Can DITA facilitate variations in content structure and layout for different languages in pharmaceutical documentation?

November 10, 2023
|By Bryan Tipper

DITA (Darwin Information Typing Architecture) offers robust support for accommodating variations in content structure and layout when localizing pharmaceutical documentation for different languages. Pharmaceutical content often requires adaptations to address linguistic and cultural differences, and DITA provides the flexibility to manage these variations efficiently.

Conditional Text

One powerful feature of DITA is conditional text tagging. This allows authors to mark sections of content as conditional, specifying the conditions under which they should appear. When translating content into different languages, conditions can be set to include or exclude specific text or elements based on linguistic requirements. For example, you can use conditional text to handle variations in sentence structure, gender-specific language, or regional preferences.

Language-Specific Style Sheets

DITA also supports the use of language-specific style sheets. This means that you can define different styles for different languages or locales. For instance, you can adjust font sizes, text alignment, or other styling elements to ensure that the localized content appears as intended for a specific audience. By leveraging language-specific style sheets, you can maintain consistency in branding and visual presentation across different language versions.

Example:

Here’s an example of how conditional text can be used in DITA to handle variations in content structure for different languages:


<topic id="product_description">
  <title>Product Description</title>
  <body>
    <p>Product features and benefits:</p>
    <ul>
      <li>English: This product is available in various colors.</li>
      <li>French: Ce produit est disponible en plusieurs couleurs.</li>
    </ul>
  </body>
  <conditions>
    <condition id="lang_en" print="yes" />
    <condition id="lang_fr" print="yes" />
  </conditions>
  <topicref href="product_description.dita" conref="product_description.dita#lang_en" conrefend="" />
  <topicref href="product_description.dita" conref="product_description.dita#lang_fr" conrefend="" />

In this example, conditional text is used to display the appropriate product description based on the language specified. The conditional elements ensure that the correct content is presented to the reader, allowing for variations in language while maintaining the overall content structure.