Home
Graphics and figures
Image file formats
Where there is no strong reason to choose another image file format, you should use SVG or PNG file formats in DITA topics.
Different graphics for different published media
When a graphic needs to be presented differently for different output media, you should either include multiple versions of the graphics and use conditional processing to filter the required output, or use the keyref feature.

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
- Figures and images
  Images are placed in topic content using the image element. The image element can stand alone, or can be contained within a figure (fig) element.
- Image file formats
  Where there is no strong reason to choose another image file format, you should use SVG or PNG file formats in DITA topics.
  - Image file management
    Image files should be stored separately from topic files. Images can be re-used by referencing the same file name, by conref to an image element, or by conref to a fig element.
  - Different graphics for different published media
    When a graphic needs to be presented differently for different output media, you should either include multiple versions of the graphics and use conditional processing to filter the required output, or use the keyref feature.
- Image alignment, placement, and sizing
  The align, placement, width, and height attributes of the image element are used to specify the placement and size of images when generated to an output delivery format.
- Images in titles
  Images in topic, figure, and other titles, while technically valid, should not be used.
- Callouts
  Callouts with keys, rather than text labels, should be used when identifying parts of an illustration.
- Localising graphics
  Where possible, graphics that include text should be managed in SVG format to simplify localisation.
- Multimedia in DITA topics
  The object element is used to embed multimedia in DITA topics.
- Figures containing tables
  Simple tables can be contained within figures instead of, or in addition to, images.
- Image maps
  The imagemap element is used to define image maps (hotspot graphics) in DITA topics.
- WAI compliance
  So that output from your DITA source meets accessibility responsibilities, you must include alternative text representations of all images in DITA content.
Cross-referencing
Cross-references are a means of binding individual topics into a coherent and navigable document.
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.

Different graphics for different published media

When a graphic needs to be presented differently for different output media, you should either include multiple versions of the graphics and use conditional processing to filter the required output, or use the keyref feature.

In many cases, the graphic used for a particular publishing output needs to be different to that used for an alternative output. For example, a high resolution PNG image might be required for the PDF output of a topic, but a smaller JPG image required for an eBook output.

The keyref attribute introduced in DITA 1.2 allows different image files to be used for the same illustration when a different map is used. Provided a different map file is used for PDF and eBook outputs in the preceding example, the keyref would point to different image files in each map.

This technique would not be relevant if the same map was being used to generate both outputs.

Using the conkeyref attribute would be another strategy, where the figure or image element is transcluded using conref, where the conref source file is specified in the ditamap rather than in the conref attribute in the topic. Different variants of the ditamap, sharing (through nesting) everything except the conkeyref targets, would also be required to complete the process.

Note:

Some publishing tools and processes also allow you to swap the images (during processing) with images of the appropriate size and resolution for the target output.