[dita] DITA Users website in soft beta launch

[Bob Doyle]

Dear CM Pros DITA Community members,

You will recall some of the major objectives of our DITA Community...
http://www.cmpros.org/communities/topical/dita

 *Statement of Purpose*

To encourage structured authoring in the wider CM Pros community in general
and on the CM Pros website in particular. This community will provide a
technical resource for members who want to learn XML authoring and editing,
specifically using the new DITA XML initiative from OASIS.

 *Scope of Work*

The hope is that this work will find application beyond the CM Pros
community of practice. Therefore this community will work closely with DITA
users who are not presently members of CM Pros, and with the OASIS Technical
Committee for DITA, to share the design effort.

I have joined OASIS and am observing their work closely.

We have transferred all the technology I designed for CM Pros - XML editing
and processing with the DITA Open Toolkit - to a new site for DITA Users -
www.ditausers.org.

We started accepting members on February 15 and now have 77 people from
eight countries around the world.

We will be in beta for a couple more months and hope that all of you will
join and give us your critical feedback. Membership is free while we are in
beta.  Later it will be $100/year, with a $50 discount for CM Pros members.


*DITA Users* mission is to help writers get started with topic-based
structured authoring. (www.ditausers.org).

The site runs a hosted version of the DITA Open Toolkit, so writers are
spared the hassle of an OT install. It also uses the new DITA
Storm<http://www.ditastorm.com/>browser-based WYSIWYG editor. So there
is nothing to download and knowledge
of XML is not needed.

Each member gets a workspace folder with source and build files (ditamaps)
for three docsets. One docset includes the source
files<http://www.ditausers.org/examples/comstar/>used in
*Introduction to DITA*, by Jennifer Linton and Kylene Bruski of Comtech
Services. Members can do most of the exercises in the book online, then
build their deliverables in HTML and PDF. Deliverables can serve from their
web folder or be downloaded.

The site is designed for three types of users:

*Freelance tech writers* who can not yet afford a DITA XML Editor, or are
not ready to decide which one, but who want to get started with topic-based
structured writing.
*Technical documentation teams* who want their members to have a low-cost
easy way to get started. Team leaders and trainers can interact with members
online, checking work remotely with the appropriate permissions on their
team member folders.
*DITA XML consultants* who want to assist clients over the web. DITA Users
gives them a tool they can demonstrate over the web as the first experience
for organizations considering the move to topic-based authoring. They can
also become DITA Mentors <http://www.ditausers.org/membership/mentors/> and
teach workshops using their own demo materials and our online collaboration
tools.

Cheers,

Bob.
-- 
Bob Doyle
Editor In Chief, CMS Review - http://www.cmsreview.com
Former Technology Advisor, CM Pros -
http://www.cmprofessionals.org/membership/cm-profiles/bob-doyle
Contributing Editor, EContent Magazine -
http://www.econtentmag.com/About/AboutAuthor.aspx?AuthorID=155
President and CEO, skyBuilders - http://www.skybuilders.com
77 Huron Avenue
Cambridge, MA 02138
Tel: +1 617-876-5676   Skype:bobdoyle
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