Home
Language reference: All-inclusive edition
The language reference portion of the DITA specification contains a topic for each DITA element. The topic defines the element, its inheritance hierarchy, and provides examples of usage. This portion of the DITA specification also includes information about DITA attributes.
Technical content elements
Elements in the technical content section include the original Concept, Task, and Reference specializations, as well as specializations added in later releases. It also includes domains designed primarily for technical content.
Bookmap elements
Elements in the bookmap section are used to organize DITA content into book form. They include elements for dividing up content, such as chapter and appendix, as well as metadata specific to publishing.
Bookmap content elements
The Bookmap specialization of ditamap supports standard book production for collections of DITA topics.
<appendices>
The <appendices> element is an optional wrapper for <appendix> elements within a bookmap.

Specification URIs
Notices
Introduction to DITA 1.3
The Darwin Information Typing Architecture (DITA) specification defines a set of document types for authoring and organizing topic-oriented information, as well as a set of mechanisms for combining, extending, and constraining document types.
Architectural specification: All-inclusive edition
The architectural specification portion of the DITA specification outlines the framework of DITA. It contains an overview of DITA markup; addressing; processing; configuration, specialization, generalization, and constraints; as well as information about coding DITA grammar files.
Language reference: All-inclusive edition
The language reference portion of the DITA specification contains a topic for each DITA element. The topic defines the element, its inheritance hierarchy, and provides examples of usage. This portion of the DITA specification also includes information about DITA attributes.
- Element quick reference
  This section contains a listing of DITA elements.
- Topic elements
  The base topic elements include elements that make up the core building blocks of the DITA topic, such as topic, body, and related-links, as well as elements like <p> and <ph> that are used in many topic specializations. Some of these elements are also available inside the <topicmeta> map element.
- Map elements
  Map elements include the core components of DITA maps, such as <topicref> and <reltable>, as well as general purpose map specializations in the map group domain.
- Metadata elements
  Metadata elements include information that is located within the <topicmeta> element (in maps) or <prolog> element (in topics), as well as indexing elements that can be placed in additional locations within topic content.
- Domain elements
  General purpose domains are not specific to any type of information, such as the hazard statement domain that provides elements for describing hazardous situations.
- Classification elements
  Classification elements support managing metadata. Those in the subject scheme map are used to define controlled values and to bind the controlled values to DITA attributes as enumerations. Those declared in the classification domain are used in other maps to classify content according to the scheme.
- Specialization elements
  Several DITA elements exist either for architectural reasons or for support of specialized markup yet to be designed. Although there is little need to use these elements unless you are directed to, some of them, such as <state>, can be used if your content makes use of these semantic distinctions. For example, a discussion of signals on a gate of an integrated logic circuit might use the <state> element to represent either on or off conditions of that gate.
- Legacy conversion elements
  Conversion elements exist primarily to aid in the conversion of content to DITA.
- DITAVAL elements
  A conditional processing profile (DITAVAL file) is used to identify which values are to be used for conditional processing during a particular output, build, or some other purpose. The profile should have an extension of .ditaval.
- Technical content elements
  Elements in the technical content section include the original Concept, Task, and Reference specializations, as well as specializations added in later releases. It also includes domains designed primarily for technical content.
  - Concept elements
    DITA concept topics answer "What is..." questions. Use the concept topic to introduce the background or overview information for tasks or reference topics. The concept topic restricts content following a section or example to other sections or examples. For more details on when to use concept and other information types, please refer to the DITA architectural specification.
  - Task elements
    Task topics answer "How do I?" questions, and have a well-defined structure that describes how to complete a procedure to accomplish a specific goal. Use the task topic to describe the steps of a particular task, or to provide an overview of a higher-level task. The task topic includes sections for describing the context, prerequisites, actual steps, expected results, example, and expected next steps for a task. For more details on when to use task and other information types, please refer to the DITA architectural specification.
  - Reference elements
    Reference topics describe factual material about a subject, such as the commands in a programming language. This format is also suitable for bibliographies, catalogues, the list of ingredients for recipes, and similar collections of structured descriptive prose. For more details on when to use reference and other information types, please refer to the DITA architectural specification.
