## Chapter 1. Introduction

The Darwin Information Typing Architecture (DITA) 1.2 specification defines a set of document types for authoring and organizing topic-oriented information, as well as a set of mechanisms for combining, extending, and constraining document types.

The DITA 1.2 specification consists of the following components:

Document Type Definitions (DTDs) and XML Schemas (XSDs)

The DTDs and XSDs – along with the catalog files – define DITA markup for the DITA vocabulary modules and DITA document types. While the DTDs and XSDs should define the same DITA elements, the DTDs are normative if there is a discrepancy. If there is a discrepancy between the written specification (this document) and the DTDs, the written specification takes precedence.

DITA 1.2 written specification

While the DITA 1.2 documentation does contain some introductory information, it is intended neither as an introduction to DITA nor as a users guide. The intended audience of this documentation consists of implementers of the DITA standard, including tool developers and XML architects who develop specializations. The documentation contains several parts:

- Architectural specification
- Language reference
- Conformance statement
- Appendices

The DITA 1.2 written specification is available in the following formats: XHTML, CHM, PDF, and DITA source. The XHTML version is authoritative.

Next Topic: 1.1 Terminology

Child Topics:

1.1 Terminology

1.2 Normative references

1.3 Non-normative references

1.4 Formatting conventions in the XHTML version of the specification

Sibling Topics:

Chapter 2. Architectural specification

Chapter 3. Language reference

Chapter 4. Conformance

Appendix A. Acknowledgments

Appendix B. Non-normative information