Thanks Stan. I can see this type of document as being valuable, and I am
glad the Help Subcommitee took the initiative.
However, I question the value of having the DITA TC give their approval
of this document. What is "approval" by the TC intended to convey to
the public who reads the document? The TC members are not necessarily
experts in the technologies described in this guide. Much of the factual
information in the draft guide is impossible for individual DITA TC
members to test and verify for themselves in a reasonable timeframe, as
verification would depend on extensive experience with a very wide range
of technologies, some of which are expensive and some of which have not
yet been released. The guide also contains predictions along the lines
of, "Such and such a group will be using technology x in the future",
which we obviously also cannot verify.
Another thing that "approval" could mean is that the TC considers the
opinions expressed in the document, and the amount of emphasis given to
various products, to be free of bias towards particular vendors. I am
not at all convinced that this is true; the fact that some
product-specific sections are written by people who work for the product
vendor would indicate otherwise.
It's great that you've given the TC the opportunity to review this
document, however the word "approval" is problematic for me.
Best regards,
Su-Laine
Su-Laine Yeo
Interaction Design Specialist
JustSystems Canada, Inc.
Office: 778-327-6356
syeo@justsystems.com
www.justsystems.com