Related links elements

The related-links section of DITA topics is a special structure that supports the navigational rules from a topic to its related neighbor topics.

Links are different from cross-references in that cross-references occur only within the body of a topic and can target any element in this or other topics; links only represent topic-to-topic connections, or connections to non-DITA-topic resources.

Related links can also be managed indirectly using DITA maps, which provide a more efficient way to manage links as an aspect of the collection of topics rather than as embedded pointers in each topic.

link
The <link> element defines a relationship to another topic. Links represent the types and roles of topics in a web of information, and therefore represent navigational links within that web. Links are typically sorted on output based on their attributes. The optional container elements for link (<linkgroup> and <linklist>) allow authors to define groups with common attributes, or to preserve the authored sequence of links on output.
linkinfo
The <linkinfo> element allows you to place a descriptive paragraph following a list of links in a linklist element.
linklist
The <linklist> element defines an author-arranged group of links. Within <linklist>, the organization of links on final output is in the same order as originally authored in the DITA topic.
linkpool
The <linkpool> element defines a group of links that have common characteristics, such as type or audience or source. When links are not in a <linklist> (that is, they are in <related-links> or <linkpool> elements), the organization of links on final output is determined by the output process, not by the order that the links actually occur in the DITA topic.
linktext
The <linktext> element provides the literal label or line of text for a link. In most cases, the text of a link can be resolved during processing by cross reference with the target resource. Use the <linktext> element only when the target cannot be reached, such as when it is a peer or external link, or the target is local but not in DITA format.