2.1.2.1.2 The benefits of a topic-based architecture

Topics enable the development of usable and reusable content.

While DITA does not require the use of any particular writing practice, the DITA architecture is designed to support authoring, managing, and processing of content that is designed to be reused. Although DITA provides significant value even when reuse is not a primary requirement, the full value of DITA is realized when content is authored with reuse in mind. To develop topic-based information means creating units of standalone information that are meaningful with little or no surrounding context.

By organizing content into topics that are written to be reusable, authors can achieve several goals:

Topics written for reuse should be small enough to provide opportunities for reuse but large enough to be coherently authored and read. Since each topic is written to address a single subject, authors can organize a set of topics logically and achieve an acceptable narrative content flow.

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OASIS DITA Version 1.2 -- OASIS Standard, 1 December 2010
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