Glossary

A CCMS (Component Content Management System) is a special type of content management system that manages content in granular components rather than static documents or pages.

Content reuse is the practice of using the same content in multiple places. For example, using the same topic in different user guides, the same warning message in several different topics. By reusing your content, you can save time and create more consistent technical publications.

Content Strategy is a very broad term. Content strategy is the approach and method of creating, managing, and delivering content to its intended audiences, which can make it a bit problematic in that it encompasses so many things and applies to many industries.

DITA (Darwin Information Typing Architecture) is an XML content model. XML stands for eXtensible Markup Language, which means there are many different “flavors” of XML, such as DocBook, S1000D, DITA, and more.

A DITA CCMS refers to a Component Content Management System (CCMS) that uses DITA as the source content model for writing documents.

DocBook is an open standard XML content model for writing documentation. In its original development it was intended specifically for technical documentation for hardware and software, but its rich semantic model today makes it suitable for any type of documentation.

Documentation is an umbrella term that may seem simple and therefore surprising that it would even need a definition. But it can be useful, precisely because it is so broad.

Policies and procedures are structured guidelines and guiding principles that define how an organization and its employees should operate. Policies define the what and why of company operations, and procedures outline the how and when.

When we say “single-source”, we are actually talking about a single source of truth. Therefore, single-sourcing refers to the practice of creating content once and reuse it (content reuse) for multiple different contexts.

A standard operating procedure (SOP) is a formal, documented, and highly detailed set of instructions for performing a specific task or activity, typically within a department or function.

Structured Authoring is an approach to writing content according to predefined rules that help create documents that are more consistent, accurate, and accessible. Structured authoring is governed by an XML-based content model that provides a rich set of elements to describe the content semantically.

Structured content is content that follows a defined content model, usually based on XML, which specifies the elements and structure of a document. The structure is typically defined by a DTD or XML Schema that contains a rich set of semantic elements to describe the content.

Technical documentation (and technical writing as a practice to produce it) refer to the documentation required to communicate usable information to one or more audiences.

The term Technical Documentation Software is a very broad one, that could refer to a multitude of fundamentally different tools or solutions.

In topic-based authoring content is created not as long monolithic documents or “books”, but rather as small chunks of content usually focusing on a self-contained subject matter (topic). These topics are then used as building blocks (think Lego blocks) to build larger publications.

XLIFF (XML Localization Interchange File Format) is an XML-based format for easy interchange of content for localization/translation.

Think of an XML content model as a set of rules that govern how a document can be constructed.