{"id":921,"date":"2018-11-09T02:58:53","date_gmt":"2018-11-09T02:58:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.precisioncontent.com\/blog\/?p=921"},"modified":"2018-12-14T21:38:41","modified_gmt":"2018-12-14T21:38:41","slug":"tool-talk-reviewing-easydita-version-18","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.precisioncontent.com\/blog\/tool-talk-reviewing-easydita-version-18\/","title":{"rendered":"Tool talk: Reviewing easyDITA version 18"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>By Jacquie Samuels, Sr. Content Specialist at Precision Content<\/em><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignright wp-image-945\" src=\"https:\/\/www.precisioncontent.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/easyDITA-with-Jorsek-Logo-New-Green.png\" alt=\"easyDITA-with-Jorsek-Logo-New-Green\" width=\"238\" height=\"77\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.precisioncontent.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/easyDITA-with-Jorsek-Logo-New-Green.png 309w, https:\/\/www.precisioncontent.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/easyDITA-with-Jorsek-Logo-New-Green-300x97.png 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 238px) 100vw, 238px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>As part of my work for <a href=\"http:\/\/precisioncontent.com\/\">Precision Content Authoring Solutions<\/a>, I\u2019ve been working with easyDITA by Jorsek almost exclusively for the last few years as it\u2019s the component content management systems (CCMS) used by several of our clients. Admittedly on the authoring side, it hasn\u2019t always been a happy-happy experience\u2014I find that rather than using the built-in editor, I\u2019d much rather just dip into the code or pop open the topic in oXygen to author there instead. Aside from authoring, the rest of the easyDITA experience is always high performance, so this seemed like a small price to pay for a great overall tool.<\/p>\n<p>And then, by Jove, Jorsek decided to completely redesign their authoring interface, an endeavour that I have applauded loudly. Now, I\u2019m not saying that they did this redesign to make me happy, but it is a mighty big coincidence that the release date is on my birthday: November 9<sup>th<\/sup>.<\/p>\n<p>The biggest change is easyDITA&#8217;s approach to topic editing. There are now four modes to work with topics:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Editing: The usual editing mode but now with more options and better usability.<\/li>\n<li>Viewing: Content and commenting are locked down. It\u2019s truly read-only.<\/li>\n<li>Commenting: You can leave sidebar comments about the topic\u2019s contents.<\/li>\n<li>Suggesting: Insert or remove suggestions that can be accepted\/rejected by the author.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The Editing view has changed significantly, for the better, with the new editor. They essentially threw out the old editor and introduced new authoring functionality to the preview mode.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-924\" src=\"https:\/\/www.precisioncontent.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/screenshot1.png\" alt=\"screenshot1\" width=\"1359\" height=\"638\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.precisioncontent.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/screenshot1.png 1359w, https:\/\/www.precisioncontent.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/screenshot1-300x141.png 300w, https:\/\/www.precisioncontent.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/screenshot1-768x361.png 768w, https:\/\/www.precisioncontent.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/screenshot1-1024x481.png 1024w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1359px) 100vw, 1359px\" \/><\/p>\n<h2>My favourite additional features<\/h2>\n<h3>Chrome not Firefox<\/h3>\n<p>Chrome is supported!\u00a0You can still use Firefox,\u00a0but you\u2019re\u00a0encouraged to use Chrome and not Firefox. This\u00a0might cause some headaches for folks who went through hoops to get Firefox approved in their enterprise, but overall, it\u2019s a solid move to a more mainstream browser.<\/p>\n<h3>Side-by-side code view<\/h3>\n<p>Jorsek has made the code view easier to access (one click away!) and is side-by-side with the WYSIWYG edit view so you don\u2019t need to flip back and forth between them. I will use this extensively and I think more advanced users will be really happy with this feature. The WYSIWYG view automatically updates as you make changes in the code.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-925\" src=\"https:\/\/www.precisioncontent.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/screenshot2.png\" alt=\"screenshot2\" width=\"1326\" height=\"594\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.precisioncontent.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/screenshot2.png 1326w, https:\/\/www.precisioncontent.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/screenshot2-300x134.png 300w, https:\/\/www.precisioncontent.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/screenshot2-768x344.png 768w, https:\/\/www.precisioncontent.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/screenshot2-1024x459.png 1024w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1326px) 100vw, 1326px\" \/><\/p>\n<h3>Schematron: rules for your authors<\/h3>\n<p>easyDITA now supports Schematron validation, so if you want authors to have extra rules to follow without changing your DTDs, you can set up structural, and even grammatical, rules for your content validation. If you\u2019re a Schematron user, you\u2019re going to be very happy. If you\u2019re not a Schematron user, you might want to check it out and see if it works for your authors to help improve consistency across your team.<\/p>\n<h3>Intelligent Insert<\/h3>\n<p>Intelligent Insert now makes it much easier to insert the next element, including some right-click options for Insert Before and Insert After that. They matched that functionality with the Remove, which is now on a right-click.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-926\" src=\"https:\/\/www.precisioncontent.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/screenshot3.png\" alt=\"screenshot3\" width=\"473\" height=\"425\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.precisioncontent.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/screenshot3.png 473w, https:\/\/www.precisioncontent.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/screenshot3-300x270.png 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 473px) 100vw, 473px\" \/><\/p>\n<h3>Submap editing<\/h3>\n<p>You can now edit submaps from a master map without having to edit the submap directly. This will be a real time saver for anyone with more complex hierarchical structures, like me. You used to have to navigate to the submap and edit that one in a new tab to make changes to it.