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DITA Concepts

This course teaches the basic principles and theory of DITA, and the techniques required to create quality DITA content.
  • Duration

     10 hours

  • Format

    Video, reference materials, and self-assessments

  • Price

    €850

    About this course

    Before any training starts, we ensure that the course is accessible to people with disabilities, or with a special need to be taken into consideration for learning. Please contact us by email at: training@firehead.net in order to find possible adjustments we can implement together to promote the success of your learning experience.

    Who is this course for?

    Any technical author, writer or editor who is ready to engage in a topic-based documentation project, especially a project based on DITA.
    No previous knowledge of DITA is required or expected.

    What will you learn?

    • The nature of open source standards.
    • The basics of XML technologies.
    • The principles of structured authoring.
    • How topic-based architecture and modularity promotes content re-use.
    • The practical benefits of separation of content and form.
    • The role of maps in organising and structuring content.
    • The effect of information typing on readability and findability.
    • How DITA specialisation works to support different content models.
    • The logic and importance of semantic mark-up.
    • How conditional publishing is enabled through metadata.
    • How DITA maps are key to document engineering.
    • The way in which DITA tools are used to manage and publish content.

    How will you learn?

    This is a self-paced workshop of ten lessons totalling around 10 hours of instruction that can be completed over a four week period. Each lesson builds on the previous to build a strong fundamental understanding of the principal concepts of DITA.
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    Presented by

    Dr Tony Self

    Structured authoring consultant
    Tony Self has worked as a technical communicator for over 30 years, specialising in help systems and hypertext documents. 
    In 1993 Tony founded HyperWrite, which offers consultancy and specialised training in documentation solutions.

    He has previously lectured in Technical Communication at Swinburne University, and was Director of Training at tekom’s TCTrainNet.

    Tony is a Fellow of the Institute of Scientific and Technical Communication, a member of the OASIS DITA Technical Committee, and holds a PhD in semantic mark-up languages, a Graduate Diploma in Technical Communication, and a Graduate Certificate in Teaching and Learning in Higher Education.

    He is the author of “The DITA Style Guide”.

    Course Objectives

    You can expect to spend around ten hours completing all of the elements of this course, including videos, readings, quizzes and the final assessment.

    The course is entirely self-directed, so you can complete it at a time and pace that works best for you. If you leave the course and come back at a later time, your course progress will be saved so you can pick up where you left off.

    On successful completion of this course, you will be able to:
    • Define and use open source standards and the principles of structured authoring
    •  Re-use your content through topic-based architectures and modularity
    • Create content maps to organise and structure your content
    • Increase content readability and findability though information typing 
    • Understand the logic and importance of semantic mark-up 
    • Apply metadata to create conditional publishing
    • Publish and manage your content using DITA principles

    Course Prerequisites

    There are no specified prerequisites for taking this course.

    Requirements

    What's in this course?

    •     videos
    •     content
    •     downloads
    •     activities
    •     assessments
    •     additional references
    Videos - short, engaging presentations from the course instructors that bring the topic to life (transcripts can be provided as an alternative learning format).

    Content - text and graphics that allow you to read and consider a variety of topics.
    Downloads - templates, guides, and additional resources for your reference that will deepen your understanding.

    Activities - real-world scenarios that provide you with an opportunity to apply what you’ve learned (scoresheets are provided so you can assess your own work upon completion).

    Assessments - self-grading quizzes that assess your learning through multiple choice, multiple response, and true/false questions.

    Additional references - references to related materials outside of the course to use to continue your learning.

    Course contents

    What People Are Saying...

    Recognised Expert

    "Tony is the recognised expert in DITA and he makes it clear why in this 10-hour solid introduction to DITA."

    Clear and Understandable

    "I thought Tony's explanation of DITA was very clear and useful for my work. It removed the mysteries about it."
    Last update: 14/10/2025

    Results for 2025 available soon!