11.2.2 Understanding what properties are available

Table 11-1 shows the properties you can assign to the full class attribute of an element. The list of elements for which a property is assigned by default is representative, not exhaustive; for the complete list of default property assignments, see §B. Element type default properties.

Properties are grouped as follows in Table 11-1

Basic

Inline, Pre, Text, Typo, Num, Data, Pernicious, NoLevel, Draft

Role

Root, Map, Topic, Meta, Var, Title, Section, Note, Task, Reference, Glossary, BookTitle, Navtitle, Trademark

Image or object

Fig, Image, Alt, Object, Param

Index related

Index, IxStart, IxSee, IxAlso, IxSort

Link or reference

Ref, Key, XRSource, Link, Rel, Abbrev

List related

List, ListItem, DL*, Sub, CascadeSet, CascadeItem, Numbered, Nonum, PL*

Grouping

Group, Sequence

Descriptive

Footnote, Desc, SDesc, Abstr

Table related

Table, TabStart, TabCol, TabRow, TabCell, TabHead, TabBody

Table 11-1 Element type properties

Group

Property

Description

Basic

Inline

Does not start a new paragraph, starts an inline (character) format, unless the element is also assigned property Typo. Default for ph, img, xref, fn, tt.

Pre

May be block or Inline, always Text; retains all existing whitespace. Default for pre, lines, codeblock.

Text

Can have text; true of all Inline and of some block. An empty block element that is not also Text is deleted; otherwise it becomes an empty paragraph. Default for p, lq, and many others.

Typo

Typographic property only; always Inline, but does not start an inline format; treated like an override instead. Default for b, i, u, sub, sup.

Num

Always given a number. Default for ol, fn.

Data

Suppressed for output, except for any contained text; normally used for metadata. Default for data, data-about.

Pernicious

Can contain both text (#PCDATA) and block (as opposed to inline) elements, resulting in “pernicious mixed content”. Default for li and entry.

NoLevel

Does not add to the hierarchy of levels for elements such as headings. Default for sectiondiv, bodydiv, conbodydiv, and refbodydiv.

Draft

Used only for <draft-comment>.

Role

Root

Root element for DITA map or topic. Default for topic, concept, task, reference, glossentry, map, bookmap.

Map

Specific to maps. Default for map and bookmap.

Topic

Map element containing topic information. Default for topichead, topicref, topicmeta.

Meta

Contains metadata. Default for topicmeta.

Var

Sets a variable. Default for many bookmap text metadata elements: author, booknumber, booktitlealt, brand, category, component, copyrholder, copyright, copyryear, featnum, isbn, mainbooktitle, platform, prodname, prognum, publisher, series, source.; see §12. Creating and deploying user variables

Title

Used for title. Default for title.

Section

Used to group paragraphs. Default for section.

Note

Element with type attribute, such as note. Default for note.

Task

For <task> specific elements; also used for <example>.

Ref

For <reference> specific elements.

Glossary

Used for <glossentry> specific elements, <term>, and <abbreviated-form>.

BookTitle

Used for <mainbooktitle> and <booktitlealt>.

NavTitle

Default for <navtitle>.

Trademark

Default for <tm>.

Image or object

Fig

Contains a complete figure. Default for fig.

Image

Contains image and alt text. Default for image.

Alt

Contains alt text for image. Default for alt.

Object

Contains a media object. Default for object.

Param

Parameter element for an object. Default for param.

Index related

Index

Used for indexing. Default for indexterm and index*.

IxStart

Starts an index entry. Default for indexterm.

IxSee

Index see reference. Default for index-see.

IxAlso

Index see-also reference. Default for index-see-also.

IxSort

Index sort string. Default for index-sort-as.

Link or reference

Ref

Used for cross-referencing. Default for xref., topicref, booklist, among many others.

Key

Use for DITA 1.2 indirection. Default for keydef.

XRSource

Contains a number or content that may be used in an xref. Default for title, li, fn.

Link

Related Topics link. Default for link.

Rel

Related information. Default for related-links, reltable.

Abbrev

Used for keyrefs to abbreviations. Default for abbreviated-form.

Grouping

Group

Wraps a group. Default for topicgroup.

Sequence

Wraps an ordered set. Default for linkinfo, linklist.

List related

List

Contains a list; default for sl, ol, ul.

ListItem

Used within a list; default for li, sli.

DList

Definition list start; default for dl.

DLEntry

Entry in definition list; default for dlentry.

DLTerm

Definition list term; default for dthd, dt.

DLDef

Definition list definition; default for ddhd, dd.

Sub

Distinguish substeps from steps; default for substeps.

CascadeSet

Default for menucascade.

CascadeItem

Default for uicontrol.

NoNumber

Default for stepsection.

PList

Used for a parameter list.

PLmEntry

Used for a parameter list component.

PLTerm

Used for a parameter list component.

PLDef

Used for a parameter list component.

Descriptive

Footnote

Contains a footnote; default for fn.

Desc

Description used in object, etc.; default for desc.

SDesc

Short description in topicref or topic; default for shortdesc.

Abstr

Abstract in topic; default for abstract.

Table related

Table

Starts a table or contains table-wide information. Default for table, simpletable, parml, dl, colspec, tgroup, thead, tbody.

TabStart

Starts a table. Default for dl, parml, simpletable, table.

TabCol

Contains column properties. Default for colspec.

TabRow

Contains a row. Default for row, sthead, strow, plentry, dlhead, dlentry.

TabCell

Table cell. Default for entry, stentry, pt, pd, dthd, ddhd, dt, dd.

TabHead

Occurs in table head. Default for thead, sthead, dlhead.

TabBody

Occurs in table body. Default for tbody, strow, dlentry, plentry.

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11.2.1 Understanding when to assign element type properties

11.2.3 Assigning properties to element types