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Create semantically rich content

Posted on 08.30.15

One of DITA’s advantages is the ability to create semantically rich content, or content in which the element tags contain information about the content.

For example, using the <term> element may simply cause a word to display as bold text in the output, but the tag conveys much more information than just “render as boldface”—it shows that this word is a term that needs to be defined.

To take advantage of the semantically rich aspect of DITA, tag each piece of content with the element that most closely reflects what the content is and how it should be used. For example, use elements such as <term> or <cite> to highlight important words rather than simply using <b> or <i>.

Proper use of topic types also makes your content more semantically rich. For example, write instructional content in a task topic instead of a concept topic. That way, you can use the structure that DITA provides for creating steps, which provides much better information about the steps than using the <ol> element in a concept topic.

Contributors
  • Gretyl Kinsey, Scriptorium

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