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Syntax and mark-up
Special characters and dates
Non-breaking spaces and special characters
Special characters may be inserted into DITA content using Unicode character escapes.

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
  - Non-breaking spaces and special characters
    Special characters may be inserted into DITA content using Unicode character escapes.
  - Dates
    Dates are treated no differently to text with no specific semantic meaning.
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.

Non-breaking spaces and special characters

Special characters may be inserted into DITA content using Unicode character escapes.

Your authoring tool may allow the insertion of non-breaking spaces between words. Non-breaking spaces are intended for use when the separation of two adjacent words through line wrapping will result in a loss of meaning or legibility. For example, some authors prefer values and their units, such as 12 kg, to be treated as a single word.

Likewise, soft hyphens are intended for use when there is a preferred point for the breaking of a word during line wrapping.

Some mark-up languages support entities, which allow special characters (not included in the standard character set or not associated with keyboard keys) to be defined using a memorable shortcut. For example, HTML has a   entity for non-breaking spaces. Regardless, provided a character is included in the relevant Unicode character set, it can be included in XML-based content using hexadecimal numeric character references, or character escapes.

Although XML supports entities, the DITA standard itself does not define any text entities. Nonetheless, character escapes can be used. The character escapes for commonly used special characters is:

non-breaking space:  
soft hyphen: 
micro symbol: µ
division symbol: ɇ
non-breaking hyphen: &#x2011
en dash: –
em dash: —
ellipsis: …