As structured authors, we can no longer think in terms of linear documents. Readers access various formats, on different platforms, and may only see parts of what’s been written. For them to resolve a problem or discover new product features, they may access various types of information; click links for more background or further details; or follow apt, personalized suggestions. As writers, we can shape that journey intelligently and scalably, using the new tools of taxonomy-enriched structured content.

1. Create a
Smooth & Satisfying
Reader Experience
using
Metadata-Based
Links & Suggestions
Joe Pairman

3. Danger of de-constructed books
to

4. 3 courses + coffee
~ Appetizer: how metadata enables
in-context suggestions
~ Main course: How moving from
linear books to richly linked pages
makes technical content accessible
~ Dessert: Q/A so far
~ Coffee: How structured content
can generate search engine-
friendly metadata for a smooth
experience from Google onwards
Review this restaurant:
http://ta04.honestly.de

5. Appetiser: Content Marketing proof of concept

7. Appealing
recipes…

8. Link to related
products

9. But the link is
out of context,
and not obvious

10. By using structured content +
taxonomy, we could do better

11. Starting with a recipe taxonomy

12. Tech writers create tech docs

13. Marcom creates recipes

14. In FontoXML

15. Connecting key inline terms…

16. To the taxonomy concepts.

17. To the taxonomy concepts.

18. When we
publish the recipes
& blender docs
to DITAweb…

19. Users
can select a
preparation
method
or ingredient

20. …to
see the
attachment
that makes the
method easier

21. To
learn
more about
the attachment,
select the button

22. From here, you can
buy the product
directly

24. The doc automatically links back to the recipe,
and the recipe relates to “shave” and “blend”

25. Easier
SEO-
friendly
Schema.org
markup
too

26. Easier
SEO-
friendly
Schema.org
markup
too

27. Focus on tasks brings better content;
better links

29. Background
~ Project to make Talend’s support content:
– Easier to find (externally & internally)
– More efficient to author and publish
~ Re-architecting content
~ Design, development, & implementation of taxonomy
– Making it work for users & authors alike
– The process of developing a taxonomy can change the shape of
content itself

32. What were users looking for?
~ Specific goals when using the product
“database migrate oracle postgresql to”
~ Big-picture information
“architecture optimal”
~ Error messages, or troubleshooting
“Cannot commit flush transaction”
“Error converting data int java.sql.SQLException”
~ Rarely, whole guides (and some mentions of those were due
to conditioning?)
“Configuration ESB Guide Infrastructure Services Talend”

33. Re-architecting content:
a user goal or session per page / URL

34. Focus on tasks reduced duplication & effort
~ From a comprehensive user
guide per product

35. Focus on tasks reduced duplication & effort
~ From a comprehensive user
guide per product
~ To a single instance of each task,
reducing product-specific
instructions to installs, etc.

36. Taskonomy: classifying
user tasks

37. Taskonomy*: classifying
user tasks
*Borrowed from:

38. Taskonomy: simplifying by
focusing on user tasks
Top-level tasks:
~ Bridge roles, tools, and environments
~ May correspond to usage lifecycle

39. Top-level tasks used to unify the content

40. Insight deep in the hierarchy
Users needed to see content related to their task…
…detailed procedures but also overviews/ scenarios

41. Insight deep in the hierarchy
Users needed to see content related to their task…
…detailed procedures but also overviews/ scenarios

42. Cassandra overview / hub topic

43. Using taxonomy to weave pages together

44. Using taxonomy to weave pages together

45. Questions
so far?

46. A jolt of
reality

47. Where will our content be found?
~ On the web
~ Via a search engine
~ One client:
80% of pageviews come from organic search
~ From experience, this is very typical

48. Search engines face challenges
Getting users to the right page, where there’s lots
of content on similar subject matter
Finding useful snippets to show relevancy, where
the page isn’t well introduced, or where the
introduction uses unfamiliar language
Even finding relevant content in the first place,
with specialized subject matter or different terms

49. Extra metadata helps Google understand
our site has the right info in the first place
~ Helps Google find relevant results (good if yours are relevant!)
~ Can enable various richer search results…
Google’s guide on structured data (extra metadata to help search engines)

50. Google search features

51. Schema.org
~ Initiative started by Bing,
Google, Yahoo and later Yandex
~ “to create and support a
common set of schemas for
structured data markup on web
pages. With Schema.org,
webmasters and developers can
learn about structured data and
improve how their sites appear
in search results”
~ It’s rather large now

52. Schema.org
~ Initiative started by Bing,
Google, Yahoo and later Yandex
~ “to create and support a
common set of schemas for
structured data markup on web
pages. With schema.org,
webmasters and developers can
learn about structured data and
improve how their sites appear
in search results”
~ It’s rather large now

53. Possible metadata for “offer” (price, etc.)

54. How to generate this markup?
~ Tools such as Schema
App can help with
manual entry /
relationships, etc.
~ They can also
integrate with e-
commerce platforms
such as Shopify
~ But for granular
content, it’s trickier…

55. How about for more granular content?

56. In DITA we already classify chunks of content

57. In DITA we already classify chunks of content

58. In DITA we already classify chunks of content

59. Generating Schema.org markup
automatically from DITA source

60. Author in docs add-on editor
(or any integrated editor)

61. Add some simple metadata

62. Generate output from the map as normal

63. Push content to AEM publishing instance

64. Push content to AEM publishing instance

65. Published content

66. Published content

67. DITA task (specialized) > Recipe entity

68. Data elements > totalTime and recipeYield

69. List item in ingredients section >
recipeIngredient

70. Step in (specialized) task > recipeInstructions

71. What does Google
make of this metadata?

72. Rich snippet: desktop search

73. Rich snippet: desktop search

74. Rich snippet: desktop search

75. Rich snippet: desktop search

76. Recipe
carousel:
mobile
search

77. Recipe label:
mobile image
search

78. Summary
~ Semantic tagging — at the phrase, page, or chunk level —
creates a solid base for all novel user experiences
~ Consider user journeys carefully — don’t assume people will
start at your home / TOC / index page and work down
~ Understand and classify user tasks, in users’ own terminology
~ Publish your content to the web (remember that 80%!)
~ Consider Schema.org markup — talk to me!

79. Feed back and discuss more…
Please leave feedback
— follow the link or scan the code
~ http://ta04.honestly.de
Chat about taskonomy / innovative
delivery / Schema.org
~ joe.pairman@mekon.com / @joepairman