Property tables: summary of responses on dita-users

[Kristen James Eberlein <kris@eberleinconsulting.com>]

No one who replied is using them. Most mentioned the following reasons:

• Content model is too restrictive
  
• Difficulties in reusing properties tables

Simon Bates (Scriptorium) also commented:

"I'm also not fond of the non-structural approach suggested in the spec for representing multiple values for a single type. Yes, I can use an XPath to find the correct proptype element, but it's certainly not elegant."

See http://docs.oasis-open.org/dita/dita/v1.3/csprd01/part3-all-inclusive/langRef/technicalContent/properties.html#properties (shortdesc and example) for what Simon is referring to.

However, reading through the slides from the recent conference shows that at least one company other than IBM (Tridium) is using property tables.

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Best,
Kris

Kristen James Eberlein
Chair, OASIS DITA Technical Committee
Principal consultant, Eberlein Consulting
www.eberleinconsulting.com
+1 919 622-1501; kriseberlein (skype)