Introduction

Lightweight DITA (LwDITA) is a simplified version of the Darwin Information Typing Architecture (DITA). In comparison to DITA, LwDITA has a smaller component and attribute set, stricter content models, and a reduced feature set. LwDITA also defines mappings between XML, HTML5, and Markdown, enabling authoring, collaboration, and publishing across different markup languages.

The core goals of LwDITA are the following:

• Provide a simpler DITA experience

• Provide mappings between XML, HTML5, and Markdown that enable individuals to:

  • Author content in the format of their choice

  • Easily exchange and publish content whose source exists in these different markup languages

• Foster the growth of new, low-cost tools and applications that support LwDITA

LwDITA is not a replacement for DITA. Organizations and teams that are already using DITA are encouraged to explore LwDITA, but they are not the primary audience for this lightweight standard. Organizations and individuals that have not adopted DITA, either because XML is not a tool used in their professional communities or they are not familiar with information typing, can rely on LwDITA as their introduction to structured authoring and content reuse.