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Cross-referencing
Cross-references are a means of binding individual topics into a coherent and navigable document.
Cross-references in titles
You should not use cross-reference elements within topic titles.

Introduction
Information types and topics
Topics are the building blocks of modular documents, and organising topics by semantic information types is one of the architectural features of DITA.
DITA map files
Syntax and mark-up
Language and punctuation
Graphics and figures
Cross-referencing
Cross-references are a means of binding individual topics into a coherent and navigable document.
- Types of cross-references
  A cross-reference is used in DITA to link or associate one piece of content with another. The cross-reference (xref) element is the primary mechanism for cross-referencing, but other elements also have cross-referencing functions.
- The xref element
  The cross-reference element is used for linking or otherwise cross-referencing text within a topic to other topics, elements within a topic, or resources external to the DITA collection.
- Avoiding in-text cross-references to topics
  Cross-references to other topics should be stored in the relationship table of the ditamap, external to the topic, and not in-line within the text of the topic.
- Cross-referencing topics and external resources
  Cross-references are commonly made to other DITA topics in a collection, and to information resources outside the collection. These external targets can be any type of electronic resource that can be addressed through a URI, including e-mail addresses, documents on a network file server, and Web content.
- Cross-referencing elements in a topic
  Cross-references to elements within topics such as figures and tables allow a reader to easily navigate through a document, whether it is in a page layout format or a hypertext format. The xref element is always used for cross-referencing elements within a topic.
- Links in related-links sections
  When a topic requires cross-references to other topics where those cross-references will always be valid in the context of the topic, they should be contained within a related-links section after the topic body. In all other cases, cross-references should be defined in the relationship table of the ditamap.
- Managing cross-references
- Cross-references in titles
  You should not use cross-reference elements within topic titles.
Content re-use
Metadata, conditional processing, and indexing
The DITA documentation process
DITA authoring concepts
Moving from style-based authoring to a structured authoring methodology such as DITA requires a radically different approach to writing.

Cross-references in titles

You should not use cross-reference elements within topic titles.

The title element cannot directly contain an xref element, primarily because titles are used in many different presentational contexts, some of which do not support child elements. For example, the title element of a DITA topic may become the title element in the head section of an output XHTML file, which must be plain text. Likewise, the title element of a DITA topic may be used as the basis for link text in its parent topic.

Including child elements in titles therefore reduces the opportunities for re-use, increases the risk of a transformation error caused by mis-interpretation of the mark-up, and complicates what should be a simple semantic element.

However, it is technically possible to embed xref or other child elements within a title element by nesting them within an (allowed) ph element. While the title element cannot contain xref elements, it can contain ph elements, and ph elements can contain xref elements.

Tip:

Carefully weigh up the implications before using this workaround.