Why MapTitleXref
Thu, 12/24/2009 - 7:20am — jvazquez
In reading the documentation about defining cross reference output formats, I saw a definition for MapTitleXref. The description says that this cross reference is to a TOC item. I'm not sure why you would ever cross reference a TOC title. In my experience, you reference a topic, not it's reference in a TOC. While I'm sure that you can build that cross reference in DITA as the topicref has an ID attribute, I don't think that reference makes any sense and I doubt it's even defined in the specification. I'm also not sure what the result could or should be.
I suggest removing this as unnecessary. Thanks.
Unlikely Xrefs
One possible use case for MapTitleXref arises when your map includes topicheads, or topicrefs without hrefs. We offer the option of representing that in the output as though it were a title-only topic, a behavior the spec advises. But then how do you reference that generated topic from other topics? You'd have to reference the topichead in the map.
More generally, we have learned through many, many years of supporting Mif2Go that tech writers are creative sorts, and rarely let missing features stand in their way. So we aim to provide tools that can do things we never thought of ourselves, or that we considered unlikely. Those who don't need such features can ignore them; they are not intrusive. But for those who do need them, they can be a godsend.
In the specific case of DITA, a recurring question on the lists is "why can't I" do something that sounds perfectly reasonable, like put an indexterm in a title (which happens to be the standard place for them in most docs, so that the links from the index go to the topic start). While the purists will explain that the indexterm should go in the prolog instead, that answer is not real satisfying for those used to the normal method, and fails to address the need to put indexterms in section titles. We do not think that everything not compulsory should be prohibited; rather, let a thousand flowers bloom. ;-)