The history of DITA is the history of its many powerful characteristics - modularity, structured writing, information typing, separation of content from presentation, single-sourcing, minimalism, topic-based, task-orientation, content reuse, conditional processing, localization-friendly, multi-channel, component publishing, usability, consistency, object-orientation, inheritance, specialization, simplified XML.

If you don't understand all these DITA characteristics, you may not have analyzed the DITA Business Case properly - for your organization, or for yourself if you are a professional writer.

You don't have to know how to do all these things to use DITA, but if there is no one in your organization who knows why you should use them, you may have a problem. If you have already been doing some of these things, you will want to know how DITA incorporates them.

Our history of DITA is for members only.

• Before 1960
• The 1960's and '70's - Programmed Learning, STOP, QRC, Advance Organizers, Information Mapping
• The 1980's - IBM Task Orientation, Desktop Publishing, Macintosh Documentation Guidelines, and Help
• The 1990's - IBM Minimalism and User-Centered Design
• The 2000's - IBM DITA and the Open Toolkit
• OASIS DITA
  • DITA 1.0
  • DITA 1.1 - Bookmap
  • DITA 1.2 - eLearning

A History of Technical Communications in the U.S., by R. John Brockmann.

History of Outlining (and STOP).

Quick Reader Comprehension (1961).

Hughes STOP - Sequential Thematic Organization of Publications (1965).

IBM Improving usability of publications (1981). Task-orientation HTML version

Writing Better Computer User Documentation (1986)

How To Write Usable User Documentation, by Edmond Weiss, Oryx, (1991)

Mapping Hypertext, Robert Horn, Lexington Institute (1989).

Developing Technical Training: A Structured Approach for Developing Classroom and Computer-based Instructional Materials, Dr. Ruth Clark (1989, 2nd edition, 1999).

Designing and Writing Online Documentation: Help Files to Hypertext, by William Horton (1990).

The Nurnberg Funnel, John M. Carroll, MIT Press(1990).

Managing Your Documentation Projects, by JoAnn Hackos (Wiley, 1994).

Developing Online Help for Windows 95, by Scott Boggan, David Farkas, and Joe Welinske, (Solutions, 1996).

Standards for Online Communication, by JoAnn Hackos (Wiley, 1997).

Robert Horn, Visual Language (1998).

User and Task Analysis for Interface Design, by JoAnn Hackos and Janice C. (Ginny) Reddish (1998).

Minimalism Beyond the Nurnberg Funnel, John Carroll, MIT Press(1998).

Two approaches to modularity (1999). Robert Horn compares structured writing to Hughes STOP.

Review of the Nurnberg Funnel(1999) Robert Horn compares structured writing to Minimalism.

The Impact of Single Sourcing and Technology, Ann Rockley, 2001.

Cisco/Clark Reusable Learning Objects.

Content Management for Dynamic Web Delivery, by JoAnn Hackos (Wiley 2002).

Managing Enterprise Content, by Ann Rockley, New Riders, 2003.

Single sourcing: Building Modular Documentation, by Kurt Ament, Andrew Publishing, 2003.

Robert Horn Powerpoint on Visual Language.(2003).

Developing Quality Technical Information: A Handbook for Writers and Editors (2nd Edition) , by Gretchen Hargis, Michelle Carey, Ann Kilty Hernandez, Polly Hughes, Deirdre Longo, Shannon Rouiller, Elizabeth Wilde (IBM Press, Information Management Series, 2004).

Information Development: Managing Your Documentation Projects, Portfolio, and People, by JoAnn Hackos (Wiley, 2006).