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The DITA documentation process
Page numbering in page layout documents
A single page number sequence through an entire page layout document generated from DITA is often preferable to the traditional system of different page number sequences for front matter and back matter.

Introduction
Information types and topics
Topics are the building blocks of modular documents, and organising topics by semantic information types is one of the architectural features of DITA.
DITA map files
Syntax and mark-up
Language and punctuation
Graphics and figures
Cross-referencing
Cross-references are a means of binding individual topics into a coherent and navigable document.
Content re-use
Metadata, conditional processing, and indexing
The DITA documentation process
- Structured authoring documentation stages
  The documentation process within a DITA workflow can be separated into stages of building, associating, and publishing.
- Unit testing in a team
  A process where multiple authors are working on a large repository of topics can make it difficult to manage the quality and consistency of the content. Unit testing is a technique to identify validation errors earlier in the documentation process.
- Restricting authors and limiting element choices
  To make it easier for authors to choose semantic mark-up elements, it is possible to reduce the number of elements available for selection. This restriction can be managed by an authoring tool, or through the constraints mechanism introduced in DITA 1.2.
- File and folder naming conventions
  Using an organisation-wide, well-documented file naming and folder structure convention will improve the usability of the authoring process for DITA authors, especially those working in a team.
- Elements for pre-publish review
  The draft-comment element allows review and discussion information to be embedded within topic mark-up. The more basic XML comment can also be used for a similar purpose.
- The DITA publishing process
  XSL-T and XSL-FO are the technologies that underpin most DITA publishing tools.
- Page numbering in page layout documents
  A single page number sequence through an entire page layout document generated from DITA is often preferable to the traditional system of different page number sequences for front matter and back matter.
- Content Management Systems
  Although it is possible to create, manage and edit content in DITA without a CMS, it is invariably easier with the aid of a CMS.
DITA authoring concepts
Moving from style-based authoring to a structured authoring methodology such as DITA requires a radically different approach to writing.

Page numbering in page layout documents

A single page number sequence through an entire page layout document generated from DITA is often preferable to the traditional system of different page number sequences for front matter and back matter.

Traditional page numbering systems for printed documents have different numbering ranges for front matter, body content, and back matter. For example, the front matter (such as the Table of Contents, List of Figures, and Acknowledgements) might be numbered in lower case Roman numerals, with the page numbers restarting for the main body content in Arabic numerals.

The historical reasons for the different numbering sequences trace back to the production processes where the Table of Contents couldn't be created until the body of the document was paginated. Technology has since removed that limitation, but in general, the traditional numbering system has persisted.

When creating PDF (or similar page layout) output documents where the intention is that the documents will primarily be read on-screen, you should process the document with a single page numbering sequence. This will make it easier for the document to be navigated, when the actual page numbers in the viewer match the page numbers displayed on the pages in the document.