How are publication metadata and branding managed in DITA IT outputs?

November 10, 2023
|By Bryan Tipper

In DITA, managing publication metadata and branding in IT outputs is crucial for maintaining a consistent and professional appearance in your documentation. DITA provides various mechanisms to handle this aspect efficiently, ensuring that your IT documents meet branding and metadata requirements.

Publication metadata, including information like document title, author, version, and copyright details, can be managed through DITA’s metadata elements. For example, you can use <title>, <shortdesc>, and <prolog> elements to define document title, descriptions, and other essential metadata. Additionally, you can employ metadata attributes to capture specific details, such as product version or publication date.

Example:

Here’s an example of how publication metadata can be managed in DITA:


<topic id="it-documentation">
  <title>IT Documentation</title>
  <shortdesc>Comprehensive IT documentation for your organization.</shortdesc>
  <prolog>
    <metadata>
      <author>John Doe</author>
      <keywords>IT, documentation, DITA</keywords>
      <product-version>1.0</product-version>
      <copyright><year>2023</year> <holder>Your Company</holder></copyright>
    </metadata>
  </prolog>
  <body>
    <p>Content goes here...</p>
  </body>
</topic>

In this example, metadata elements and attributes are used to define publication metadata, including author, keywords, product version, and copyright information.

Branding, on the other hand, can be managed through DITA’s specialization and customization capabilities. You can create custom DITA elements or attributes to represent branding elements like logos, colors, and styles. By applying these customizations consistently across your DITA content, you ensure that your IT documents adhere to your organization’s branding guidelines.