#### 11.2.2 Understanding what properties are available

Table 11-1 shows the properties you can assign to the full class attribute of an element. The list of elements for which a property is assigned by default is representative, not exhaustive; for the complete list of default property assignments, see §B. Element type default properties.

Properties are grouped as follows in Table 11-1:

Basic | Inline, Pre, Text, Typo, Num, Data, Pernicious, NoLevel, Draft
Role | Root, Map, Topic, Meta, Var, Title, Section, Note, Task, Reference, Glossary, BookTitle, Navtitle, Trademark
Image or object | Fig, Image, Alt, Object, Param
Index related | Index, IxStart, IxSee, IxAlso, IxSort
Link or reference | Ref, Key, XRSource, Link, Rel, Abbrev
List related | List, ListItem, DL*, Sub, CascadeSet, CascadeItem, Numbered, Nonum, PL*
Grouping | Group, Sequence
Descriptive | Footnote, Desc, SDesc, Abstr
Table related | Table, TabStart, TabCol, TabRow, TabCell, TabHead, TabBody

Table 11-1 Element type properties

Group | Property | Description
Basic |
    Inline
| Does not start a new paragraph, starts an inline (character) format, unless the element is also assigned property Typo. Default for ph, img, xref, fn, tt.
    Pre
| May be block or Inline, always Text; retains all existing whitespace. Default for pre, lines, codeblock.
    Text
| Can have text; true of all Inline and of some block. An empty block element that is not also Text is deleted; otherwise it becomes an empty paragraph. Default for p, lq, and many others.
    Typo
| Typographic property only; always Inline, but does not start an inline format; treated like an override instead. Default for b, i, u, sub, sup.
    Num
| Always given a number. Default for ol, fn.
    Data
| Suppressed for output, except for any contained text; normally used for metadata. Default for data, data-about.
    Pernicious
| Can contain both text (#PCDATA) and block (as opposed to inline) elements, resulting in “pernicious mixed content”. Default for li and entry.
    NoLevel
| Does not add to the hierarchy of levels for elements such as headings. Default for sectiondiv, bodydiv, conbodydiv, and refbodydiv.
    Draft
| Used only for <draft-comment>.
Role |
    Root
| Root element for DITA map or topic. Default for topic, concept, task, reference, glossentry, map, bookmap.
    Map
| Specific to maps. Default for map and bookmap.
    Topic
| Map element containing topic information. Default for topichead, topicref, topicmeta.
    Meta
| Contains metadata. Default for topicmeta.
    Var
| Sets a variable. Default for many bookmap text metadata elements: author, booknumber, booktitlealt, brand, category, component, copyrholder, copyright, copyryear, featnum, isbn, mainbooktitle, platform, prodname, prognum, publisher, series, source.; see §12. Creating and deploying user variables
    Title
| Used for title. Default for title.
    Section
| Used to group paragraphs. Default for section.
    Note
| Element with type attribute, such as note. Default for note.
    Task
| For <task> specific elements; also used for <example>.
    Ref
| For <reference> specific elements.
    Glossary
| Used for <glossentry> specific elements, <term>, and <abbreviated-form>.
    BookTitle
| Used for <mainbooktitle> and <booktitlealt>.
    NavTitle
| Default for <navtitle>.
    Trademark
| Default for <tm>.
Image or object |
    Fig
| Contains a complete figure. Default for fig.
    Image
| Contains image and alt text. Default for image.
    Alt
| Contains alt text for image. Default for alt.
    Object
| Contains a media object. Default for object.
    Param
| Parameter element for an object. Default for param.
Index related |
    Index
| Used for indexing. Default for indexterm and index*.
    IxStart
| Starts an index entry. Default for indexterm.
    IxSee
| Index see reference. Default for index-see.
    IxAlso
| Index see-also reference. Default for index-see-also.
    IxSort
| Index sort string. Default for index-sort-as.
Link or reference |
    Ref
| Used for cross-referencing. Default for xref., topicref, booklist, among many others.
    Key
| Use for DITA 1.2 indirection. Default for keydef.
    XRSource
| Contains a number or content that may be used in an xref. Default for title, li, fn.
    Link
| Related Topics link. Default for link.
    Rel
| Related information. Default for related-links, reltable.
    Abbrev
| Used for keyrefs to abbreviations. Default for abbreviated-form.
Grouping |
    Group
| Wraps a group. Default for topicgroup.
    Sequence
| Wraps an ordered set. Default for linkinfo, linklist.
List related |
    List
| Contains a list; default for sl, ol, ul.
    ListItem
| Used within a list; default for li, sli.
    DList
| Definition list start; default for dl.
    DLEntry
| Entry in definition list; default for dlentry.
    DLTerm
| Definition list term; default for dthd, dt.
    DLDef
| Definition list definition; default for ddhd, dd.
    Sub
| Distinguish substeps from steps; default for substeps.
    CascadeSet
| Default for menucascade.
    CascadeItem
| Default for uicontrol.
    NoNumber
| Default for stepsection.
    PList
| Used for a parameter list.
    PLmEntry
| Used for a parameter list component.
    PLTerm
| Used for a parameter list component.
    PLDef
| Used for a parameter list component.
Descriptive |
    Footnote
| Contains a footnote; default for fn.
    Desc
| Description used in object, etc.; default for desc.
    SDesc
| Short description in topicref or topic; default for shortdesc.
    Abstr
| Abstract in topic; default for abstract.
Table related |
    Table
| Starts a table or contains table-wide information. Default for table, simpletable, parml, dl, colspec, tgroup, thead, tbody.
    TabStart
| Starts a table. Default for dl, parml, simpletable, table.
    TabCol
| Contains column properties. Default for colspec.
    TabRow
| Contains a row. Default for row, sthead, strow, plentry, dlhead, dlentry.
    TabCell
| Table cell. Default for entry, stentry, pt, pd, dthd, ddhd, dt, dd.
    TabHead
| Occurs in table head. Default for thead, sthead, dlhead.
    TabBody
| Occurs in table body. Default for tbody, strow, dlentry, plentry.

Previous Topic: 11.2.1 Understanding when to assign element type properties

Next Topic: 11.2.3 Assigning properties to element types

Parent Topic: 11.2 Specifying properties of element types

Sibling Topics:

11.2.1 Understanding when to assign element type properties

11.2.3 Assigning properties to element types

11.2.4 Adding the full class attribute to an element