Topic content

The content of all topics, regardless of topic type, is built on the same common structures.

Topic body: The topic body contains all content except for that contained in the title or the short description/abstract. The topic body can be constrained to remove specific elements from the content model; it also can be specialized to add additional specialized elements to the content model. The topic body can be generic while the topic title and prolog are specialized.
Sections and examples: The body of a topic might contain divisions, such as sections and examples. They might contain block-level elements like titles and paragraphs and phrase-level elements like API names or text. It is recommend that sections have titles, whether they are entered directly into the <title> element or rendered using a fixed or default title.; Either body divisions or untitled sections or examples can be used to delimit arbitrary structures within a topic body. However, body divisions can nest, but sections and examples cannot contain sections.
<sectiondiv>: The <sectiondiv> element enables the arbitrary grouping of content within a section for the purpose of content reuse. The <sectiondiv> element does not include a title. Content that requires a title should use <section> or <example>.
<bodydiv>: The <bodydiv> element enables the arbitrary grouping of content within the body of a topic for the purpose of content reuse. The <bodydiv> element does not include a title. Content that requires a title should use <section> or <example>.
<div>: The <div> element enables the arbitrary grouping of content within a topic. The <div> element does not include a title. Content that requires a title should use <section> or <example> or, possibly, <fig>.
Block-level elements: Paragraphs, lists, figures, and tables are types of "block" elements. As a class of content, they can contain other blocks, phrases, or text, though the rules vary for each structure.
Phrases and keywords: Phrase level elements can contain markup to label parts of a paragraph or parts of a sentence as having special semantic meaning or presentation characteristics, such as <uicontrol> or <b>. Phrases can usually contain other phrases and keywords as well as text. Keywords can only contain text.
Images: Images can be inserted to display photographs, illustrations, screen captures, diagrams, and more. At the phrase level, they can display trademark characters, icons, toolbar buttons, and so forth.
Multimedia: The <object> element enables authors to include multimedia, such as diagrams that can be rotated and expanded. The <foreign> element enables authors to include media within topic content, for example, SVG graphics, MathML equations, and so on.