The Holy Grail of content developers is to deliver the right content, at the right time, to the right audience, in the right format. To accomplish this goal, we have structured authoring and information architectures giving rise to omni-channel publishing, which […]
#12 Tips for the localization of measurement units in DITA
In September 1999, Mars Climate Orbiter, a NASA uncrewed spacecraft, crashed after ten months of travel, coming up too close to the planet and hitting the uppermost atmosphere. The primary cause of failure was a discrepancy in the units between two pieces […]
#11 Twelve tips on sentence length and structure for localization
Shorter sentences are easier to understand for the reader and the translator. When writing for non-native speakers and translation, you can aid comprehension by limiting your sentence length to 25 or fewer words. Longer, more complex sentences create a cognitive load […]
#10 UI Single Sourcing for an Agile Process
Whatever the product or service you market, your content is likely to refer to a software application. The software appears in the online help in the form of screenshots and UI (User Interface) terms and content managers struggle to manage them efficiently. The […]
#9 Five reasons to opt for loose CMS & TMS integration
In our sixth episode of the DITA Loc Wire series, we recommended transferring the content provided by the CMS using raw DITA files instead of XLIFF. Another approach, […]
#8 Tip for writing software content: externalize the UI terms
Technical writers typically write UI (User Interface) terms inline, because writing flows out word after word, sentence after sentence. We present here a different approach, externalization, that can make writing more agile, consistent across multiple platforms, […]
#7 Enhance your DITA practices with peer review
To write content that is consistent as well as easy to reuse and maintain, technical writers should abide by the DITA authoring rules. Some of them belong to the information model, others to the style guide.
- Terminology
- Style
- Conditionalizing
- Naming conventions
- Metadata
- Links
- Specialization or output classes
- Glossary
- Content re-use
We would appreciate […]
# 6 Six reasons for prefering raw DITA to XLIFF for localization
DITA localization can be deployed in several ways, depending on the resources: with a CCMS or a content repository, with a translation management system managed in-house or by the Language Service Provider (LSP), with an internal or an external team of translators, and […]
#5 Tips for keyword consistency in translated DITA content
DITA is a framework for content re-use across multiple information channels. This framework relies on separating content and format, as well as semantic tagging.
Among the options a technical writer can use, many of them require consistency to ensure an optimal user experience:
- Consistent […]
#4 How to secure the quality of your DITA translation with in-country experts
There is a universal agreement that translated content must be reviewed for quality control, regulatory compliance, and User eXperience. In doing so, the content continuously improves over time, as the corrections are integrated into the translation memory.
There is also an agreement that the review […]