available in their Enterprise Editions (for example, Syntext Serna and XMLmind). </p> <p> DITA Users was delighted to learn that SyncRO Soft <oXygen/> supports WebDAV in their $48 Academic Edition. They made an agreement with SyncRO Soft to offer an Academic License to DITA Users for learning DITA online. </p> <p> Anyone with a WebDAV-enabled DITA authoring tool can use it on their DITA Users document sets. These include two docsets from IBM and the docset from Comtech Services in the <i>Introduction to DITA</i> book. They can also create their own projects. </p> <p> Practically speaking, anyone already invested in an advanced DITA authoring tool may be beyond the need for the <b>"DITA from A to B"</b> learning offered by DITA Users. But the new access method may make online training valuable for small tech pub groups who can now use their familiar tools (like Arbortext Editor or XMetaL Author) on the DITA Users website, as well as use innovative tools like the web-based DITA Storm, while their teams get started with DITA Bob Doyle http://www.ditausers.org/timelines/PageComment.html?doWhat=ReadSeriesComments&RelDirPath=/about_us/blog/&PageID=3241 Sat, 01 Dec 2007 10:30:00 EST http://www.ditausers.org/about_us/blog/index.41.en.html DITA Users Memberships now $100/year ($50 for STC members and others) http://www.ditausers.org/about_us/blog/index.40.en.html <p> DITA Users now costs $100/year. </p> <p> Members of CM Pros, OASIS, and STC may join for the discounted rate of $50/year. </p> <p> We'll see whether tech writers and writing groups find value in an online DITA editing environment - software as a service (SaaS). Bob Doyle http://www.ditausers.org/timelines/PageComment.html?doWhat=ReadSeriesComments&RelDirPath=/about_us/blog/&PageID=3240 Sun, 30 Sep 2007 22:30:00 EDT http://www.ditausers.org/about_us/blog/index.40.en.html Tutorials for the DITA Users website http://www.ditausers.org/about_us/blog/index.39.en.html <p> We are building our first tutorials to explain the DITA Users website itself. </p> <p> They will focus on the DITA Manager, <a href="http://www.ditastrom.com">DITA Storm</a>, and building output deliverables with the Open Toolkit. </p> <p> Our development tool of choice is Adobe Captivate 3. </p> We will publish links to the draft versions here. </p> <ul> <li><a href="http://www.ditausers.org/training/DITAUsersWelcome" target="tutorial">Welcome</a></li> <li><a href="http://www.ditausers.org/training/DITAUsersStartAuthoring" target="tutorial">Start Authoring</a></li> </ul> Bob Doyle http://www.ditausers.org/timelines/PageComment.html?doWhat=ReadSeriesComments&RelDirPath=/about_us/blog/&PageID=2917 Wed, 19 Sep 2007 13:54:58 EDT http://www.ditausers.org/about_us/blog/index.39.en.html DITA Tutorial Project http://www.ditausers.org/about_us/blog/index.38.en.html <div>Will you help us to develop tutorials for DITA Users?</div> <div><a target="_blank" href="../" onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)">http://www.ditausers.org</a></div> <div> </div> <div>Have you prepared a presentation or written an article on DITA that could be the basis for a tutorial? </div> <div> </div> <div>Have you recorded a webinar (vendor webinars are welcome - if they teach DITA using their product).</div> <div> </div> <div>We have already collected about 50 articles and Powerpoint presentations. They are listed in the publications and tutorials sections at DITA Users and our new draft website DITA Tutor (<a target="_blank" href="http://www.ditatutor.com/" onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)"> www.ditatutor.com</a>). </div> <div> </div> <div>Perhaps something you have written is already included?</div> <div><a target="_blank" href="../tutorials/" onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)">http://www.ditausers.org<wbr />/tutorials/</a></div> <div> </div> <div>If you send us your Powerpoint presentation on DITA, we will post it to our servers. If you prefer that we link to your site, send us the URL.</div> <div> </div> <div>For the most valuable presentations, we plan to ask presenters to record an accompanying audio track. We will record the audio in our lab in an online screen sharing session with the presenter.  