•Do you want to learn how to write structured documentation using DITA XML? If yes, I can help!
•My name is Jordan Stanchev. I have built my career in the field of technical communications in the last 20 years.
•Starting off my carrier as a Java developer, I have then become a senior technical writer and had built a career as a DITA information architect.
•I have written thousands of pages of software documentation guides for administrators and for developers. The software products I have worked on are in the field of security, messaging services and development infrastructure (such as GitHub and SAP NWDI).
•Today, I am a part of the team that leads the development of DITA XML-based infrastructure projects. The technical writers’ community we serve is more than 1000 authors. I also chair the experts’ group of our nearly 300 people strong group of DITA information architects in a Fortune 500 company.  I constantly have to write software development specifications and project documentation, in addition to the user guides information I provide.
•What can I say, I have vast experience to share in structured writing and information architecture using DITA XML. And this is what I focus on in this course.
•Based on my experience, what I can tell you, is that a modern technical writer looking to build his or her career in the field of technical communications, knowing DITA XML simply is a must!
•You wouldn’t believe how often I hear back from my students how the knowledge from this course is what made the break-through in their DITA technical writer job interview and helped them advance their career!
•To achieve the ultimate career goal, all you do need is to learn writing using DITA!
•Knowledge of DITA is relevant for you if you are involved in any way with software documentation as a:
•- technical writer;
•- information architect;
•- people manager, managing technical writers in the team;
•- user experience designer;
•- business analyst;
•- project manager;
•The course ‘How to Write Using DITA XML” is designed for intermediate to advanced level technical writers who want to deep dive into the capabilities offered by DITA, create complex and personalized user guides and deliver this single-sourced output using Oxygen Author tool into various delivery channels. 
•It is based on the 10 days long online DITA training I’ve been providing to my students.
•WARNING: 
•It will take you around 7-8 hours from the start of this course just to go through this material! It comes with lots of various hands-on exercises, examples and advises based on my practice.
•I recommend that you take one section a day at most, to avoid being overwhelmed and manage to perform each exercise described.
•The course further deep dive and elaborate the basic concepts and knowledge introduced with the course ‘A Quick Start to Technical Writing with DITA’ and then provides more advanced details and strategies such as reuse of content and personalization of content based on profiling strategy.
•Note:
•If you are looking for a quick start into DITA, consider the basic DITA course ‘A Quick Start to Technical Writing with DITA’, which is for technical communicators, that are not yet familiar with DITA.
•What will you learn?
•Section 1: Introduction
•By the end of this section you will able to explain:
•- What is DITA;
•- What are the benefits of writing software documentation using DITA;
•Just spelling out the benefits of writing in DITA takes a lot of time! There are so many reasons why DITA is getting more and more popular. Today you cannot be a modern technical writer if you do not know how to write software documentation using DITA XML! It’s the de facto standard XML for writing! You must know and spell out the benefits of DITA, and be sure, on a job interview you will be asked why DITA is so important.
•Just to name a few:
•- Based on common information types.
•- It implies strict rules for writing, no matter who the technical writer is!
•- Content is modularized and reusable.
•- Automatically generated various outputs from the same DITA source;
•- Content can be personalized, and so on.
•Section 2: Get Started with DITA
•By the end of this section you will be able to:
•- Apply the 4 steps for creating the content of a user guide;
•- Explain what is a DITA map;
•- Create the 3 most frequently used DITA topics types: Task, Concept, and Reference;
•- Create DITA maps;
•- Reference topics in a map to construct a deliverable (user guide) using Oxygen XML Author;
•Writing in DITA is easy. Do not let the diversity in tags and the huge number of DITA capabilities confuse you.
•All you need to write your first guide is a strategy (what you want to deliver) and a set of simple steps to follow to construct your guide (explained in this section of the course)!
•Section 3: DITA Elements
•- Name the most commonly used DITA topic elements (DITA tags);
•- Describe a strategy for using topic elements in the context of a specific topic;
•- Open, search through and select the needed topic elements in a topic;
•- Use the list of topic elements in the context of a Task topic;
•DITA comes with a huge number of tags to use. With them comes a great flexibility for writing content. But where do you start? And which elements are a “must-know” vs. “optional-to-know”? This is what you will learn in this section to get a steady start with your content.
•Section 4: Reusing Content in DITA:
•- Describe the benefits of reuse;
•- Reuse content on map level (mapref);
•- Reuse content on topic level (topicref);
•- Reuse content on a topic element level (conref);
•- Reuse entire table rows (conref – conrefend);
•Reuse of content on all these levels allows you to dramatically reduce the time you have to spend writing documentation. This is one of the most important benefits of DITA. 
•Allow me to give you an example: you can use reuse on the topic element level to define the name of your software product as a reusable topic element. You then use this element across your entire document. Later on, when the product name changes, you update the value of the reusable topic element and it gets automatically updated in all occurrences in each and every document! Compare this to the time it takes you searching and replacing a product name in a Word document or Wiki pages!
•Section 5: Profiling (conditioning) content in DITA:
•- Describe the benefits of using profiling in your content;
•- Profile content on map level;
•- Profile content on a topic level;
•- Profile content on a topic element level;
•- Profile table rows;
•Today everyone talks about personalization of the user experience with the software. How about personalization of the user experience with the software documentation? 
•The profiling functionality allows you to personalize the content for your target audience, without disrupting the authoring process. The personalized end-user guide is automatically generated in the end, based on the rules set by the author. Something that is close to impossible for any non-structured way of writing content in DITA happens in few clicks!
•Section 6: Information Architecture for Technical Communicators
•By the end of this section you will be able to explain:
•- What is information architecture?
•- Who is an information architect?
•- What to consider to become an efficient information architect?
•As of this section, we are razing the stakes! This course is not only for people who want to learn to write in DITA but also for those of you who want to grow in their careers. What’s the name of the next level in technical writing? It’s called “information architecture”. But what is information architecture? What are you supposed to start doing today, to become an information architect?
•That is what is explained in this section. The information architects possess a higher level, broader and holistic view on the content creation process. You are no longer focused down