Content strategy and DITA and localization, oh my! Our best of 2014

Yes, you need another “best of 2014” list to round out the year. Without further ado, here are Scriptorium’s top 2014 blog posts on content strategy, DITA, and localization.

A hierachy of content needs

Maslow has his hierarchy of human needs: physiological, safety, and so on.

We have our hierarchy of content needs.

Ten mistakes for content strategists to avoid

As content strategy spreads far and wide, we are making old mistakes in new ways. Here are ten mistakes that content strategists need to avoid.

XML publishing: Is it right for you?

Wondering about a transition from desktop publishing to XML publishing for your content? Check out our new business case calculator. In five minutes, you can estimate your savings from reuse, automated formatting, and localization.

Managing DITA projects (premium)

A DITA implementation isn’t merely a matter of picking tools. Several factors, including wrangling the different groups affected by an implementation, are critical to successfully managing DITA projects (registration required).

Content strategy mistake: replicating old formatting with new tools

When remodeling your kitchen, would you replace 1980s almond melamine cabinets with the same thing? Probably not. Then why make the content strategy mistake of using new tools to re-create the old formatting in your content?

 

XML workflow costs (premium)

Everyone wants to know how much an XML workflow is going to cost. For some reason, our prospective clients are rarely satisfied with the standard consultant answer of “It depends.” This premium post (registration required) breaks down typical XML projects at four different budget levels: less than $50,000, $150K, $500K, and more than $500K.

Content strategy burdens: cost-shifting

In assessing an organization’s requirements, it’s important to identify content strategy burdens. That is, what practices or processes impose burdens on the organization? A content strategy burden might be an external cost, such as additional translation expense, or it might be an internal cost, such as a practice in one department that imposes additional work on a different department. A key to successful content strategy is to understand how these burdens are distributed in the organization.

Three factors for evaluating localization vendors

Localizing content can be a frustrating and expensive effort. In addition to per-word costs and turnaround times, keep these three key factors in mind when choosing a vendor.

XML product literature

Your industrial products become part of well-oiled machines. Unfortunately, your workflow for developing product literature may not be as well-oiled. Using desktop publishing tools (such as InDesign) to develop product literature means you spend a lot of time applying formatting, designing complex tables, and so on. This post provides three examples of how XML can improve your processes for developing product literature.

Content strategy: first steps (premium)

Content: You’re doing it wrong. That’s easy for us to say—we rarely hear from people who are happy with their content. But are you ready for a major transformation effort? Our approach is to assess the overall content lifecycle, meet with all the stakeholders, identify needs, develop a strategy, and then execute the strategy. If you want a more incremental approach, consider these inexpensive first steps (registration required).

Content strategy vs. the undead

Implementing a content strategy can involve overcoming many challenges. Some of these challenges can be quite scary and hazardous to your strategy. In fact, overcoming these challenges is a lot like battling the undead.

 

Localization best practices (premium)

Localization—the process of adapting content to a specific locale—is a critical requirement for global companies. More than ever, products and services are sought, purchased, and consumed in multiple language markets. Proper localization practices are critical to drive sales, and they can save you time and money in production.

This post (registration required) describes best practices for efficient, effective localization.

Scriptorium wishes you the best for 2015! Please join us on January 8 for our annual trends webcast. This popular event is free, but registration is required.

Want to solve some content problems in 2015? Contact us. We’d love to help.