How do manufacturing organizations create responsive and mobile-friendly documentation using DITA?

November 10, 2023
|By Bryan Tipper

Creating responsive and mobile-friendly documentation using DITA is essential for manufacturing organizations to ensure that information is accessible to a broad range of users, including those who rely on mobile devices in a manufacturing environment. Let’s explore how DITA supports this need for responsiveness.

Structured Content

One of the core advantages of DITA is its structured content model. By breaking down content into small, reusable topics, DITA enables manufacturing organizations to author content that is device-agnostic. This structured approach allows for content to be easily repurposed for different outputs, including responsive designs that adapt to various screen sizes.

Conditional Text

DITA provides a mechanism for conditional text. This means that content can be authored to display differently based on certain conditions, such as the device type. For instance, specific information or formatting can be delivered to mobile users to ensure optimal viewing and usability. This allows manufacturing documentation to be tailored to the requirements of mobile users without affecting the content’s integrity for other platforms.

Example:

Here’s an example of using conditional text in DITA to provide a responsive experience:


<topic id="mobile_instruction">
  <title>Mobile Instructions</title>
  <body>
    <p>This is a step-by-step guide for mobile users.</p>
    <!-- This content is for mobile devices only -->
    <ph conkeyref="mobile-only"><ul>
      <li>Step 1: <ph conaction="remove">Gently lift the cover.</ph></li>
      <li>Step 2: <ph conaction="remove">Press the button.</ph></li>
      <li>Step 3: <ph conaction="remove">Close the cover.</ph></li>
    </ul></ph>
  </body>
</topic>

In this example, conditional text is used to show specific content only for mobile devices, providing mobile users with a tailored experience while ensuring the content remains complete for other platforms.