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Dita for Print: A Dita Open Toolkit Workbook

4.3 4.3 out of 5 stars 10 ratings

There is a newer edition of this item:

As DITA has become more and more popular, demand has increased for tools that can produce high quality PDFs from DITA content. The DITA Open Toolkit provides a basic PDF capability, but nearly any real-world application will require customization. Leigh White's new book, DITA for Print takes you through the process of building a print customization plugin for the DITA Open Toolkit that will give you control over your PDF output.

DITA for Print is for anybody who wants to learn how to create PDFs using the DITA Open Toolkit without learning everything there is to know about XSL-FO, XSLT, or XPath, or even about the DITA Open Toolkit itself. DITA for Print is written for non-programmers, by a non-programmer, and although it is written for people who have a good understanding of the DITA standard, you don't need a technical background to get custom PDFs up and running quickly.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ XML Press (October 18, 2013)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 474 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1937434052
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1937434052
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.78 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 7.52 x 0.95 x 9.25 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.3 4.3 out of 5 stars 10 ratings

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Leigh W. White
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4.3 out of 5 stars
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Top reviews from the United States

  • Reviewed in the United States on May 29, 2014
    This voluminous volume gives you a week's worth of practice exercises, but it's also easy to skim the exercises for what you specifically need and tailor it to your own docs.

    I can honestly say that without this book, I would have been completely lost as to how to format my pdf output. Had this book not been available, I would have either spent weeks scouring the internet for relevant information or would have had to hire someone to make a pdf template. So no how you look at it, owning this book is going to save you time and/or money.

    A must have and also a good read. White does a fantastic job of keeping it simple and only giving you the information you need to know to get the task at hand done. I couldn't recommend this more highly.
    3 people found this helpful
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  • Reviewed in the United States on August 13, 2015
    If you are on this page for any reason other than pure accident, just click Buy it Now. You already know how little great information there is on the DITA Open Toolkit, and the time you will save by using this book makes it worth 10x the price.

    Even though I had already gone through the pain of hacking my way through many PDF customizations before this book came out, I still learned a lot from this workbook, and this will be one of the things I take back to my younger self after time travel is invented.
    3 people found this helpful
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  • Reviewed in the United States on August 5, 2016
    If you are new to DITA or are publishing to other than PDF, this book is not for you. Get a publishing software that includes an XML/DITA publishing tool and publish in multiple platforms from there. It will be more expensive, but you'll be one lunch richer by not having invested in this book.
  • Reviewed in the United States on December 28, 2013
    The basics of PDF (print) output using the DITA Open Toolkit. Practical and clear instructions (and best practices) on many things that would take far longer to figure out by digging through websites and dita-users email list posts. I have voluminous notes on working with the DITA Open Toolkit that I will refer to far less now that I have this book.

    The DITA community has needed a book like this for 5 years or more.
    3 people found this helpful
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  • Reviewed in the United States on February 28, 2015
    With an intermediate-level knowledge of the DITA Open Toolkit and with a desire to make specific customizations, I find DITA for Print to be a good fit for my needs. The step-by-step processes are easy to follow, and the code samples are invaluable. DITA for Print answers a lot of my questions -- and even when it doesn't answer the question it usually gives me some clues as to what to try.
    2 people found this helpful
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  • Reviewed in the United States on May 1, 2016
    This book was a launch pad for my introduction to the Dita Open Toolkit. PDF (xsl fo) processing is REALLY fussy, and this book covers a lot of the common customizations someone would want to make. HIGHLY recommended.
    One person found this helpful
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  • Reviewed in the United States on March 7, 2014
    DITA for Print starts at the beginning, explaining the file structure of the millions (OK hundreds) of files used in the DITA Open Toolkit and explains how to incrementally make changes to a plugin to create PDFs that you can use and be proud of by the end of the book - all without a programming background. Whenever my output isn't quite right I pull out this book and search for the topic and usually find something related to what I am trying to do, and even if it doesn't help me with the exact problem I'm having, it gives me start for where to debug my issues.
    5 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

  • Client d'Amazon
    5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
    Reviewed in Canada on January 16, 2016
    Indispensable​
  • Philip Meaden
    5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 13, 2015
    DITA is an open-source XML-based standard for authoring and publishing, which is supported by its own toolkit and several commercial XML editors. I work in higher education, and I use DITA to create and deliver learning content on biology for my students.

    Leigh White's book came at just the right time for me. In the past, I'd used the built-in processing provided by my XML editor to create print (that is, PDF) content. Then I started looking into the processing, to try and get a better understanding of it. That's when you need some decent support, and this book does the job.

    The content of the book is easy to follow. Plenty of exercises are provided for you to complete. The language is informal and chatty, but clear and precise. Most importantly for me, things are actually explained.

    My only small criticism is that, as far as I can tell, the book doesn't cover conditional processing or filtering. (Conditional processing enables you to 'tailor' your content to different groups or audiences, which can be very handy.)

    The book is at the top of the pile on my desk, and that's where it's likely to remain for a while.