Universal attribute group

The universal attribute group defines a set of common attributes that are available on almost every DITA element. The universal attribute group includes all attributes from the ID, localization, and metadata attribute groups, plus the @class and @outputclass attributes.

Common attribute groups

The following attribute groups are referenced in this specification. They are also used in the grammar files when the element attributes are defined.

Universal attributes: Includes @class and @outputclass, along with every attribute in the ID, localization, and metadata attribute groups.
ID attributes: This group includes the attributes that enable the naming and referencing of elements: @conaction, @conkeyref, @conref, @conrefend, and @id.
Localization attributes: This group includes attributes that are related to translation and localization: @dir, @translate, and @xml:lang.
Metadata attributes: This group includes common metadata attributes, two of which are available for specialization: @base, @importance, @props, @rev, and @status.; The base DITA vocabulary from OASIS includes several specializations of @props: @audience, @deliveryTarget, @otherprops, @platform, and @product. These attributes are defined as attribute-extension domains. By default, they are integrated into all OASIS-provided document-type shells, but they can be made unavailable by implementing custom document-type shells.

Universal attribute definitions

The universal attributes for OASIS DITA elements are defined below. Specialized attributes, which are part of the OASIS distribution but are only available when explicitly included in a shell, are noted in the list.

@audience (specialized attribute)

Indicates the intended audience for the element. If no value is specified but the attribute is specified on a containing element within a map or within the related-links section, the value cascades from the closest containing element.

@base

Specifies metadata about the element. It is often used as a base for specialized attributes that have a simple syntax for values, but which are not conditional processing attributes.

The @base attribute takes a space-delimited set of values. However, when serving as a container for generalized attributes, the attribute values will be more complex. See Attribute generalization for more details.

@class (not for use by authors)

This attribute is not for use by authors. If an editor displays @class attribute values, do not edit them. Specifies a default value that defines the specialization ancestry of the element. Its predefined values allow DITA tools to work correctly with specialized elements. In a generalized DITA document the @class attribute value in the generalized instance might differ from the default value for the @class attribute for the element as given in the DTD or schema. See The class attribute rules and syntax for more information. This attribute is specified on every element except for the <dita> container element. It is always specified with a default value, which varies for each element.

@conaction

Specifies how the element content will be pushed into a new location. The following values are valid:

mark: The element acts as a marker when pushing content before or after the target, to help ensure that the push action is valid. The element with conaction="mark" also specifies the target of the push action with @conref. Content inside of the element with conaction="mark" is not pushed to the new location.
pushafter: Content from this element is pushed after the location specified by @conref on the element with conaction="mark". The element with conaction="pushafter" is the first sibling element after the element with conaction="mark".
pushbefore: Content from this element is pushed before the location specified by @conref on the element with conaction="mark". The element with conaction="pushbefore" is the first sibling element before the element with conaction="mark".
pushreplace: Content from this element replaces any content from the element referenced by the @conref attribute. A second element with conaction="mark" is not used when using conaction="pushreplace".
-dita-use-conref-target: See Using the -dita-use-conref-target value for more information.

See Pushing reusable content to a new location for examples and details about the syntax.

@conkeyref

Specifies a key name or a key name with an element ID that acts as an indirect reference to reusable content. The referenced content is used in place of the content of the current element. See Indirect key-based content reuse for more details about the syntax and behaviors.

@conref

Specifies a URI that references a DITA element. The referenced content is used in place of the content of the current element. See Direct URI-based content reuse for examples and details about the syntax.

@conrefend

Specifies a URI that references the last element in a sequence of elements, with the first element of the sequence specified by @conref. The referenced sequence of elements is used in place of the content of the current element. See Reusing a range of elements for examples and details about the syntax.

@deliveryTarget (specialized attribute)

Specifies the intended delivery target of the content, for example, html, pdf, or epub. If no value is specified but the attribute is specified on a containing element within a map or within the related-links section, the value cascades from the closest containing element.

@dir

Identifies or overrides the text directionality. The following values are valid:

lro: Indicates an override of the Unicode Bidirectional Algorithm, forcing the element into left-to-right mode.
ltr: Indicates left-to-right.
rlo: Indicates an override of the Unicode Bidirectional Algorithm, forcing the element into right-to-left mode.
rtl: Indicates right-to-left.
-dita-use-conref-target: See Using the -dita-use-conref-target value for more information.

See The dir attribute for more information.

@id

Specifies an identifier for the current element. This ID is the target for references by @href and @conref attributes and for external applications that refer to DITA or LwDITA content. This attribute is defined with the XML data type NMTOKEN, except where noted for specific elements within the language reference.

See id attribute for more details.

@importance

Specifies the importance or priority that is assigned to an element. The following values are valid: default, deprecated, high, low, normal, obsolete, optional, recommended, required, urgent, and -dita-use-conref-target. This attribute is not used for conditional processing, although applications might use the value of the @importance attribute to highlight elements. For example, in steps of a task topic, the value of the @importance attribute indicates whether a step is optional or required.

@otherprops (specialized attribute)

Specifies a property or properties that provide selection criteria for the element. Alternatively, the @props attribute can be specialized to provide a new metadata attribute instead of using the general @otherprops attribute. If no value is specified but the attribute is specified on a containing element within a map or within the related-links section, the value cascades from the closest containing element.

@outputclass

Specifies a role that the element is playing. The role must be consistent with the basic semantic and expectations for the element. In particular, the @outputclass attribute can be used for styling during output processing; HTML output will typically preserve @outputclass for CSS processing.

@platform (specialized attribute)

Indicates operating system and hardware. If no value is specified but the attribute is specified on a containing element within a map or within the related-links section, the value cascades from the closest containing element.

@product (specialized attribute)

Specifies the name of the product to which the element applies. If no value is specified but the attribute is specified on a containing element within a map or within the related-links section, the value cascades from the closest containing element.

@props

Specifies metadata about the element. New attributes can be specialized from the @props attribute. This attribute supports conditional processing. If no value is specified but the attribute is specified on a containing element within a map or within the related-links section, the value cascades from the closest containing element.

The @props attribute takes a space-delimited set of values. However, when serving as a container for generalized attributes, the attribute values will be more complex. See Attribute generalization for more details.

@rev

Specifies a revision level of an element that identifies when the element was added or modified. It can be used to flag outputs when it matches a run-time parameter. It cannot be used for filtering nor is it sufficient to be used for version control. If no value is specified but the attribute is specified on a containing element within a map or within the related-links section, the value cascades from the closest containing element.

@status

Specifies the modification status of the element. The following values are valid: new, changed, deleted, unchanged, and -dita-use-conref-target.

@translate

Specifies whether the content of the element should be translated. The following values are valid: yes, no, and -dita-use-conref-target.

See Element-by-element recommendations for translators for suggested processing defaults for each element.

@xml:lang

Specifies the language and optional locale of the content that is contained in an element. Valid values are language tokens or the null string. The @xml:lang attribute and its values are described in the Extensible Markup Language 1.0 specification, fifth edition.