Understand how structured authoring enforces a structure to a document you are authoring in Adobe FrameMaker.
Structured authoring enforces structure to the authoring of documents. When you create a structured document in FrameMaker, you are required to select a Structured Application on which you want to base the document. The Structured Application defines the structure and formatting rules that are enforced when creating your document. The Darwin Information Typing Architecture (DITA) is an open XML standard for structured authoring. When authoring in DITA, you can also use the DITA Open Toolkit (DITA-OT) to publish output.
DITA topics are the most granular units of DITA content. Each topic should be authored around a single subject.
See the DITA specifications on DITA topics.
Information typing is the practice of identifying types of topics that contain distinct kinds of information, such as concepts, tasks, and reference information. Topics that answer different kinds of questions can be categorized as different information types. The base topic types provided by DITA (a generic topic, plus concept, task, and reference) provide a usable starter set that can be adopted for immediate authoring.
See the DITA specifications on Information typing.
The DITA map is like a table of contents listing and linking the topics. DITA maps assemble topics into sequence and hierarchy. You can have multiple maps for the same topics, each one arranging the topics e.g., for different output requirements, such as a reference manual, a tutorial, or Online Help. A DITA map file has the extension .ditamap.
See the DITA specifications on DITA maps.
A bookmap is a specialization of a DITA map. You can save a DITA map as a bookmap. In a bookmap, highest-level <topicref> elements in your DITA map become chapters in the FrameMaker book, containing any nested <topicref> elements. Formatting is determined according to which Structured Application you have selected for books in the DITA Options dialog box.
For details, see DITA bookmaps.
See the DITA specifications on Bookmaps.