2.2.1 DITA topics DITA topics are the basic units of DITA content and the basic units of reuse. Each topic contains a single subject. 2.2.1.1 The topic as the basic unit of information In DITA, a topic is the basic unit of authoring and reuse. All DITA topics have the same basic structure: a title and, optionally, a body of content. 2.2.1.2 The benefits of a topic-based architecture Topics enable the development of usable and reusable content. 2.2.1.3 Disciplined, topic-oriented writing Topic-oriented writing is a disciplined approach to writing that emphasizes modularity and reuse of concise units of information: topics. Well-designed DITA topics can be reused in many contexts, as long as writers are careful to avoid unnecessary transitional text. 2.2.1.4 Information typing Information typing is the practice of identifying types of topics, such as concept, reference, and task, to clearly distinguish between different types of information. Topics that answer different reader questions (How ...? What is ...?) can be categorized with different information types. The base information types provided by DITA specializations (for example, technical content, machine industry, and learning and training) provide starter sets of information types that can be adopted immediately by many technical and business-related organizations. 2.2.1.5 Generic topics The element type <topic> is the base topic type from which all other topic types are specialized. All topics have the same basic structure. 2.2.1.6 Topic structure All topics have the same basic structure, regardless of topic type: title, description or abstract, prolog, body, related links, and nested topics. 2.2.1.7 Topic content The content of all topics, regardless of topic type, is built on the same common structures. Parent topic: 2.2 DITA markup Previous topic: 2.2 DITA markup Next topic: 2.2.1.1 The topic as the basic unit of information