  - Troubleshooting elements
    Troubleshooting topics document corrective action such as troubleshooting or alarm clearing.
  - Glossary elements
    Glossary elements include those elements designed to specify terms and their definitions, as well as elements that are designed to group, reference, or otherwise make use of information in the glossentry topic.
  - Bookmap elements
    Elements in the bookmap section are used to organize DITA content into book form. They include elements for dividing up content, such as chapter and appendix, as well as metadata specific to publishing.
    - Bookmap content elements
      The Bookmap specialization of ditamap supports standard book production for collections of DITA topics.
      - <bookmap>
        The <bookmap> element is a map specialization used to describe the relationships among a set of DITA topics intended to be configured as a traditional book. Bookmaps consist of references to topics organized as book content. The topic references therefore are labeled according to the book components they point to, such as book title, front matter, chapter, and appendix.
      - <abbrevlist>
        The <abbrevlist> element references a list of abbreviations. It indicates to the processing software that the author wants an abbreviation list generated at the particular location.
      - <amendments>
        The <amendments> element references a list of amendments or updates to the book. It indicates to the processing software that the author wants an amendments list generated at the particular location.
      - <appendices>
        The <appendices> element is an optional wrapper for <appendix> elements within a bookmap.
      - <appendix>
        The <appendix> element references a topic as a appendix within a book.
      - <backmatter>
        The <backmatter> element contains the material that follows the main body of a document and any appendices. It might include items such as a colophon, legal notices, and various types of book lists such as a glossary or an index.
      - <bibliolist>
        The <bibliolist> element references a topic containing a list of bibliographic entries within the book. It indicates to the processing software that the author wants a bibliography, containing links to related books, articles, published papers, or other types of material, generated at the particular location. If no @href attribute is specified on the <bibliolist> element, an external processor might generate a list of bibliographic entries at this location.
      - <bookabstract>
        The <bookabstract> element references a topic used within a bookmap as a brief summary of book content, generally output as part of the book's front matter. It is used to help the reader quickly evaluate the book's purpose.
      - <booklibrary>
        The <booklibrary> element contains the library information for a book. Library entries contain information about the series, library, or collection of documents to which the book belongs.
      - <booklist>
        The <booklist> element is a general purpose element, designed for use in specializations, that references a topic or map containing a list of items within the book. For example, it could be used to reference a topic that contains a list of authors for the book. When a more specific element is already available, such as <tablelist> for a list of tables, use that element instead.
      - <booklists>
        The <booklists> element references lists of various kinds within the book. For example, it can be used within <frontmatter> to reference a <toc>, <tablelist>, and <figurelist>, or within <backmatter> to reference a <glossarylist>, <indexlist>, and <abbrevlist>. It indicates to the processing software that the author wants the lists generated at the <booklists> location.
      - <booktitle>
        The <booktitle> element contains the title information for a book, including the library title, main title, subtitle, and other titles (as required).
      - <booktitlealt>
        The <booktitlealt> element contains the alternative title, subtitle, or short title for a book. It can be specialized into a specific element for those or other purposes.
      - <chapter>
        The <chapter> element references a topic or map as a chapter within a book.
      - <colophon>
        The <colophon> element references a topic describing how this document was created. In publishing, a colophon describes details of the production of a book. This information generally includes the typefaces used, and often the names of their designers; the paper, ink and details of the binding materials and methods might also receive mention. In the case of technical books, a colophon might specify the software used to prepare the text and diagrams for publication. The <colophon> can appear in the <frontmatter> or <backmatter>.
      - <dedication>
        The <dedication> element references a topic containing a dedication for the book, such as to a person or group.
      - <draftintro>
        The <draftintro> element references a topic used as an introduction to the draft of this book.
      - <figurelist>
        The <figurelist> element references a topic containing a list of figures in the book. It indicates to the processing software that the author wants a list of figures generated at the particular location. If no @href attribute is specified on the <figurelist> element, an external processormight generate a list of figures at this location.
      - <frontmatter>
