2.1.2.1 DITA topics

DITA topics are the basic units of DITA content and the basic units of reuse. Each topic contains a single subject. Topics may be of specific specialized information types, such as task, concept, or reference, or may be generic, that is, without a specified information type.

2.1.2.1.1 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. Topics can be generic or more specialized; specialized topics represent more specific information types or semantic roles, for example, <concept>, <task>, <reference>, or <learningContent>.
2.1.2.1.2 The benefits of a topic-based architecture
Topics enable the development of usable and reusable content.
2.1.2.1.3 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 (i.e., 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.
2.1.2.1.4 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.
2.1.2.1.5 Topic structure
All topics have the same basic structure, regardless of topic type: title, description or abstract, prolog, body, related links, and nested topics.
2.1.2.1.6 Topic content
The content of all topics, regardless of topic type, is built on the same common structures.
2.1.2.1.7 Topic domains: Basic DITA
A DITA vocabulary domain defines a set of elements associated with a particular subject area or authoring requirement regardless of topic type. DITA incorporates three domains into the basic DITA content: typographic, utilities, and indexing. Other domains are incorporated into the DITA Technical Content and Learning and Training specializations.

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