DITA topics
DITA topics are the basic units of DITA content and the basic units of reuse. Each
topic
contains a single subject. Topics might be of specific specialized information types, such as task,
concept, or reference, or they might be generic, that is, without
a specified information type.
In this section:
- The topic as the basic unit of informationIn DITA, a topic is the basic unit of authoring and reuse. All DITA topics have the same basic structure: a title and, optionally, a body of content. Topics can be generic or more specialized; specialized topics represent more specific information types or semantic roles, for example, <concept>, <task>, <reference>, or <learningContent>.
- The benefits of a topic-based architectureTopics enable the development of usable and reusable content.
- Disciplined, topic-oriented writingTopic-oriented writing is a disciplined approach to writing that emphasizes modularity and reuse of concise units of information: topics. Well-designed DITA topics can be reused in many contexts, as long as writers are careful to avoid unnecessary transitional text.
- Information typingInformation typing is the practice of identifying types of topics, such as concept, reference, and task, to clearly distinguish between different types of information. Topics that answer different reader questions (How ...? What is ...?) can be categorized with different information types. The base information types provided by DITA specializations (for example, technical content, machine industry, and learning and training) provide starter sets of information types that can be adopted immediately by many technical and business-related organizations.
- Generic topicsThe element type <topic> is the base topic type from which all other topic types are specialized. All topics have the same basic structure.
- Topic structureAll topics have the same basic structure, regardless of topic type: title, description or abstract, prolog, body, related links, and nested topics.
- Topic contentThe content of all topics, regardless of topic type, is built on the same common structures.
Parent topic: DITA markup