Modularization and integration of design

Specialization hierarchies are implemented as sets of module files that declare the markup and entities that are unique to each specialization. The modules must be integrated into a document type before they can be used.

The separation of markup into modules, as with the XHTML modularization initiative, (http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml-modularization/ ), allows easy reuse of specific parts of the specialization hierarchy, as well as allowing easy extension of the hierarchy (since new modules can be added without affecting existing document types). This makes it easy to assemble design elements from different sources into a single integrated document type.

• Integration
  Each domain specialization or structural specialization has its own design module. These modules can be combined to create many different document types. The process of creating a new document type from a specific combination of modules is called integration.
• Modularization in DTDs
  To support extensibility and pluggability, DITA requires that a DTD implementation of structural and domain specialization modules conform to well-defined design patterns.
• Modularization in schemas
  To support extensibility and pluggability, DITA requires that an XML schema implementation of structural and domain specialization modules conform to well-defined design patterns.

OASIS DITA Architectural Specification v1.0 -- 09 May 2005
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