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Syntax and mark-up
Element domains
Elements in DITA are arranged into domains for organisational purposes and technical reasons.

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
- Organisation of DITA elements
  Elements in DITA are grouped together into a number of categories for organisational and comprehension purposes.
- Working with mark-up
- Element domains
  Elements in DITA are arranged into domains for organisational purposes and technical reasons.
- Short descriptions
  The short description (or shortdesc) is arguably the most important component of a DITA topic, and is also one of the most difficult elements to write. Short descriptions should be written for every topic.
- Lists
  The purpose of a list is to make it easier for the reader to understand sequences of information and collections of like information. Different types of lists are used for different information structures.
- Paragraphs
  Paragraphs are the basic components of topics. A paragraph (p) element should be a self-contained unit dealing with one idea or point, typically expressed in two or more related sentences. The p element should be used when no other semantically-specific block element is available.
- Procedures and steps
  The purpose of procedural documents is to explain to the reader how to accomplish tasks. The task information type is specifically designed for procedures, with a well-defined structure built around steps.
- Tables
  The purpose of a table is to structure, organise and present factual data that a user will need to look up or reference. There are two general purpose table types in DITA: table and simpletable.
- Phrases
  The semantics of words and phrases in DITA content is expressed through a broad range of phrase elements.
- Special characters and dates
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.

Element domains

Elements in DITA are arranged into domains for organisational purposes and technical reasons.

The base DITA elements are grouped into domains. You can see this clearly in the DITA Language Reference.

The DITA element mark-up domains are:

programming
user interface
software
utilities
metadata
typographic

Different sets of elements are intended for use when documenting different types of things. The software domain, for example, contains the elements designed to semantically describe software characteristics.

The element domains are technically organised into different DTD or XSD schema modules.