dita-techcomm — archive

[Kristen Eberlein]

Hi, Susan. Thanks for making changes; this is getting closer. I'd suggest further amending the proposal using the excellent suggestions that Seth posted to the list on Wednesday; my changes are marked in red and basically address just two points: The proposal needs to clearly state the proposed content model in such a way that the maintainers of the DTDs and XSDs could implement the changes. The proposal needs NOT to specify that an auto-generated task label Troubleshooting must be applied by implementations. This is an implementation choice and not something that the DITA specification can mandate, especially as it does not do so for any of the other key elements in <task>. This clearly needs to be a best practice, of course ... Thanks again for your work. Kris ________________________________ DITA 1.3 proposed feature 13096 Proposal to add a new element to support a troubleshooting section between the <result> and <example> elements in a task topic. Date and version information Include the following information: Third draft of proposal completed on 6/28 Champion of the proposal: DITA Technical Communications Subcommittee Use cases There is often a need to include a troubleshooting section in a task, between the <result> and <example>. The purpose of this section is to help the reader resolve any problems that may arise should their result not match the result stated in the <result> section of the task. It is expected the reader would need this problem-solving information after reading the <result> section, since their is no sense in moving forward if the expected result was not achieved. Proposed solution Add a new element named <tasktroubleshooting> to task topics that could be added after <result> and before <example>. An auto-generated label of “Troubleshooting” should be applied. The new tasktroubleshooting element will be specialized from section and will have the same content model except that there will be no title element <<Seth: Not sure I interpreted this correctly from your email>> . Benefits This addition will benefit writers who want to provide important troubleshooting information within the task topic to aid users and have it clearly identified as troubleshooting information. This enhancement will have a significant impact because key troubleshooting information will be provided at the end of the topic if the desired result is not achieved and will allow the user to take the proper corrective action before moving on. Providing a semantic construct for this information, that appears in the same part of structure, will improve consistency across tasks. Technical requirements Provide a detailed description of how the solution will work. Be sure to include the following details: DTD and Schema modifications Topic or map specialization None Domain None Element A new element “tasktroubleshooting” would have to be added. The content model for <tasktroubleshooting> would be: ( ( prereq ) (optional) then ( context ) (optional) then ( steps or steps-unordered ) (optional) then ( result ) (optional) then (tasktroubleshooting) (optional) ( example ) (optional)  then ( postreq ) (optional) ) The new element will be specialized from section and will have the same content model as <example> -- that is, all <section> elements except for <title> . Attributes Inherit same attribute definition as specialization base ( section ). Processing impact Style-sheets would have to add auto-generated text support for this element (e.g., “Troubleshooting” in English). Processors may apply a label to content in this element to distinguish Troubleshooting information from other content. Overall usability This proposal would improve usability more than damage it. Pro The presence of tasktroubleshooting in the task content model will prompt writers to consider providing this sort of information. The fixed location of this element in the task content model will promote consistency across tasks increasing findability for the reader. Con It is another element that maintainers have to implement and document. Users will need to learn the element’s intent. Documentation We intend to include a section in the Architectural Specification to explain how the new troubleshooting elements should be used (when to use one versus the other). We will also provide a description and examples for the DITA Language Specification. Costs The impact would be as follows Maintainers of the DTDs and XSDs would have to add the tasktroubleshooting specialization to task. This could be quickly accomplished by cloning the result specialization and renaming it tasktroubleshooting. Editors of the DITA specification would have add “tasktroubleshooting” and its semantic intent to the element reference. Vendors of tools: XML editors, component content management systems, processsors -- if they currently support generating task labels -- would need to add auto-generated text support in their style-sheets to insert a “Troubleshooting” label. DITA community-at-large would perceive this change as a minor improvement in convenience. Examples <result>The <uicontrol>User Type</uicontrol> menu updates to display the new types you added.</result> <tasktroubleshooting>If the User Type menu does not display the additions, manually refresh the page.</tasktroubleshooting> On 6/28/2012 7:02 PM, Susan Blaisdell wrote: Submitter's message Updated version of proposal to add new task troubleshooting section based on feedback from 6/26 TC meeting. Seth sent an email to the SC list on 6/27 that has contains the feedback and includes some optional considerations. -- Susan Blaisdell Document Name : Proposal 13096 to add a new troubleshooting section in a task topic (HTML) Description Proposal from the Technical Communications Subcommittee to add a new element to support a troubleshooting section between the result and postreq elements in a task topic. Download Latest Revision Public Download Link Submitter : Susan Blaisdell Group : DITA Technical Communication SC Folder : Standards Date submitted : 2012-06-28 16:02:42 Revision : 1 -- 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)