DITA Inheritance Hierarchy

The DITA standard is based on the concept of inheritance that enables extending or restricting the vocabulary while allowing the XML content to still be regarded as valid DITA. Even in the DITA standard, there are various elements that are specializations of others (for example "b" is a specialization of "ph"). The XSLT stylesheets that are used for publishing match all DITA elements by the value of their @class attribute, so knowing how elements may extend each other may be useful when customizing the DITA XSLT stylesheets.

A DITA inheritance hierarchy list for the base DITA Topic specification is presented below:

• topic/copyryear
• topic/foreign
  • mathml-d/mathml
  • svg-d/svg-container
• topic/author
• topic/example
• topic/unknown
• topic/titlealts
• topic/linktext
• topic/category
• topic/data
  • relmgmt-d/change-request-reference
  • relmgmt-d/change-person
  • relmgmt-d/change-request-id
  • relmgmt-d/change-request-system
  • relmgmt-d/change-completed
  • relmgmt-d/change-started
  • ut-d/sort-as
  • relmgmt-d/change-item
  • relmgmt-d/change-organization
  • relmgmt-d/change-summary
  • concept/data
    • glossentry/glossPartOfSpeech
    • glossentry/glossProperty
    • glossentry/glossStatus
  • relmgmt-d/change-revisionid
• topic/longdescref
• topic/audience
• topic/abstract
  • concept/abstract
    • glossentry/glossdef
• topic/related-links
• topic/body
  • task/taskbody
  • concept/conbody
    • glossentry/glossBody
  • troubleshooting/troublebody
  • reference/refbody
• topic/ph
  • hi-d/overline
  • hi-d/line-through
  • hi-d/sub
  • pr-d/sep
  • equation-d/equation-inline
  • pr-d/repsep
  • equation-d/equation-number
  • hi-d/tt
  • task/cmd
  • pr-d/synph
  • sw-d/userinput
  • ut-d/coords
  • pr-d/oper
  • hi-d/sup
  • pr-d/var
  • sw-d/msgph
  • pr-d/codeph
  • ui-d/uicontrol
  • hi-d/i
  • hi-d/u
  • sw-d/filepath
  • sw-d/systemoutput
  • pr-d/delim
  • hi-d/b
  • ui-d/menucascade
• topic/object
• topic/fig
  • ut-d/imagemap
  • pr-d/syntaxdiagram
  • equation-d/equation-figure
• topic/featnum
• topic/lines
• topic/brand
• topic/state
• topic/source
• topic/link
• topic/vrm
• topic/sli
• topic/navtitle
• topic/figgroup
  • pr-d/synblk
  • pr-d/fragment
  • ut-d/area
  • pr-d/groupcomp
  • pr-d/groupseq
  • pr-d/groupchoice
• topic/note
  • hazard-d/hazardstatement
  • concept/note
    • glossentry/glossScopeNote
    • glossentry/glossUsage
• topic/ol
  • task/substeps
  • task/steps
• topic/stentry
  • task/choption
  • reference/propvalue
  • reference/propvaluehd
  • reference/propdeschd
  • reference/propdesc
  • reference/proptype
  • reference/proptypehd
  • task/choptionhd
  • task/chdesc
  • task/chdeschd
• topic/dlentry
  • pr-d/plentry
• topic/vrmlist
• topic/entry
• topic/fn
  • pr-d/synnote
• topic/xref
  • mathml-d/mathmlref
  • svg-d/svgref
  • concept/xref
    • glossentry/glossAlternateFor
  • pr-d/synnoteref
  • pr-d/fragref
  • pr-d/coderef
• topic/component
• topic/series
• topic/bodydiv
  • reference/refbodydiv
  • troubleshooting/troubleSolution
  • concept/conbodydiv
• topic/data-about
• topic/tgroup
• topic/keywords
• topic/boolean
• topic/critdates
• topic/strow
  • task/chrow
  • reference/property
• topic/simpletable
  • reference/properties
  • task/choicetable
• topic/linklist
• topic/revised
• topic/table
• topic/dt
  • pr-d/pt
• topic/image
  • hazard-d/hazardsymbol
  • concept/image
    • glossentry/glossSymbol
• topic/ul
  • hazard-d/messagepanel
  • task/choices
  • task/steps-unordered
• topic/p
  • concept/p
    • glossentry/glossSurfaceForm
  • troubleshooting/responsibleParty
• topic/q
• topic/linkinfo
• topic/dd
  • pr-d/pd
• topic/lq
• topic/prodinfo
• topic/dl
  • pr-d/parml
• topic/prolog
• topic/indextermref
• topic/copyright
• topic/div
  • equation-d/equation-block
• topic/sthead
  • task/chhead
  • reference/prophead
• topic/tbody
• topic/searchtitle
• topic/colspec
• topic/created
• topic/tm
• topic/text
• topic/cite
• topic/li
  • hazard-d/howtoavoid
  • task/step
  • task/substep
  • hazard-d/consequence
  • hazard-d/typeofhazard
  • task/choice
  • task/stepsection
• topic/permissions
• topic/no-topic-nesting
• topic/dlhead
• topic/prodname
• topic/index-base
  • indexing-d/index-sort-as
  • indexing-d/index-see
  • indexing-d/index-see-also
• topic/indexterm
• topic/copyrholder
• topic/longquoteref
• topic/required-cleanup
• topic/ddhd
• topic/sl
• topic/draft-comment
• topic/section
  • task/postreq
  • task/result
  • troubleshooting/remedy
  • task/tasktroubleshooting
  • concept/section
    • glossentry/glossAlt
  • task/context
  • troubleshooting/cause
  • task/steps-informal
  • reference/refsyn
  • task/prereq
  • troubleshooting/condition
• topic/pre
  • sw-d/msgblock
  • pr-d/codeblock
  • ui-d/screen
• topic/topic
  • troubleshooting/troubleshooting
  • concept/concept
    • glossgroup/glossgroup
    • glossentry/glossentry
  • reference/reference
  • task/task
• topic/platform
• topic/alt
• topic/keyword
  • ui-d/shortcut
  • markup-d/markupname
    • xml-d/parameterentity
    • xml-d/xmlatt
    • xml-d/numcharref
    • xml-d/xmlpi
    • xml-d/textentity
    • xml-d/xmlnsname
    • xml-d/xmlelement
  • pr-d/parmname
  • pr-d/option
  • sw-d/cmdname
  • ui-d/wintitle
  • ut-d/shape
  • sw-d/varname
  • pr-d/apiname
  • pr-d/kwd
  • sw-d/msgnum
• topic/thead
• topic/publisher
• topic/desc
• topic/term
  • abbrev-d/abbreviated-form
• topic/title
  • concept/title
    • glossentry/glossShortForm
    • glossentry/glossAbbreviation
    • glossentry/glossSynonym
    • glossentry/glossterm
    • glossentry/glossAcronym
• topic/itemgroup
  • task/steptroubleshooting
  • task/tutorialinfo
  • task/info
  • task/stepxmp
  • task/stepresult
• topic/row
• topic/linkpool
• topic/param
• topic/shortdesc
• topic/resourceid
• topic/dthd
• topic/metadata
  • relmgmt-d/change-historylist
• topic/othermeta
• topic/prognum
• topic/sectiondiv

