In the automotive sector, DITA is commonly used to produce a wide range of content types that are critical for various stages of vehicle development, production, and maintenance. These content types are structured, modular, and adhere to DITA’s principles of topic-based authoring for improved reuse and consistency.

Vehicle Specifications

One of the primary content types produced using DITA in the automotive industry is vehicle specifications. These documents provide detailed information about vehicle models, including technical specifications, features, and configurations. DITA’s structured approach allows for the creation of well-organized specification documents that can be easily updated as new models are developed or existing ones are modified.

Safety Guidelines

Safety is paramount in the automotive sector, and DITA is used to create safety guidelines and documentation. This includes safety standards, procedures, and best practices for manufacturing, testing, and maintaining vehicles. DITA’s ability to manage complex content structures and revisions is invaluable in ensuring that safety guidelines remain up-to-date and compliant with evolving regulations.

Service and Maintenance Manuals

Service and maintenance manuals are essential for vehicle owners and technicians. DITA is employed to create these manuals, which provide step-by-step instructions for vehicle maintenance, repair, and troubleshooting. DITA’s topic-based approach allows for the easy assembly of manuals for different vehicle models and variants while maintaining consistency in content and formatting.

Example:

Here’s an example of how DITA structures content for vehicle specifications:

<topic id="vehicle_specifications">
  <title>Vehicle Specifications</title>
  <version>2.1</version>
  <last-modified>2023-11-10</last-modified>
  <content>...

In this example, a DITA topic titled “Vehicle Specifications” includes version and last-modified information. This structured approach ensures that vehicle specifications can be easily managed and updated for different models and versions.