The abstract element occurs between the topic title and the topic body, as the initial content of a topic. It can contain paragraph-level content as well as one or more shortdesc elements which can be used for providing link previews or summaries. The <abstract> element cannot be overridden by maps, but its contained <shortdesc> elements can be, for the purpose of creating link summaries or previews.
Use the <abstract> element when the initial paragraph of a topic is unsuitable for use as a link preview or for summaries, for example because it contains lists or tables, or because only a portion of the paragraph is suitable. Note that when the initial paragraph is suitable as a summary, that content should be placed in a <shortdesc> element rather than in an <abstract> element. The <abstract> element allows for a wider range of content in your initial paragraph, such as lists and tables, and allows you to identify portions of the <abstract> content as useful for previews or summaries by embedding the <shortdesc> element within <abstract>.
When the contained <shortdesc> occurs within phrase-level content, it is treated as phrase-level content and should not create a separate paragraph on output of the topic. When the contained <shortdesc> occurs as a peer to paragraph-level content, it is treated as block-level content and should create a separate paragraph on output of the topic. When multiple <shortdesc> elements are included in an <abstract>, they are concatenated in output of link previews or summaries (separated by spaces).
<abstract>The abstract is being used to provide more complex content. <shortdesc>The shortdesc must be directly contained by the abstract.</shortdesc> The abstract can put text around the shortdesc. </abstract>
<abstract><p>The abstract is being used to provide more complex content.</p> <shortdesc>The shortdesc must be directly contained by the abstract.</shortdesc> <p>The abstract can put text around the shortdesc.</p> </abstract>
The abstract is being used to provide more complex content.
The shortdesc must be directly contained by the abstract.
The abstract can put text around the shortdesc.
<abstract>The abstract is being used to provide more complex content. <shortdesc>The shortdesc must be directly contained by the abstract.</shortdesc> <p>The abstract can put text around the shortdesc.</p> <shortdesc>There can be more than one shortdesc.</shortdesc> </abstract>
The abstract is being used to provide more complex content. The shortdesc must be directly contained by the abstract.
The abstract can put text around the shortdesc.
There can be more than one shortdesc.
Doctype | Content model |
---|---|
ditabase, topic, task, reference, concept, glossary | ( text data or ph or codeph or synph or filepath or msgph or userinput or systemoutput or b or u or i or tt or sup or sub or uicontrol or menucascade or term or xref or cite or q or boolean or state or keyword or option or parmname or apiname or cmdname or msgnum or varname or wintitle or tm or p or lq or note or dl or parml or ul or ol or sl or pre or codeblock or msgblock or screen or lines or fig or syntaxdiagram or imagemap or image or object or table or simpletable or draft-comment or required-cleanup or fn or indextermref or indexterm or data or data-about or foreign or unknown or shortdesc) (any number) |
Doctype | Parents |
---|---|
ditabase | topic, concept, task, reference |
topic | topic |
task | topic, task |
concept | topic, concept |
reference | topic, reference |
glossary | topic, concept |
- topic/abstract
Name | Description | Data Type | Default Value | Required? |
---|---|---|---|---|
%univ-atts; (%select-atts;, %id-atts;, %localization-atts;) | A set of related attributes, described at %univ-atts; | parameter entity | PE not applicable | Not applicable |
%global-atts; (xtrf, xtrc) | A set of related attributes, described at %global-atts; | parameter entity | PE not applicable | Not applicable |
class, outputclass | Common attributes described in Other common DITA attributes |
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OASIS DITA Language Specification v1.1 -- Committee Draft 02, 8 May 2007
Copyright © OASIS Open 2005, 2007. All Rights Reserved.