In healthcare documentation with DITA, customizing and standardizing data visualization templates and styles is essential for creating consistent, clear, and user-friendly content. DITA XML provides a structured framework for achieving this. Here’s an overview of how it’s done:

One key approach is to use specialized DITA elements for data visualization templates. By defining templates and styles within your DITA documents, you ensure that visualizations such as charts and graphs consistently adhere to your organization’s branding and presentation guidelines. For example, you can use DITA elements to define chart colors, fonts, legends, and other style attributes:

<!-- Example of customizing a chart template in DITA -->
<chart>
  <title>Monthly Patient Admissions</title>
  <type>bar</type>
  <data>admissions.xml</data>
  <style>
    <color-scheme>blue-shades</color-scheme>
    <font>Roboto</font>
    <legend>bottom</legend>
  </style>
</chart>

Standardization is achieved by creating a set of predefined DITA templates and styles that follow industry standards and best practices. This ensures that data visualizations consistently convey information across various healthcare documents. Standardized templates may include predefined layouts for different types of visualizations, such as pie charts or line graphs, as well as default styles for fonts, colors, and labels:

<!-- Example of a standardized chart template in DITA -->
<chart>
  <title>Standardized Monthly Patient Admissions Chart</title>
  <type>line</type>
  <data>admissions.xml</data>
  <style>
    <color-scheme>green-shades</color-scheme>
    <font>Arial</font>
    <legend>right</legend>
  </style>
</chart>

By using these customized and standardized templates and styles, healthcare organizations can ensure that their data visualizations within DITA documentation consistently meet branding, accessibility, and usability requirements, providing a unified and professional appearance while adhering to industry standards.