Taxonomy and Metadata Strategies

You can leverage taxonomies and metadata to ensure that you can easily find content in easyDITA and on your Jorsek Portal.

Taxonomy Overview

You create taxonomy structures in easyDITA by classifying your content.

Note: Only Administrators can create and manage taxonomies.

Example

The following example shows a simple taxonomy that contains two categories (“Complexity” and “Interface”). Each of these categories contains terms specific to that category.

  • Complexity
    • Beginner
    • Intermediate
    • Advanced
  • Interface
    • Dashboard
    • Editor

Interface

Figure 1. Main Taxonomy Interface.

The following example shows the main taxonomies interface with some categories defined.

Figure 2. Taxonomy Editor Interface.

The following example shows the taxonomy category editor. You use it to define taxonomy terms for a given category.

Product Taxonomy

If you develop content for multiple or complex products, you may want to create a product-based taxonomy.

Guidelines

Keep the following guidelines in mind when composing product-based taxonomies:

  • You can assign metadata to content based on each product you have or on a specific feature of a product.
  • You should start with the highest product level and create hierarchy for more specific terms.
  • Applying a child term applies its parent term, too.

Examples

The following example shows a product taxonomy for a company that produces small household appliances:

Products
  • Toasters
    • Classic Toaster
    • Lightning Toaster
    • Deluxe Toaster
  • Blenders
    • Classic Blender
    • Lightning Blender
    • Deluxe Blender
  • Mixers
    • Classic Mixer
    • Deluxe Mixer

The following example shows a taxonomy for a complex software product:

Interface Components
  • Dashboard
    • User Management
    • Recent Items
    • Notifications
  • Editor
    • Editing
    • Review
    • Attributes
  • Publishing
    • DITA-OT
    • PDF Generator
    • Static Site Generator

Audience Taxonomy

If you write content for more than one audience, you may want to create an audience-based taxonomy.

Guidelines

Keep the following guidelines in mind when composing audience-based taxonomies:

  • You may consider the following audience categories:

    • Skill level
    • Role
    • Access level or permissions
  • Applying a child term applies its parent term, too.

Examples

The following example shows a taxonomy based on the user skill level:

Skill
  • Beginner
  • Intermediate
  • Advanced

The following example shows a taxonomy based on the user role:

Role
  • Administrator
  • Editor
  • Author
  • Reviewer

Deliverable Taxonomy

If you publish different types of deliverables, you may want to create a deliverable-based taxonomy.

Guidelines

Keep the following guidelines in mind when composing deliverable-based taxonomies:

  • We recommend creating a consistent naming convention for your deliverables that reflect the taxonomy terms. Consider using such phrases at the end of each of your deliverable title: User Guide, Reference Guide, Configuration Guide, etc.
  • Applying a child term applies its parent term, too.

Examples

The following example shows a taxonomy based on a deliverable type:

  • Technical Documentation
    • User Guide
    • Installation Guide
    • Reference Guide
  • Learning and Training
    • Online Training
    • Instructor-Led Training
  • Marketing
    • Blog Posts
    • Infographics
    • Memes

Metadata Overview

Metadata enables you to organize and classify your content beyond just folder structures.

It is useful if you want to filter or analyze your content.
Note: Only Administrators can create and manage metadata. Any user can assign metadata to files or filter the content library with metadata.

Metadata Types

There are two main types of metadata.

Taxonomy Metadata
Enforces users to assign only the metadata values defined in a related taxonomy.
Figure 3. Taxonomy Metadata Assignment.

You assign metadata in the Properties tab. You can only select the values specified in a taxonomy associated with a given metadata item.

Label Metadata
Enables users to assign any metadata value. Labels already used for other files are remembered and suggested.
Figure 4. Label Metadata Assignment.

You assign metadata in the Properties tab by entering any value.

Text Metadata
Users can create any metadata value. No values are suggested as the user types.
Date Metadata
A date picker is provided to choose a calendar date.

Interface

You access the Metadata interface from the Administration interface.

Figure 5. Metadata Interface

Taxonomy Metadata

Taxonomy metadata values are defined by taxonomy terms.

Operation

To use your taxonomy as metadata, you need to connect an existing taxonomy with a metadata category.

Figure 6. Taxonomy Metadata Configuration.

The following example from the Metadata interface shows metadata items associated with taxonomies (values fields).

You can apply configured taxonomy metadata to DITA and non-DITA files in the content library.

Figure 7. Taxonomy Metadata Assignment.

You assign metadata in the Properties tab. You can only select the values specified in a taxonomy associated with a given metadata item.

You can filter items marked with taxonomy metadata in the content library.

Figure 8. Filtering Content with Taxonomy Metadata.

You filter items marked with taxonomy metadata by using the Filters pane.

Guidelines

Keep the following guidelines in mind when composing taxonomy metadata:

  • You can use the Bulk Change option to apply metadata to multiple files and their dependencies in the content library.
  • Apply any new metadata to the existing content in the content library, as necessary.
  • Ensure that authors use taxonomy metadata to mark content by enforcing one of the following strategies:
    At Creation
    Every time an Author creates a new topic or map, they assign metadata in the Create new window. Authors may sometimes go back and add additional metadata if they think another term should be applied or modified.
    At Approval
    Editors or Managers assign metadata to an entire map and all of its dependencies when the map is approved, using the Bulk Change option.
    At Creation and Approval
    Every time an Author creates a new topic or map, they assign metadata in the Create new window. Editors or Managers review and modify metadata when the map is approved.
  • Taxonomy metadata ensures that all metadata items used in your organization align with a predetermined classification structure, which is your taxonomy of terms.

Label Metadata

Label metadata values are independent from taxonomies. You can enter any value when assigning metadata to files in the content library.

Operation

To use label metadata, you need to create a metadata category in the Metadata interface.

Figure 9. Taxonomy Label Configuration

You can apply configured label metadata to DITA and non-DITA files in the content library.

Figure 10. Label Metadata Assignment.

You assign metadata in the Properties tab by entering any value.

You can filter items marked with taxonomy metadata in the content library.

Figure 11. Filtering Content with Taxonomy Metadata.

You filter items marked with taxonomy metadata by using the Filters pane.

Guidelines

Keep the following guidelines in mind when using label metadata:

  • We recommend to use label metadata if your organization does not have composed taxonomies or the existing taxonomies quickly evolve.
  • Incorporate frequently used label metadata items into taxonomies.
  • Third-party systems can use label metadata to integrate with easyDITA.