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DITA map files
The bookmap feature
Bookmaps are a specialisation of the base DITA map information type. Like ditamaps, bookmaps are containers for structure and context metadata, and do not contain any content. Bookmaps are used to describe page layout publishing outputs such as books, articles, manuals and research papers. They contain information structures that are specific to linear publications, such as tables of figures, title pages, chapters, sections and parts.

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
- Purpose of ditamap files
  DITA map files are used for defining the topics of a publication, specifying the topic sequence, and controlling linking between topics.
- Topic manifest
  Any topics referenced anywhere in the ditamap will be processed into the output publication.
- Topic hierarchy
  In DITA, the sequence and hierarchy of the topics to be published are defined in the ditamap through nested topicref elements.
- Relationship tables
  Relationship tables are used to store linking relationships between topics in a collection in the ditamap, rather than in individual topics. Linking relationships are defined in a table-like structure, with rows in the table determining which topics are linked to which.
- Linking relationships
  DITA encourages the linking relationships to be stored outside the topic content. Links can be generated from topic hierarchies, relationship tables, and related-links section links.
- Inheritance and cascades in ditamaps
  Properties in ditamaps sometimes cascade from parent elements to child elements. Some values in ditamaps also override the equivalent values in referenced topics.
- Embedded (or nested) ditamaps
  The technique of using embedded, or nested, ditamaps can make it easier to manage documents by separating complex collections of topics into a number of smaller, simpler collections.
- DITA map vocabulary
- The bookmap feature
  Bookmaps are a specialisation of the base DITA map information type. Like ditamaps, bookmaps are containers for structure and context metadata, and do not contain any content. Bookmaps are used to describe page layout publishing outputs such as books, articles, manuals and research papers. They contain information structures that are specific to linear publications, such as tables of figures, title pages, chapters, sections and parts.
  - Nesting bookmaps within ditamaps
    For complex collection structures, only use bookmap at the top level. Any nested maps should be ditamaps.
  - Sample bookmap file
    A sample bookmap illustrates how different semantic elements are arranged to form the structure of a conventional, printed book.
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.
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.

The bookmap feature

Bookmaps are a specialisation of the base DITA map information type. Like ditamaps, bookmaps are containers for structure and context metadata, and do not contain any content. Bookmaps are used to describe page layout publishing outputs such as books, articles, manuals and research papers. They contain information structures that are specific to linear publications, such as tables of figures, title pages, chapters, sections and parts.

The core DITA schema includes the ditamap format (or application), which is suitable for describing many collections of topics. However, for some book-style collections (such as a large, paper-based Reference Manual), the standard ditamap is inadequate. Like other DITA applications, ditamaps can be specialised to meet special needs.

A specialised ditamap, called bookmap, is now part of the base DITA specification. The bookmap is a specialisation of ditamap in the same way that concept is a specialisation of topic.

Simple diagram showing that bookmap is a specialisation of ditamap — Figure 1. Bookmap is a specialisation of ditamap

The official definition of bookmap is:

The bookmap specialization of DITA's standard DITA map allows you to organize your DITA topics into a collection that can be printed as a book or other paged layout.
OASIS DITA Version 1.1 Architectural Specification

Bookmap allows you to produce DITA topics as the content of a formally defined book. A formally defined book means one with covers, formal notices, front matter (notices, acknowledgements, dedications, preface, etc), chapters, sections, parts, and back matter (notices, lists, etc). Bookmap is needed because the standard ditamap doesn't have structures for these book components.

A bookmap has the following major structures:

title or booktitle
bookmeta (owners, authors, publishing data, etc)
front matter
any number of chapters or parts (which can contain chapters)
any number of appendix topics
back matter
relationship tables.