Can organizations create their own specialization documentation templates?

Organizations can create their own specialization documentation templates in DITA to streamline the process of documenting custom DITA specializations. Here’s how they typically go about it:

Customization of Templates: Organizations customize DITA templates to create a documentation structure tailored to their specific needs. This customization includes defining the structure for elements like <documentation>, <description>, <usage-examples>, <customization-instructions>, and other relevant elements to accommodate their specialization documentation.

Consistency and Standardization: By creating their own templates, organizations ensure that the format and structure of specialization documentation remains consistent across different specializations and projects. This consistency enhances readability and usability for content authors.

Branding and Styling: Organizations may apply their branding, styling, and formatting guidelines to the specialization documentation templates to make them align with their overall documentation standards. This ensures that the documentation is easily recognizable as part of their organization’s content.

Content Author Guidance: The templates contain predefined sections for elements such as <element name>, <description>, <usage-examples>, and <customization-instructions. These sections serve as placeholders for content authors to fill in with specific information about the specialization.

Automation and Efficiency: Creating templates for specialization documentation allows for automation in the documentation process. Content authors can focus on the content itself, knowing that the documentation structure is already in place, which improves efficiency.

Example:


<!-- Example of a DITA specialization documentation template -->
<documentation-template>
  <specialization-template>
    <element-template>
      <element-name></element-name>
      <description></description>
      <usage-examples></usage-examples>
      <customization-instructions></customization-instructions>
    </element-template>
  </specialization-template>