Short description

A short description is a sentence or group of sentences that describes the purpose or main point of the topic.

Syntax

XDITA
<shortdesc>
HDITA
First element in article, if it is a paragraph, after title
MDITA (core and extended profiles)
First block, if it is a paragraph, after title

Usage information

When present in topics, the short description is the first paragraph of the topic. It can also be used for hover text, link previews, search results, and more.

Rendering expectations

Processors SHOULD render the content of the <shortdesc> element as the initial paragraph of the topic.

Attributes

The available attributes vary based on the authoring format:

XDITA and HDITA
The following attributes are available on this element: ID attributes, localization attributes, universal attributes, and @props.
MDITA
There is no attribute support for the MDITA core profile. For the MDITA extended profile, attributes can be specified by using the HDITA representation.

Examples

This section is non-normative.

Example 1. XDITA example

The following example demonstrates the use of a short description in an XDITA topic.

 <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
            <!DOCTYPE topic PUBLIC "-//OASIS//DTD LIGHTWEIGHT DITA Topic//EN" "lw-topic.dtd">
            <topic id="install-and-setup">
            <title>Installing and Setting up Remote Lighting</title>
            <shortdesc>Installation of your lighting kit includes installing the light bulbs into
            light fixtures, preparing the remote control, and programming lighting groups.
            </shortdesc>
            </topic>
Example 2. HDITA example

The following example demonstrates the use of a short description in an HDITA topic.

  <!DOCTYPE html>
            <html>
            <head>
            <title>Installing and Setting up Remote Lighting</title>
            </head>
            <body>
            <article id="install-and-setup">
            <h1>Installing and Setting up Remote Lighting</h1>
            <p>Installation of your lighting kit includes installing the light bulbs into light fixtures, preparing the remote control, and programming lighting groups.</p>
            </article>
            </body>
            </html>
Example 3. MDITA example

The following example demonstrates the use of a short description in an MDITA topic.

# Installing and Setting up Remote Lighting

            Installation of your lighting kit includes installing the light bulbs into light fixtures, preparing the remote control, and programming lighting groups.