We will then post the Powerpoint with audio to our servers (using Camtasia or Captivate). </div> <div> </div> <div>Our next step will be to enhance selected presentation materials for online training (eLearning). We will add instructional design elements like an overview, summary, and assessment (to test understanding of concepts, add practice exercises, etc.). We will offer these as self-paced tutorials for those getting started with DITA. </div> <div> </div> <div>Finally, we have set up a Learning Management System (LMS) at DITA Tutor.  We can reuse the tutorial materials to support instructor-led workshops.  These will be conducted online with a digital online classroom tool called Elluminate.  If you would like to be an instructor and lead an online workshop, we will give you the technical and administrative support to do so. </div> <div> </div> <div>Anyone who submits a presentation is eligible to become part of our DITA Mentors program, which includes membership in DITA Users.</div> <div><a target="_blank" href="../membership/mentors/" onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)">http://www.ditausers.org<wbr />/membership/mentors/</a></div> <div> </div> <div>We also welcome as DITA Mentors all of you who present at the major DITA conferences. </div> <div><a target="_blank" href="http://www.ditanews.com/events/conferences/" onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)">http://www.ditanews.com/events<wbr />/conferences/</a> (all these conferences provide registration discounts that more than offset the annual cost of membership for DITA Users ). </div> <div> </div> <div>Consider speaking at a conference. (The proposal deadline for presenting at DITA Europe is August 31. See <a target="_blank" href="http://www.infomanagementcenter.com/DITAeurope/index.htm" onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)"><font size="2">http://www.infomanagementcenter<wbr />.com/DITAeurope/index.htm</font></a>.)</div> <div> </div> <div>If your work is already included on DITA Users and you have already joined the beta program (nearly 400 members have joined from 20 countries), we will be extending your free membership indefinitely. Our community needs teachers as well as learners.  DITA Mentors can join us for free and earn income from instructor-led workshops. </div> <div> </div> <div>If you are just getting started with DITA, consider joining DITA Users, add yourself to our member directory and find others to work with in your area.</div> <div><a target="_blank" href="../membership/how_to_join/" onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)">http://www.ditausers.org<wbr />/membership/how_to_join/</a> <br /></div Bob Doyle http://www.ditausers.org/timelines/PageComment.html?doWhat=ReadSeriesComments&RelDirPath=/about_us/blog/&PageID=2837 Fri, 24 Aug 2007 16:20:52 EDT http://www.ditausers.org/about_us/blog/index.38.en.html Time to Pay for DITA Users Memberships http://www.ditausers.org/about_us/blog/index.37.en.html <div>We hope to have most of our member benefits lined up very soon and will ask everyone to pay for memberships. </div> <div> </div> <div>We hope that online workspaces and access to member resources like the Member Directory are well worth the fee, but we also expect that direct financial benefits will more than offset the annual membership fee.</div> <div> </div> <div>Those who have entered credit cards will NOT be charged unless and until they go to the shopping cart and place a new order. Memberships will run from the date paid, not the date joined to the beta program.</div> <div> </div> <div> <div>Beta memberships will no longer be available after September 1.</div> <div> </div> <div>All beta memberships will lapse on September 30 if not converted to regular memberships. </div> <div> </div> <div>For those who want to pay for a membership today and help us test the shopping cart, we have already created the new order item.</div></div> <div>______________________________</div> <div> </div> <div><strong>Financial Benefits</strong></div> <div> </div> <div>We have secured member discounts for major conferences and workshops that feature DITA presentations and training. This includes:</div> <ul><li>BrightPath Solutions DITA East and West conferences - $100 discount on registration using our special code - <strong>ditausers</strong></li><li>ComTech Services - CM-Strategies and Best Practices Conferences - 10% discount (You must call Lisa Lambert at 1-303-232-7586 for this discount)</li><li>DocTrain East and West - $200 discount (This does not apply to those already registered for DocTrain East 2007, but does apply if you register by telephone before August 31 for DocTrain. Contact Eileen Savary at +1 978-649-8555 or via email at <a target="_blank" href="mailto:info@doctrain.com" onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)">info@doctrain.com</a>. Payment options include: check and credit card.)