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.
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>
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>
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.