<\/p>\n<h3>Outline view<\/h3>\n<p>There\u2019s an outline view. Now, I usually ignore the outline view, especially in FrameMaker and oXygen. I don\u2019t find it at all useful when I already know the possible structure of any given topic type. However, in this case, you can add valid elements quickly, which is a huge plus. Your content strategist can also take it one step further and add a layer of author instructions in the outline view. I\u2019m going to use this extensively to help ramp up new clients, especially when specializing topics or even just using the same topic type for different templated information types.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-927\" src=\"https:\/\/www.precisioncontent.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/screenshot4.png\" alt=\"screenshot4\" width=\"1284\" height=\"415\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.precisioncontent.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/screenshot4.png 1284w, https:\/\/www.precisioncontent.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/screenshot4-300x97.png 300w, https:\/\/www.precisioncontent.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/screenshot4-768x248.png 768w, https:\/\/www.precisioncontent.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/screenshot4-1024x331.png 1024w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1284px) 100vw, 1284px\" \/><\/p>\n<h3>No locked files<\/h3>\n<p>Locked files no longer exist. The topic is being collaborated on or it\u2019s not. This is the only time I\u2019ve seen true real-time collaborative content in a CCMS, where multiple authors can work in a piece of content at the same time.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-928\" src=\"https:\/\/www.precisioncontent.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/screenshot5.png\" alt=\"screenshot5\" width=\"736\" height=\"97\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.precisioncontent.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/screenshot5.png 736w, https:\/\/www.precisioncontent.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/screenshot5-300x40.png 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 736px) 100vw, 736px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-929\" src=\"https:\/\/www.precisioncontent.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/screenshot6.png\" alt=\"screenshot6\" width=\"1457\" height=\"209\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.precisioncontent.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/screenshot6.png 1457w, https:\/\/www.precisioncontent.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/screenshot6-300x43.png 300w, https:\/\/www.precisioncontent.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/screenshot6-768x110.png 768w, https:\/\/www.precisioncontent.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/screenshot6-1024x147.png 1024w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1457px) 100vw, 1457px\" \/><\/p>\n<h3>Navigation into a topic\u2019s properties<\/h3>\n<p>You can now flip into a topic\u2019s properties (and a bunch of the other tabs like history, links, and localization) while editing the topic. You used to have to exit the topic to see its properties, history, links, and localization information. Precision Content solutions regularly leverage taxonomy and metadata on topics, so I\u2019m going to find this helpful, saving me a few clicks for each topic.<\/p>\n<h3>Backend changes<\/h3>\n<p>There are some important changes to the backend with regards to the database version being used. If you have implemented automation in easyDITA like we have, you\u2019ll want to talk with Jorsek before making the update to the new version.<\/p>\n<h2><\/h2>\n<h2>What I must adjust to<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>No save buttons for topics, just close and go. The first few times, I closed and immediately reopened to check that my changes were saved. They were. I\u2019ll adjust soon.<\/li>\n<li>No locked files! Shocking! Amazing!<\/li>\n<li>Right-click in a topic for a bunch of useful options.<\/li>\n<li>The attributes are now per element in the right-hand pane, where you must first select the correct element from a drop-down list. This is not a bad thing, just an extra step. I disliked the scroll in the attributes before, so overall, I\u2019ll be happy with this change once I get used to it.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2>Summing up<\/h2>\n<p>Overall, I love the new features and I love the direction that easyDITA is moving. easyDITA was already one of my favorite CCMSs and now Jorsek is going above and beyond to address some usability issues that have bugged authors for a while now. Catering to both more advanced users and adding a layer to help new authors adjust quicker are both good things. I\u2019m delighted and surprised that they managed to get both those enhancements in this upgrade.<\/p>\n<p>If you haven\u2019t scheduled your update to the new version yet, call Jorsek today to discuss timing and impact.<\/p>\n<h1>More information<\/h1>\n<p>If you\u2019re one of our clients, we\u2019ll be contacting you to talk about moving you to the new version.<\/p>\n<p>If you would like help determining if easyDITA would be the right CCMS for you, help with customizing easyDITA, or you need help with your documentation, please contact Chris MacMillan at <a href=\"mailto:chris@precisioncontent.com\">chris@precisioncontent.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Go to <a href=\"https:\/\/easydita.com\/features\/authoring\/\">https:\/\/easydita.com\/features\/authoring\/<\/a> for more information about the version 18 release of easyDITA.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Jacquie Samuels, Sr. Content Specialist at Precision Content As part of my work for Precision Content Authoring Solutions, I\u2019ve been working with easyDITA by Jorsek almost exclusively for the last few years as it\u2019s the component content management systems (CCMS) used by several of our clients. Admittedly on the authoring side, it hasn\u2019t always [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":949,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false},"categories":[7,21],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.precisioncontent.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/921"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.precisioncontent.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.precisioncontent.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.precisioncontent.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.precisioncontent.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=921"}],"version-history":[{"count":26,"href":"https:\/\/www.precisioncontent.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/921\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":955,"href":"https:\/\/www.precisioncontent.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/921\/revisions\/955"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.precisioncontent.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/949"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.precisioncontent.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=921"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.precisioncontent.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=921"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.precisioncontent.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=921"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}