This is a short presentation delivered at NLDITA 2010, about the increasing number of elements in DITA (due to the specialization of DITA to more and more domains) and the need to constrain the number of available elements in every practical authoring job.

1. DOES ONE SIZE REALLY FIT ALL ?
Minimalism vs. Specialization in DITA

2. MINIMALISM
min-i-mal, adj. barely adequate or the least possible

3. JOHN M. CARROLL
minimalism in technical communication

4. USERS DO NOT NEED MORE INFO
just enough to do the job

5. ONE QUESTION
• how do I do this ?
• what went wrong ?
• what are my options ?
• what is this thing for ?
• how does this work ?

6. WRITERS FACE DEADLINES
efficient single-sourcing and repurposing

7. topics
maps
docs
MINIMALISM ENABLES MODULARITY
smaller topics are reusable in more maps

8. SPECIALIZATION
spe-cial-ize, v. to adapt to special conditions

9. SPECIALIZATION IS ENDLESS
growing number of elements

10. MINIMALIST TOOL
It only does one thing, and is easy to handle

11. SPECIALLY OPTIMIZED TOOLS
only needed for one specific job

12. SURVIVAL KIT
always carry all tools

13. SO WHAT ABOUT MINIMALISM ?
more elements means less (re)usability

14. ALL OF DITA : TOO MANY OPTIONS
not the most efficient set of tools

15. CONSTRAINTS TO THE RESCUE !
con-straint, n. repression of natural feelings and impulses

16. NO NOVEL OR THESIS
minimalism means writing as boring as we can

17. CARRY ONLY WHAT YOU NEED
use different belt contents for different jobs

18. CONSTRAINTS ARE DITA S FUTURE
a perfect fit for every occasion

19. QUESTIONS ?
Jang F.M. Graat
JANG Communication
Amsterdam
jang@jang.nl