#### 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

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