        The <frontmatter> element contains the material that precedes the main body of a document. It might include items such as an abstract, a preface, and various types of book lists such as a <toc>, <tablelist>, or <figurelist>.
      - <glossarylist>
        The <glossarylist> element references a list of glossary entries within the book. It indicates to the processing software that the author wants a glossary list generated at the particular location.
      - <indexlist>
        The <indexlist> element indicates to the processing software that the author wants an index at the particular location. If no @href attribute is specified on the <indexlist> element, an external processor might generate an index at this location. If the @href attribute references a topic or map, that topic or map contains a manually created index.
      - <mainbooktitle>
        The <mainbooktitle> element contains the primary title information for a book.
      - <notices>
        The <notices> element references a topic containing special notice information, for example, legal notices about supplementary copyrights and trademarks associated with the book.
      - <part>
        The <part> element references a part topic or a map that references part topics for the book. Use <part> to divide a document's chapters into logical groupings. For example, in a document that contains both guide and reference information, you can define two parts, one containing the guide information and the other containing the reference information.
      - <preface>
        The <preface> element references a topic or map containing introductory information about a book, such as the purpose and structure of the document.
      - <tablelist>
        The <tablelist> element references a topic that contains a list of tables within the book. It indicates to the processing software that the author wants a list of tables generated at the particular location. If no @href attribute is specified on the <tablelist> element, an external processor might generate a list of tables at this location.
      - <toc>
        The <toc> element indicates to the processing software that the author wants a table of contents generated at the particular location. If no @href attribute is specified on the <toc> element, an external processor might generate a table of contents at this location. If the @href attribute references a topic or map, that topic or map contains a manually created table of contents.
      - <trademarklist>
        The <trademarklist> element references a topic that contains a list of trademarks within the book. It indicates to the processing software that the author wants a list of trademarks generated at the particular location. If no @href attribute is specified on the <trademarklist> element, an external processor might generate a list of trademarks at this location.
    - Bookmap metadata elements
      The Bookmap specialization of ditamap supports standard book production for collections of DITA topics. This section contains the metadata elements used by bookmap to store book-related metadata.
  - Technical-content domains elements
    Domains in this section include those generally associated with technical content, such as the programming and software domains.
- Learning and training elements
  Elements in the learning and training section include specialized topics, maps, content, and metadata elements specially designed to support instructional content.
- Attributes
  This section collects commonly used attributes, with common definitions. If an element uses a different definition, or narrows the scope of, an otherwise common attribute, it will be called out in the topic that defines the element.
Conformance
Conformance to the DITA specification allows documents and document types that are used with different processors or different versions of a processor to produce the same or similar results with little or no reimplementation or modification.
Acknowledgments
(Non-normative) Many members of the OASIS DITA Technical Committee participated in the creation of this specification and are gratefully acknowledged.
Non-normative information
This section contains non-normative information, including topics about new features in DITA 1.3 and migrating from DITA 1.2 to DITA 1.3.
Content models for learning and training package
For each element in the learning and training package, this section presents the content model and a list of parent elements that can contain that element.

`<appendices>`

The <appendices> element is an optional wrapper for <appendix> elements within a bookmap.

Content models

See appendix for information about this element in OASIS document type shells.

Inheritance

- map/topicref bookmap/appendices

Example

<appendices toc="yes" print="no">
  <topicmeta>
    <navtitle>Appendices</navtitle>
  </topicmeta>
  <appendix href="return-codes.dita"/>
  <appendix href="messages.dita"/>
  <appendix href="extra-info.dita"/>
</appendices>

Attributes

The following attributes are available on this element: Universal attribute group, Link relationship attribute group (with a narrowed definition of @href, given below), Attributes common to many map elements, @navtitle and @copy-to from Topicref element attributes group, outputclass, and @keyref.

@href: A pointer to the resource represented by the <topicref>. See The href attribute for detailed information on supported values and processing implications. References to DITA content cannot be below the topic level: that is, you cannot reference individual elements inside a topic. References to content other than DITA topics should use the @format attribute to identify the kind of resource being referenced.