If you’re evaluating structured authoring solutions, you might come across this “DITA Detailed Comparison” from MadCap Software, the makers of Flare. It’s a truly egregious piece of marketing bullshit—so much so it really puts me off considering MadCap products altogether.

So let’s break it down with a reality check. Each of the following heading names is directly from the left-hand column in MadCap’s table and contains verbatim quotes from the same source.

Import/Leverage Existing Content

“Costly and lengthy conversion process, often multiple tools and programming knowledge required to import legacy content.”

MadCap

This really depends on the DITA product you use; the state of your legacy content; and the skill of your writers. For example, Oxygen XML has a smart copy feature that maps Microsoft Word styles to DITA elements. Content import using this method is quick and easy.

Speaking as someone with expert-level DITA skill, I have no idea why the MadCap folks think that programming knowledge is necessary to import legacy content.

Stand Alone Authoring Solution

“There are various tools designed to support the technology that is DITA, but that leaves the company using it to try and piece together an entire tool chain.”

MadCap

Pure fantasy. And by comparing a product (Flare) to a framework (DITA), MadCap’s marketing folks are using an apples-to-oranges comparison to deliberately mislead readers. What would be fair is to compare whatever non-standard innards Flare uses with DITA—but that’s far more risky from the MadCap marketing standpoint.

Organizations looking to invest in DITA have a wide range of superb DITA authoring software to choose from. Oxygen XML and Adobe Framemaker are two notable examples and give customers a fully-integrated solution. Cloud DITA products (such as easyDITA) give even tighter integration in a web app and include features such as real-time concurrent editing (à la Google Docs).

(Side note: If an organization does have the time, money, or requirement to design a highly customized DITA solution, they are free to do so. The same is true of startups that are looking to develop commercial DITA products. DITA is an OASIS standard and the DITA Open Toolkit is open source—as are many of the other related nuts and bolts. This is not true of Flare.)

“Difficult to get technical support with various vendors and consultants.”

MadCap

Lies. I have one vendor that I go to for professional support. (They also have outstanding community support.) If I change product or want a different support vendor, I have a wide range of high-quality professional support options to choose from.

What you do get with Flare is proprietary, non-standard technology—and dependence on a single vendor. Which drives up the total cost of ownership every single time.

Topic-based Authoring and Ease of Use

“Restrictive topic types only out of the box, but DITA does support “specialization” which allows for custom topic types. However not all DITA tools support specialization.”

MadCap

DITA’s information types are restrictive only in the sense that too many writers are prone to putting crap all over a page. If that’s the level of quality you produce or expect, by all means use an unstructured environment and have at it.

The elimination of wacky practices caused by writers’ freedom of choice and personal preference is a massive pro for quality and consistency. (Fodder for a future post or two.)

“Complex authoring environment populated with many distracting XML tags.”

MadCap

If you’re lazy or misguided—or you otherwise really want to—you can park a DITA authoring tool in visual mode and write all day long without “distracting XML tags.” Whether the content has any semantic value as a result is another matter. The MadCap folks seem to advocate semantically dumb content as a pro. (Spoiler: It isn’t.)

“DITA framework not optimized for presentation of content without complex transforms.”

MadCap

Transforming DITA to PDF, webhelp, and other formats is a one-click step in Oxygen XML. You can use CSS to easily style the entire output. Any complex transforms at work are hidden behind a GUI that anyone can use. And the same is true of other best-of-breed DITA authoring apps.

Responsive Content Authoring

“No such support – custom development.”

MadCap

This is simply nonsense. Oxygen XML (to use one of many examples) has fully responsive, Section 508-compliant webhelp (with a variety of packaged themes) straight out of the box.

Average Release Cycle and Updates

“New specifications and features are slow to evolve. Average update to specification is every five years.”

MadCap

The MadCap folks seem to view a specification that is stable and robust as a drawback. If you’re after the excitement of a rapid release cadence with a product that perpetually tries (and fails) to reinvent the content wheel, take a look at how companies are dealing with Atlassian Confluence. (Spoiler: It’ll make you want to pull your hair out.)

DITA is an incredibly elegant solution borne of the complexities of making and maintaining millions of pages of documentation. When implemented well, it’s like magic. Leaving aside the pros of a stable specification that isn’t a continuously moving target, there is no shortage of innovation in the DITA product space.

Cost of Entry

“Average starting investment for a small team is $50,000.”

MadCap

I have no idea where the MadCap marketing folks pulled the 50K figure from: I’m guessing the most complex and costly configuration they could find or a poorly executed implementation. Or maybe a figure plucked from thin air?

An entirely reasonably investment for a medium-size team is approximately $2,800. That’s including multi-person version control and fully automated publishing to responsive webhelp.

easyDITA’s Professional plan starts at $150 per month for a full turnkey solution hosted in the cloud.

Scalability for Any Size Organization

“Scalable and affordable for any sized team, from single authors, SMB, to F100 organizations.”

MadCap

I’m not sure why the MadCap folks start talking about DITA variables at this point—but suffice it to say DITA reuse systems are highly sophisticated. And DITA scales from a one-person outfit to globally distributed teams dealing with millions of pages of content.

Multi-Channel Publishing

“Extensive XML transform programming knowledge required to customize source into branded outputs.”

MadCap

I repeat: Transforming DITA to PDF, webhelp, and other formats is a one-click step in Oxygen XML. You can use CSS to easily style the entire output; there is no XML knowledge necessary. Any complex transforms at work are hidden behind a GUI that anyone can use. And the same is true of other best-of-breed DITA authoring apps.

Implementation Time and Return on Investment

“Average implementation time is 12-24 months.”

MadCap

The implementation time for the system given earlier:

1. One to two days to configure authoring environments
2. One to two days to configure version control, hosting, and automated publishing
3. Go.

(I’ve already debunked MadCap’s other bogus claims about custom programming and transforms.)