Re: [dita] DITA 1.3 documentation -- shall we remove the Contains and "Contains by" tables

From
Kristen James Eberlein <>
Date
2012-09-11T22:18:36+00:00
ID
Thread
Re: [dita] DITA 1.3 documentation -- shall we remove the Contains and "Contains by" tables
Title: Re: [dita] DITA 1.3 documentation -- shall we remove the
        Contains and "Contains by" tables

  
  
    
It's a tricky situation. The tables
      contain useful information, but if readers cannot find the
      relevant topic, they never will see that useful information.

      

      In an ideal world, we'd have:

      
        
Some way of instructing PDF viewers and Web browser to not
          include the content of those tables in the search results

        
The time and resources to carefully and properly add index
          entries to the source files.

      
      
In the absence of an ideal world, let's see what tactics we can
        come up with to improve readers' ability to find information in
        the spec.

      

      
Best,

        Kris

        

        Kristen James Eberlein

        Principal consultant, Eberlein Consulting

        Co-chair, OASIS DITA Technical Committee

        Charter member, OASIS DITA Adoption Committee

        www.eberleinconsulting.com

        +1 919 682-2290; kriseberlein (skype)

      

      On 9/11/2012 5:51 PM, Scott Hudson wrote:

    

    
      
      Hm. I disagree. One of the most
          powerful benefits of these tables is being able to see where
          an element is valid and what it contains. If you remove these,
          the element reference will be useless.

          

          --Scott

          

          

          On 9/11/12 3:48 PM, "Kristen James Eberlein" <>
          wrote:

          

        
         

          Yes, the links work
              fine. It just is very difficult for someone to *find*
              topics in the spec, and I think we need to address this
              for DITA 1.3.

               

               Removing the "Contains" and "Contains by" tables --
              perhaps having them in a secondary document -- would be
              one way to improve readers' ability to search the spec and
              find mentions of particular elements.

             

              

          Best,

             Kris

             

             Kristen James Eberlein

             Principal consultant, Eberlein Consulting

             Co-chair, OASIS DITA Technical Committee

             Charter member, OASIS DITA Adoption Committee

             www.eberleinconsulting.com <http://www.eberleinconsulting.com>
            

             +1 919 682-2290; kriseberlein (skype)

           

             

             On 9/11/2012 5:33 PM, Scott Hudson wrote:

             

             

          
         Re: [dita] DITA 1.3
              documentation -- shall we remove the Contains and
              "Contains by" tables You are saying that the false hits
              are in the search only, right? When I view the HTML
              version of the spec, the contains/contained by links work
              just fine.

               

               I don’t have any solution to the search problem.

               

               Thanks and best regards,

               

               --Scott

               

               Scott
                  Hudson |  Pelco
                  by Schneider Electric
                | United States | Standards Lead

                   Ph: +1-970-282-1952  | M:
                +1-720-663-7268 | Site: pdn.pelco.com | 

                     

                   

                 

                 

                 

                 On 9/11/12 3:01 PM, "Kristen James Eberlein" <>
                wrote:

                 

                  

            
             

                   What is your suggestion for fixing the false
                  hits?

                    

                     

                 Best,

                  Kris

                  

                  Kristen James Eberlein

                  Principal consultant, Eberlein Consulting

                  Co-chair, OASIS DITA Technical Committee

                  Charter member, OASIS DITA Adoption Committee

                  www.eberleinconsulting.com <http://www.eberleinconsulting.com>
                 <http://www.eberleinconsulting.com>
                

                  +1 919 682-2290; kriseberlein (skype)

                  

                  

                  On 9/11/2012 4:56 PM, Scott Hudson wrote:

                  

                  

                  

              
             Re: [dita] DITA 1.3
                  documentation -- shall we remove the Contains and
                  "Contains by" tables I think it’s useful. Let’s fix
                  the false hits problem so it works. I use this feature
                  all the time.

                    

                    Thanks and best regards,

                    

                    --Scott

                    

                    Scott Hudson | 
                    Pelco by Schneider
                        Electric | United States | Standards
                      Lead

                        Phone: +1-970-282-1952  | Mobile:
                    +1-720-663-7268 | Support:
                    +1-800-289-9100

                      Email:  | Site: pdn.pelco.com | Address: 3800
                    Automation Way, Suite 300 Ft. Collins, CO 80525-3449
                    - USA

                      

                      

                      

                      

                      On 9/11/12 2:49 PM, "Kristen James Eberlein" <>
                    wrote:

                      

                       

                    

                
                 As we start
                      working on DITA 1.3 documentation, we need to
                      consider whether to include the Contains and
                      "Contains by" tables in the Language Reference
                      topics.

                         

                         Pro = Useful information

                         Con = Makes it impossible to search the spec
                      and find information about a specific element,
                      since there are so many false hits. For example,
                      if you search the PDF version for indexterm, you
                      get over 130 false hits before you land on the
                      actual topic.

                         

                         Best, 

                         Kris 

                         

                         Kristen James Eberlein 

                         Principal consultant, Eberlein Consulting 

                         Co-chair, OASIS DITA Technical Committee 

                         Charter member, OASIS DITA Adoption Committee 

                         www.eberleinconsulting.com <http://www.eberleinconsulting.com>
                       <http://www.eberleinconsulting.com>
                       <http://www.eberleinconsulting.com>
                       

                         +1 919 682-2290; kriseberlein (skype)  

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