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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.
Information types
A fundamental principle of DITA is information typing, which categorises information according to the nature of the content. The three base DITA information types are concept, task and reference.

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.
- Content models and information types
  A content model is a framework that represents the structure of the information to be stored. In DITA, a content model is implemented as an information type, or topic type.
- Information types
  A fundamental principle of DITA is information typing, which categorises information according to the nature of the content. The three base DITA information types are concept, task and reference.
  - Concept
    The concept topic is one of the three base DITA information types.
  - Task
    The task topic is one of the three base DITA information types.
  - Reference
    The reference topic is one of the three base DITA information types.
  - Glossary entry
    The glossentry specialised information type was introduced to improve the glossary and terminology management.
  - Composite (ditabase)
    The composite or ditabase topic is a now obsolete tool for collecting multiple topics and nesting them within a single topic file.
  - Topic (proto information type)
    The topic information type is the ancestor of all DITA information types, and is used mainly as the basis for specialising new information types.
  - Identifying the information type
    Concept, task and reference topics contain different types of content. Concept topics contain explanations, task topics contain procedural steps, and reference topics contain tabular look-up information.
- What is a topic?
  A topic in DITA is an independent chunk of information covering a single idea or task, authored as a unit, and stored in its own file. Topics are categorised by information type. DITA's topic-based architecture enables the same topic to be used in different publications.
- Working with topics
- Specialised information types
  Specialised information types provide a topic architecture that closely matches the structure of your content.
- Topic exemplars
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.
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.

Information types

A fundamental principle of DITA is information typing, which categorises information according to the nature of the content. The three base DITA information types are concept, task and reference.

The aim of all sorts of written communication is to transmit a message. The purpose, the audience and the delivery method determine the best approach.

DITA categorises key business information by communication purpose, or information type. There are three base DITA information types: concept, task and reference.

The concept, task, and reference base types are sometimes called core information types, as they are considered to be universally relevant.

In DITA 1.2, the task information type was separated into general task and strict task. The strict task information type is the equivalent of the DITA 1.1 task, while the general task has much relaxed content rules.

The glossary entry (glossentry) information type was introduced in DITA 1.2 as a specialisation of the concept information type.

Note: In The DITA Style Guide, the term task information type means the task information type in DITA 1.0 and 1.1, and the strict task information type in DITA 1.2.