Over the past 14 years, Darwin Information Typing Architecture (DITA) has become a de facto writing standard for technical documentation departments looking to extract the maximum value from their content. However, authoring in DITA posed challenges for non-technical writers as it required the knowledge of the underlying data model as well as knowledge of the XML authoring applications and best practices. For this reason, applications such as wikis have remained popular amongst engineers and SMEs; however, when it comes to professional technical content, wikis fall short in many ways.
After many years of development, Bluestream’s third iteration of the resolution to this problem is the XDocs Web Explorer (WEX).
WEX is a web-based module in the XDocs CCMS that enables review, casual contributing, and full document authoring of DITA content in the web. The premise behind the application’s development was simple—no training or installation required! The target audience for this application is anyone in the organization who creates content and/or needs to be part of the organization’s content development lifecycle.
“This is a game changer for structured content adoption. We are finding that organizations are creating more technical content than ever before and that greater volumes of content are being produced by non-technical writers (engineers, SMEs, marketing, and sales). In order for an organization to truly benefit from structured content, all parties must be able to contribute in a meaningful way without having a technical mountain to climb,” says Nenad Furtula, VP Sales and Marketing at Bluestream.
WEX is tightly integrated with the Oxygen Web Editor but can just as easily support any other DITA web-based XML editor (such as Fonto XML, XEditor, etc.). The application is role and workflow capability centric. This allows for greater control while delivering publications within a particular workflow, and it does not restrict users from contributing meaningful content when great ideas arise. Furthermore, the WEX authoring experience is completely transparent with the interface resembling that of MS Word or a Wiki.
About Bluestream
Bluestream provide the XDocs CCMS, a DITA-based Component Content Management System (CCMS) – the leading single vendor solution for organizations looking to improve and enhance their information workflow. With a unique rapid to deploy methodology coupled with unrivaled functionality, Bluestream are inspiring teams of authors to create powerful user-focused content that can be flexibly delivered to any device or platform.
Bluestream customers range from Fortune 100 organizations seeking complex cross-departmental documentation solutions to small businesses containing single author teams.
Bluestream has been in business since 1997 and has customers in many verticals, among them software, oil and gas, health care, military, manufacturing, and finance.
Bluestream Media Contacts
North America Office
Nenad Furtula, VP Sales and Marketing
Tel: +1 604 669 4469
EMEA Office
Rik Page Sales & Marketing Director EMEA
+44 798 013 0260
