The Darwin Information Typing Architecture (DITA) is an XML-based, end-to-end architecture for authoring, producing, and delivering technical information. This architecture consists of a set of design principles for creating "information-typed" modules at a topic level and for using that content in delivery modes such as online help and product support portals on the Web.
Official Documents and Documentation
- DITA XML.org (OASIS Community Portal) – Official community site for "all things DITA," providing access to DITA news, announcements, whitepapers, and community discussions.
- Language Reference v2.0 – (draft)
- Language Reference v1.3
- OASIS Standard Specifications – The official DITA specification (current version 1.3, with DITA 2.0 drafts), defining the XML-based standard for topic-oriented content reuse and publishing.
- OASIS FAQ – A Q&A-style introduction to DITA from the OASIS Technical Committee, explaining its structure and use cases.
- DITA Open Toolkit Documentation – Documentation for the open-source DITA-OT, the reference implementation for publishing DITA content to multiple formats.
Active DITA Communities
- DITA Users Group (Groups.io) – Active community mailing list for DITA practitioners of all levels, with ongoing discussions about standards and implementation.
- DITA-OT Discussions (GitHub) – Official discussion board for DITA Open Toolkit contributors and users.
- LinkedIn “DITA Awareness” Group – A professional LinkedIn community for DITA users, discussing adoption, tooling, and best practices.
- Stack Overflow (DITA Tag) – Developer Q&A community for troubleshooting DITA and DITA-OT issues.
Events and Conferences
- Write the Docs (Oct 27-28, 2025, Berlin, Germany) A conference about software documentation and community
- DITA-OT Day (February 1, 2026, Brussels, Beglium) Free annual event dedicated to the DITA Open Toolkit, typically held alongside DITA Europe or ConVEx.
- DITA Europe Conference (2-3 February, 2026, Brussels, Belgium) European event by CIDM featuring case studies, workshops, and DITA community networking.
- ConVEx – Content Management Strategies/DITA Conference (April 13-15, 2026, Pittsburgh, US) The leading annual DITA-focused conference (formerly DITA North America), hosted by CIDM, covering strategy, tools, and workflows.
- Write the Docs (May 3-5, 2026, Portland, Oregon) A conference about software documentation and community
- Adobe DITAWORLD (June 2026, Online) Free virtual DITA conference featuring sessions by industry experts and practitioners worldwide.
Learning Resources and Tutorials
- LearningDITA – Free, self-paced online courses teaching DITA fundamentals, from authoring to publishing.
- From Zero to Hero in DITA XML Content Writing – Step-by-step written introduction to creating and managing DITA-based content.
- DITAWriter Blog – Independent blog featuring DITA news, tool reviews, and best-practice articles by experienced DITA authors.
DITA CMS Vendors
- IXIASOFT CCMS Enterprise-grade DITA-native CCMS widely used for modular documentation, reuse, and localization workflows.
- Tridion Docs Structured content management platform from RWS fully supporting DITA and component authoring.
- Componize DITA-compliant CCMS emphasizing content reuse, automation, and integration with Oxygen XML Author.
- DITAToo Lightweight, user-friendly DITA CMS designed for small to mid-sized teams needing reuse and version control.
- Schema ST4 Comprehensive CCMS supporting DITA, DocBook, and other structured content standards used in technical communication.
- DITAworks DITA-focused CMS providing modeling, authoring, and publishing for modular documentation projects.
- XDocs CCMS DITA-based CCMS that integrates with Oxygen XML Editor and automates publishing pipelines.
- Vasont CCMS Robust enterprise CCMS supporting DITA, XML workflows, and translation management for large documentation teams.