The linkinfo element

One of the elements that is unique to the linklist structure is also one of the least understood: the linkinfo element. The DITA 1.2 Spec itself merely says that it lets you “place a descriptive paragraph after the links that are contained in a linklist element.” But a linklist already allows the title and desc elements to provide description, so how does this element add anything more to the design? Naturally, there is something more to this story, something we can trace from the foundations of human culture, as it were. (more…)

The linktext element

All links can be seen as having a human-facing component and a computer-facing component. Computers need only the name of a resource in order to form a fully qualified URL or link to it. But human readers obviously need to know something about that resource in order to decide whether to navigate to it. This hint can be (more…)

The linklist element

Writing with a sense of lasting legacy means being mindful of how your information may be browsed and reused beyond the moment. One way to represent persisting sequence and structure is with lists. An unordered list of related links needs nothing more than linkpool as a container, but when sequence and sub-groups matter, (more…)

The linkpool element

Every few years, as elections for government offices come around, voters come out to the election centers and line up to cast ballots for their favorite candidates out of a pool of names. The tally of votes represents a form of ranking and selection for that pool of candidates. Links are like candidates; (more…)

The link element

“It’s 10 P.M.. Do you know where your children are?” This public service announcement has rung out on American airwaves since the late 1960s, reminding parents of their accountability for childrens’ whereabouts. Likewise, DITA’s link element helps keep track of child and peer topic relationships in the neighborhood where you are reading. Sort of like the Den Mother checking off each boy’s name at the weekly Cub Scout meetings I used to attend (which all of us present responded to by saying, ever so cleverly, “President!”). (more…)

The related-links element

If three-fourths of the Earth’s surface is water, why is it still so easy for me to lose things in that correspondingly smaller amount of land? It seems like I’m always looking for misplaced things. If all those lost things just had a proper storage place, and I knew where that was, it would be so much easier to account for all my gear–especially missing car keys! (more…)

The abstract element

Do you recall what critter is known as “a horse designed by a committee?” That’s right, the abstract element! (more…)

The shortdesc element

How would you complete this simile? A topic needs a shortdesc like:

A conference-goer needed her business cards.
A man needs to ask for directions.
A link needs a hover tip to explain what it leads to.
A fish needs a bicycle. (more…)

DITA per Day

Facets of Intelligent Content

Topic markup