0

I am looking for a Component CMS solution that is compatible with IBM's DITA in terms of preserving the document hierarchy/structure created in DITA (ditamaps).

I am not necessarily looking for an open source solution.

Other requirements would be:
- file migration
- XML support (ingestion, editing, export)
- PDF support (publishing)
- Workflow management
- Localization support (managing versions across locales)
- Output tagging

johntait.org
  • 740
  • 1
  • 8
  • 22

5 Answers5

3

As you are looking at CCMS, be sure that you consider the following factors:

  • How easy is it to get your content into the system?
  • How easy is it to get your content out of the system?
  • Does the system use proprietary mechanisms for filtering, rather than support for DITAVAL that is part of the OASIS standards?

Part of the beauty of DITA is that if you follow the standard and do not use proprietary mechanisms, you easily can exchange content with business partners, move to another CCMS, if you needed, and so forth.

Older CCMS use proprietary mechanisms for some things. It's entirely understandable, since they were developed before DITA was a standard, and so have legacy customers with implementations that they must support.

Kristen James Eberlein
  • 643
  • 4
  • 5
2

It's a bit dangerous (a lot dangerous) to be choosing something like a Component CMS based on questions on a forum like this, but as long as you're asking you could look at things like: SDL Trisoft, IXIASOFT DITA CMS, Vasont, XDocs, or DITA Exchange to get an idea of what is out there. CCMS systems are vastly different from each other both in price and functionality, so things like:

  • Number of users
  • Distribution of users
  • IT 'religious affiliations' (e.g. SharePoint addiction, Linux)
  • Use of DITA features like Conref, KeyRef, SubjectScheme
  • Versioning flexibility requirements
  • Translation management

will all greatly affect the decision making process. We tend to spend time with a client before making solid recommendations so this is simply something to get you started in your research.

PS - As you may know Arbortext is not a Component CMS at all, it's an editor.

nozurbina
  • 21
  • 2
  • And just recently, Keith Schengili-Roberts has researched and published a nice compilation of DITA CMS systems at http://www.ditawriter.com/list-of-dita-capable-cmses/. Among other CCMSs on that list not yet mentioned here are Componize and DITAtoo. That survey is a tremendous resource for anyone doing comparative evaluations of commercial and open source offerings that support DITA. – Don Day Mar 07 '13 at 05:30
0

Sorry for not understanding the following thing, from the question.

  • [file-migration] What is the current format?

If it comes as (DITA) XML (or can be migrated to XML), the following procedure might be a solution:

  • [Import] Import the (DITA) XML into a Version Control System;
  • [Edit] From there it is easy to modify by multiple people;
  • [Export] Always possible, from CVS system;
  • [Publishing] Automatic PDF generation (DITA Open Toolkit);
  • [Localization support] Use branches for the different languages;
  • [Tagging] Tag a final release, when it is is published.

See also the What is the recommended tool chain for formatting XML DocBook? as these same suggestions can be used for a DITA tool chain.

Community
  • 1
  • 1
Verhagen
  • 3,885
  • 26
  • 36
  • SDL by Trisoft is fully DITA compatible so we will likely go with it –  Feb 16 '10 at 14:59
0

IBM built DITA on Arbortext. Arbortext was the only vendor to be a charter member of the OASIS DITA Technical Committee and they continue that activity as PTC. (Arbortext was acquired by PTC in 2005).

Arbortext also supports DocBook (since conception), S1000D, and custom doctypes with no customization of the application required.

Happy to talk more about this offline.

Marc Gravell
  • 1,026,079
  • 266
  • 2,566
  • 2,900
Liz Fraley
  • 394
  • 1
  • 3
  • Since Arbortext is an editor, not a CMS, did you mean PTC's CMS products? (Windchill/PDMLink) – Anders Feb 15 '13 at 15:53
  • The mention of Arbortext Editor begs a bit more historical context in case anyone lands here doing a search on DITA's origins. While I was leading the IBM workgroup that created DITA, we tested the specialization architecture on many validating editing systems including Syntext Serna, LunaTech Morphon, XMLMind XML Editor (the first "out of the box" DITA-aware editors as far as having class attribute substring matching for CSS styles), Eclipse XML editor, Vexx, epcEdit, XMetaL, Arbortext Editor, and even FrameMaker, Word and WordPerfect. DITA is a cosmopolitan standard in that regard. – Don Day Mar 07 '13 at 05:09
0

If you are still looking for options you should check out easyDITA (http://easydita.com)

Casey Jordan
  • 1,204
  • 1
  • 20
  • 39