DITA Resource Center

q

A quotation element (<q>) indicates content quoted from another source. This element is used for short quotes which are displayed inline. Use the long quote element (<lq>) for quotations that should be set off from the surrounding text.

Authors should not add quote punctuation manually when using the <q> element. Processors that render the <q> element should add appropriate styling, such as locale-specific quotation marks.

Question added end of 2008: How much should we describe of the behavior? HTML says:

Visual user agents must ensure that the content of the Q element is rendered with delimiting quotation marks. Authors should not put quotation marks at the beginning and end of the content of a Q element.

User agents should render quotation marks in a language-sensitive manner (see the lang attribute). Many languages adopt different quotation styles for outer and inner (nested) quotations, which should be respected by user-agents.

For DITA 1.2, added the styling behavior based on the decision recorded here in March 2009: http://lists.oasis-open.org/archives/dita/200903/msg00005.html

Contains

note

These models represent only the default document types distributed by OASIS. Actual content models will differ with each new document type.
Doctype Content model
topic (base), map (base), classifyMap, subjectScheme, learningAssessment, learningBookmap, learningContent, learningMap, learningOverview, learningPlan, learningSummary ( text data or boolean or cite or keyword or ph or b or i or sup or sub or tt or u or q or term or tm or xref or state or data or data-about or foreign or unknown) (any number)
topic (technical content), map (technical content), concept, ditabase, glossary, glossentry, glossgroup, reference, task, bookmap ( text data or boolean or cite or keyword or apiname or option or parmname or cmdname or msgnum or varname or wintitle or ph or b or i or sup or sub or tt or u or codeph or synph or filepath or msgph or systemoutput or userinput or menucascade or uicontrol or q or term or abbreviated-form or tm or xref or state or data or data-about or foreign or unknown) (any number)
machineryTask ( text data or boolean or cite or keyword or wintitle or ph or b or i or sup or sub or tt or u or menucascade or uicontrol or q or term or tm or xref or state or data or data-about or foreign or unknown) (any number)