</li><li>Gilbane Conferences - $150 discount with special code - <strong>DITA</strong></li></ul> <div>Please see our Conferences page for more information and our Events calendar for dates and times.</div> <div><a href="http://www.ditanews.com/events/conferences/">http://www.ditanews.com/events/conferences/</a></div> <div><a href="http://www.ditanews.com/events/calendar/">http://www.ditanews.com/events/calendar/</a></div> <div> </div> <div>As you can see, attending just one DITA conference per year will completely offset your DITA Users membership fee.</div> <div> </div> <div>Members will also receive significant discounts on our online self-paced tutorials and instructor-led workshops.</div> <div><a href="http://www.ditatutor.com/">www.ditatutor.com</a></div> <div> </div> <div><strong>Corporate Memberships</strong><br clear="all" /></div> <div> </div> <div>We are planning to make membership in DITA Users attractive for large tech pub groups in several ways. We hope tech pub team leaders will find shared online workspaces a great training area for new team members. </div> <ul><li>Memberships will be transferable to a new employee.</li><li>Cost of membership will be a sliding scale.</li><li>$100 for the first, $70 for the next 4, $60 for 6 -10,  $50 for 11 up.</li><li>We will provide bulk corporate registrations to simplify the process of getting multiple members online.<br /></li></ul Bob Doyle http://www.ditausers.org/timelines/PageComment.html?doWhat=ReadSeriesComments&RelDirPath=/about_us/blog/&PageID=2824 Thu, 23 Aug 2007 18:54:52 EDT http://www.ditausers.org/about_us/blog/index.37.en.html DITA Storm RC 9 http://www.ditausers.org/about_us/blog/index.22.en.html <p> Release Candidate 9 of version 2.0 adds DITA References, a neat Outline view where you can move blocks up and down in the document, and properly formatted XML source code. </p> <p> We can now edit all the sample files in our three docsets. </p> <p> </p> Bob Doyle http://www.ditausers.org/timelines/PageComment.html?doWhat=ReadSeriesComments&RelDirPath=/about_us/blog/&PageID=928 Wed, 11 Apr 2007 14:50:12 EDT http://www.ditausers.org/about_us/blog/index.22.en.html Bugs from Boston DITA Users Group http://www.ditausers.org/about_us/blog/index.15.en.html Last night's DITA Users Group meeting yielded a number of bugs in our current deployment as 14 people sat down at 12 workstations. Many joined for the first time (we now have over 50 testers). A longer report on the meeting will follow. <p /> These are the most important fixed bugs and other requested changes. <p /> We added a support email link at top of DITA Manager where members can report bugs easily. <p /> We changed the "login" link in the banner to link to a login to the user's DITA Manager instead of the timelines interface to the CMS. <p /> Added a link to DITA Manager from the File Manager. The index page in the dita subdirectory of a user home directory (workspace folder) will open the DITA Manager in a new window when double clicked. There is also a "DITA Manager" link in the toolbar when the file is selected, in the place where you might expect to find "Series Manager" in the CMS). BAsically, we are hiding the backend CMS from the average user. It will still be available for those comfortable with editing DITA sources. <p /> Many DITA Manager pages had a line of PHP being exposed at the top (like sHeadSpace); this has been corrected. <p /> We collected a few parsing errors to feedback to the DITA Storm team. Attempts to include an xref did not add the hyperlink to the output. <p /> We identified a number of users whose orders did not submit properly, keeping them from getting proper privileges, home directories, welcome emails, and mailing list subscriptions. The join process has been completed for those we know about, so that they now have all of the docset examples in their workspace folders, with privileges, etc. Any unrecognized users will be contacted for further assistance and join completion. <p /> Some users had two accounts due to problems in the join process. These have been corrected to one account per user. Bob Doyle http://www.ditausers.org/timelines/PageComment.html?doWhat=ReadSeriesComments&RelDirPath=/about_us/blog/&PageID=652 Tue, 13 Mar 2007 17:25:00 EDT http://www.ditausers.org/about_us/blog/index.15.en.html