The following attributes are common across most DITA elements.
Identity attribute
The DITA identity attribute provides mechanisms for identifying content for retrieval or linking.
Content reference attribute
The DITA conref attribute provides a mechanism for reuse of content fragments. The conref attribute stores a reference to another element and is processed to replace the referencing element with the referenced element.
Metadata attributes
The metadata attributes express qualifications on the content. These qualifications can be used to modify the processing of the content.
Miscellaneous Attributes
The xml:lang attribute identifies the language of a topic or content fragment. The outputclass attaches a classifying label to an element.
Architectural attributes
DITA provides some attributes to provide type information to processors instead of qualifications or properties of content.
Conditional processing
Conditional processing is the filtering or flagging of information based on processing-time criteria