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What is it?

A set of organized, easily-navigated, and concise terms and phrases linked to locations in content, giving users fast access.

Why is it important?

Indexes link concepts and coordinates with metadata, providing users with a bottom-up tool for navigating content, crossing author-created boundaries such as chapters or topics, and democratizing all concepts for easy retrieval.

...continue reading "Term of the Week: Indexing"

What is it?

Adaptation of content to make it more meaningful, appropriate, and effective for a particular culture, locale, or market.

Why is it important?

Localization increases the relevance of content for a particular target audience.

...continue reading "Term of the Week: Localization"

What is it?

The analysis of, and planning for, the development, delivery, and consumption of global content; in essence, globalization is the analysis that forms a global content strategy.

Why is it important?

Globalization reveals the benefits, risks, needs, and demands of content among all target consumers and influences better decision-making for global information exchange.

...continue reading "Term of the Week: Globalization"

What is it?

The degree to which an individual can accomplish specific tasks and achieve broader goals while using a particular tool or service.

Why is it important?

Despite the constant overuse of the term and misuse of the research, industry professionals have long known that good usability often holds the key to business success both on- and off-line.

...continue reading "Term of the Week: Usability"

What is it?

The process by which a person uses a technology to communicate or perform tasks together with a computer, mobile device, or other technological product.

Why is it important?

More and more, people are interacting with technologies in similar ways as with other humans. This interaction with technology has become part of our daily, routine conduct as we live our lives and get things done.

...continue reading "Term of the Week: Interaction"

What is it?

The process of analyzing learner needs in alignment with desired learning outcomes, followed by the development of learning environments through the management of content, interaction, and assessment in support of those learning outcomes.

Why is it important?

Instructional design drives the development of quality learning experiences, addressing how information is imparted to the learner, how the learner interacts with that content, and to what extent desired goals and outcomes have been met.

...continue reading "Term of the Week: Instructional Design"

What is it?

A design technique that allows content on a web page to automatically reflow, resize, reformat, and reposition itself so it can be displayed to its best advantage on a variety of device sizes and orientations.

Why is it important?

Our content is consumed on mobile devices of all shapes and sizes. Responsive design can help us display our content well without needing to reformat it for various devices and screen sizes.

...continue reading "Term of the Week: Responsive Design"

What is it?

The inclusion of content from one source into another source by hyperlink reference. The presented result appears as though the included content had occurred at the point of reference.

Why is it important?

First formalized as the idea of link-based use-by-reference, transclusion is a fundamental feature for any content representation system, such as DITA, that enables true reuse.

...continue reading "Term of the Week: Transclusion"