Contained by

Doctype Content model
topic (base) title, shortdesc, desc, p, note, lq, q, sli, li, itemgroup, dthd, ddhd, dt, dd, figgroup, pre, lines, ph, stentry, draft-comment, fn, cite, xref, entry, abstract, bodydiv, section, sectiondiv, example, linkinfo, b, u, i, tt, sup, sub, howtoavoid
map (base), classifyMap, subjectScheme, learningMap title, shortdesc, desc, p, note, lq, q, sli, li, itemgroup, dthd, ddhd, dt, dd, figgroup, pre, lines, ph, stentry, draft-comment, fn, cite, xref, entry, b, u, i, tt, sup, sub, howtoavoid
topic (technical content), concept title, shortdesc, desc, p, note, lq, q, sli, li, itemgroup, dthd, ddhd, dt, dd, figgroup, pre, lines, ph, stentry, draft-comment, fn, cite, xref, entry, abstract, bodydiv, section, sectiondiv, example, linkinfo, b, u, i, tt, sup, sub, howtoavoid, screen, codeph, codeblock, pt, pd, fragref, synnote
map (technical content) title, shortdesc, desc, p, note, lq, q, sli, li, itemgroup, dthd, ddhd, dt, dd, figgroup, pre, lines, ph, stentry, draft-comment, fn, cite, xref, entry, b, u, i, tt, sup, sub, howtoavoid, screen, codeph, codeblock, pt, pd, fragref, synnote
ditabase title, shortdesc, desc, p, note, lq, q, sli, li, itemgroup, dthd, ddhd, dt, dd, figgroup, pre, lines, ph, stentry, draft-comment, fn, cite, xref, entry, abstract, bodydiv, section, sectiondiv, example, linkinfo, prereq, context, steps-informal, stepsection, cmd, info, tutorialinfo, stepxmp, choice, choptionhd, chdeschd, choption, chdesc, stepresult, result, postreq, refsyn, proptypehd, propvaluehd, propdeschd, proptype, propvalue, propdesc, glossterm, glossdef, glossUsage, glossScopeNote, b, u, i, tt, sup, sub, howtoavoid, screen, codeph, codeblock, pt, pd, fragref, synnote
glossary, glossentry, glossgroup title, shortdesc, desc, p, note, lq, q, sli, li, itemgroup, dthd, ddhd, dt, dd, figgroup, pre, lines, ph, stentry, draft-comment, fn, cite, xref, entry, abstract, bodydiv, section, sectiondiv, example, linkinfo, glossterm, glossdef, glossUsage, glossScopeNote, b, u, i, tt, sup, sub, howtoavoid, screen, codeph, codeblock, pt, pd, fragref, synnote
reference title, shortdesc, desc, p, note, lq, q, sli, li, itemgroup, dthd, ddhd, dt, dd, figgroup, pre, lines, ph, stentry, draft-comment, fn, cite, xref, entry, abstract, bodydiv, section, sectiondiv, example, linkinfo, refsyn, proptypehd, propvaluehd, propdeschd, proptype, propvalue, propdesc, b, u, i, tt, sup, sub, howtoavoid, screen, codeph, codeblock, pt, pd, fragref, synnote
task (strict), task (general) title, shortdesc, desc, p, note, lq, q, sli, li, itemgroup, dthd, ddhd, dt, dd, figgroup, pre, lines, ph, stentry, draft-comment, fn, cite, xref, entry, abstract, bodydiv, section, sectiondiv, example, linkinfo, prereq, context, steps-informal, stepsection, cmd, info, tutorialinfo, stepxmp, choice, choptionhd, chdeschd, choption, chdesc, stepresult, result, postreq, b, u, i, tt, sup, sub, howtoavoid, screen, codeph, codeblock, pt, pd, fragref, synnote
bookmap title, shortdesc, desc, p, note, lq, q, sli, li, itemgroup, dthd, ddhd, dt, dd, figgroup, pre, lines, ph, stentry, draft-comment, fn, cite, xref, entry, booklibrary, mainbooktitle, booktitlealt, organizationname, b, u, i, tt, sup, sub, howtoavoid, screen, codeph, codeblock, pt, pd, fragref, synnote
machineryTask title, shortdesc, desc, p, note, lq, q, sli, li, itemgroup, dthd, ddhd, dt, dd, figgroup, pre, lines, ph, stentry, draft-comment, fn, cite, xref, entry, abstract, bodydiv, section, sectiondiv, example, linkinfo, prereq, context, steps-informal, stepsection, cmd, info, tutorialinfo, stepxmp, choice, choptionhd, chdeschd, choption, chdesc, stepresult, result, postreq, reqcond, reqcontp, personnel, perscat, perskill, esttime, supequi, supply, spare, safecond, howtoavoid, b, u, i, tt, sup, sub, screen
learningAssessment, learningOverview, learningSummary title, shortdesc, desc, p, note, lq, q, sli, li, itemgroup, dthd, ddhd, dt, dd, figgroup, pre, lines, ph, stentry, draft-comment, fn, cite, xref, entry, abstract, bodydiv, section, sectiondiv, example, linkinfo, lcIntro, lcObjectivesStem, lcObjective, lcAudience, lcTime, lcPrereqs, lcSummary, lcNextSteps, lcReview, lcResources, lcChallenge, lcInstruction, b, u, i, tt, sup, sub, lcQuestionBase, lcInstructornote, lcQuestion, lcOpenAnswer, lcFeedback, lcFeedbackCorrect, lcFeedbackIncorrect, lcAnswerContent, lcItem, lcMatchingItem
learningBookmap title, shortdesc, desc, p, note, lq, q, sli, li, itemgroup, dthd, ddhd, dt, dd, figgroup, pre, lines, ph, stentry, draft-comment, fn, cite, xref, entry, booklibrary, mainbooktitle, booktitlealt, organizationname, b, u, i, tt, sup, sub, howtoavoid
learningContent title, shortdesc, desc, p, note, lq, q, sli, li, itemgroup, dthd, ddhd, dt, dd, figgroup, pre, lines, ph, stentry, draft-comment, fn, cite, xref, entry, abstract, bodydiv, section, sectiondiv, example, linkinfo, lcIntro, lcObjectivesStem, lcObjective, lcAudience, lcTime, lcPrereqs, lcSummary, lcNextSteps, lcReview, lcResources, lcChallenge, lcInstruction, prereq, context, steps-informal, stepsection, cmd, info, tutorialinfo, stepxmp, choice, choptionhd, chdeschd, choption, chdesc, stepresult, result, postreq, refsyn, proptypehd, propvaluehd, propdeschd, proptype, propvalue, propdesc, b, u, i, tt, sup, sub, lcQuestionBase, lcInstructornote, lcQuestion, lcOpenAnswer, lcFeedback, lcFeedbackCorrect, lcFeedbackIncorrect, lcAnswerContent, lcItem, lcMatchingItem
learningPlan title, shortdesc, desc, p, note, lq, q, sli, li, itemgroup, dthd, ddhd, dt, dd, figgroup, pre, lines, ph, stentry, draft-comment, fn, cite, xref, entry, abstract, bodydiv, section, sectiondiv, example, linkinfo, lcIntro, lcObjectivesStem, lcObjective, lcAudience, lcTime, lcPrereqs, lcSummary, lcNextSteps, lcReview, lcResources, lcChallenge, lcInstruction, lcGeneralDescription, lcGoals, lcNeeds, lcValues, lcOrgConstraints, lcEdLevel, lcAge, lcBackground, lcSkills, lcKnowledge, lcMotivation, lcSpecChars, lcWorkEnvDescription, lcPlanResources, lcProcesses, lcTaskItem, lcAttitude, lcPlanObjective, lcJtaItem, lcGapItemDelta, lcLearnStrat, lcAssessment, lcDelivery, b, u, i, tt, sup, sub, lcQuestionBase, lcInstructornote, lcQuestion, lcOpenAnswer, lcFeedback, lcFeedbackCorrect, lcFeedbackIncorrect, lcAnswerContent, lcItem, lcMatchingItem

Inheritance

- topic/q

Example

George said, <q>Disengage the power supply before servicing the unit.</q>

Attributes

Name Description Data Type Default Value Required?
univ-atts attribute group (includes select-atts, id-atts, and localization-atts groups) A set of related attributes, described in univ-atts attribute group
global-atts attribute group (xtrf, xtrc) A set of related attributes, described in global-atts attribute group
class, outputclass Common attributes described in Other common DITA attributes

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