A DITA inheritance hierarchy list for the base DITA Map specification is presented below:

• abbrev-d/abbreviated-form
• delay-d/anchorkey
• delay-d/exportanchors
• ditavalref-d/ditavalmeta
• ditavalref-d/dvrResourceSuffix
• hazard-d/hazardstatement
• hazard-d/hazardsymbol
• hazard-d/messagepanel
• hazard-d/typeofhazard
• indexing-d/index-sort-as
• map/topicmeta
• map/topicref
  • ditavalref-d/ditavalref
  • glossref-d/glossref
  • mapgroup-d/anchorref
  • mapgroup-d/keydef
  • mapgroup-d/mapref
  • mapgroup-d/topichead
  • mapgroup-d/topicset
  • mapgroup-d/topicsetref
• mapgroup-d/topicgroup
• pr-d/parml
• pr-d/pd
• pr-d/plentry
• pr-d/pt
• pr-d/synblk
• pr-d/synnote
• pr-d/synnoteref
• relmgmt-d/change-historylist
• sw-d/msgblock
• sw-d/userinput
• topic/data
  • ditavalref-d/dvrKeyscopePrefix
  • ditavalref-d/dvrKeyscopeSuffix
  • ditavalref-d/dvrResourcePrefix
  • relmgmt-d/change-completed
  • relmgmt-d/change-item
  • relmgmt-d/change-organization
  • relmgmt-d/change-person
  • relmgmt-d/change-request-id
  • relmgmt-d/change-request-reference
  • relmgmt-d/change-request-system
  • relmgmt-d/change-revisionid
  • relmgmt-d/change-started
  • relmgmt-d/change-summary
  • ut-d/sort-as
• topic/dd
• topic/dl
• topic/dlentry
• topic/dt
• topic/fig
  • pr-d/syntaxdiagram
• topic/figgroup
  • pr-d/fragment
  • pr-d/groupchoice
  • pr-d/groupcomp
  • pr-d/groupseq
  • ut-d/area
• topic/fn
• topic/image
• topic/index-base
  • indexing-d/index-see
  • indexing-d/index-see-also
• topic/keyword
  • delay-d/anchorid
  • markup-d/markupname
    • xml-d/numcharref
    • xml-d/parameterentity
    • xml-d/textentity
    • xml-d/xmlatt
    • xml-d/xmlnsname
    • xml-d/xmlpi
  • pr-d/apiname
  • pr-d/kwd
  • pr-d/option
  • pr-d/parmname
  • sw-d/cmdname
  • sw-d/msgnum
  • sw-d/varname
  • ui-d/shortcut
  • ui-d/wintitle
  • ut-d/shape
  • xml-d/xmlelement
• topic/keywords
• topic/li
  • hazard-d/consequence
  • hazard-d/howtoavoid
• topic/metadata
• topic/note
• topic/ph
  • hi-d/b
  • hi-d/i
  • hi-d/line-through
  • hi-d/overline
  • hi-d/sub
  • hi-d/sup
  • hi-d/tt
  • hi-d/u
  • pr-d/codeph
  • pr-d/delim
  • pr-d/oper
  • pr-d/repsep
  • pr-d/sep
  • pr-d/synph
  • pr-d/var
  • sw-d/filepath
  • sw-d/msgph
  • sw-d/systemoutput
  • ui-d/menucascade
  • ui-d/uicontrol
  • ut-d/coords
• topic/pre
  • pr-d/codeblock
  • ui-d/screen
• topic/term
• topic/ul
• topic/xref
  • pr-d/coderef
  • pr-d/fragref
• ut-d/imagemap