Technical content: Document types

Concept topics are specialized from topic. They include the standard topic elements, including the short description, prolog, a body, and related links.

Reference topics are specialized from topic. They contain the standard topic elements, including title, short descriptions or abstract, prolog, a body, and related links.

The general-task document type was introduced in DITA 1.2. It provides a less-strict content model for task-oriented information than was available previously. Some organizations might prefer the general-task content model over the strict task model, as it can facilitate the migration of legacy content that does not follow the strict-task topic model. The general-task document type serves as the base for the strict-task and machine-industry-task document types. It also can be used to create new document types or specializations.

The strict task-document type supports the development of instructions for the completion of a procedure. The strict-task document type is built using the general-task information type combined with the strict taskbody constraint. See the reference below to ensure that you have the correct task document type when you update to DITA 1.3 from DITA 1.0 or DITA 1.1

The machinery task document type supports the development of instructions for the completion of a procedure. The machinery task document type is built using the general task information type combined with the Machinery Taskbody Constraint.

The troubleshooting topic type provides markup for corrective action information such as troubleshooting and alarm clearing.

Each glossary entry <glossentry> topic defines a single sense of one term. Besides identifying the term and providing a definition, the topic accommodates basic terminology information, such as part of speech. A glossentry topic might also include acronyms and acronym expansions. Glossentry topics can be assembled by authors or processes to create glossaries for various purposes, including books, websites, or other projects.

The glossary group (<glossgroup>) topic enables authors to include one or more glossary entry (<glossentry>) topics in a single collection file, rather than authoring each glossary entry topic in a separate file. The glossary group topic is a specialization of concept.

The DITA bookmap specialization represents the key markup requirements for managing DITA content through book-oriented publication processes, including book metadata and book structures for organizing content.