How are glossaries and definitions structured in DITA topics?

DITA provides structured ways to create glossaries and define terms within content. This structured approach makes it easier to manage and organize glossary terms and their definitions.

In DITA, <glossentry>, <glossterm>, and <glossdef> can be used to structure glossaries and definitions.

<glossentry> Element:

The <glossentry> element represents an entry in the glossary. It consists of two key child elements: <glossterm> for the term being defined and <glossdef> for the definition of the term.


<glossentry id="term_dita">
    <glossterm>DITA</glossterm>
    <glossdef>Darwin Information Typing Architecture (DITA) is an XML-based, open standard for creating, organizing, and publishing structured content.</glossdef>
</glossentry>

<glossterm> Element:

The <glossterm> element is used to define the term itself.

<glossdef> Element:

The <glossdef> element is used to provide the definition of the term.

Example:

Here’s an example of how a glossary term and definition are structured within a DITA topic:


<topic id="glossary_dita">
    <title>Glossary of DITA Terms</title>
    <glossentry id="term_dita">
        <glossterm>DITA</glossterm>
        <glossdef>Darwin Information Typing Architecture (DITA) is an XML-based, open standard for creating, organizing, and publishing structured content.</glossdef>
    </glossentry>
    <glossentry id="term_topic">
        <glossterm>Topic</glossterm>
        <glossdef>In DITA, a topic is a single self-contained unit of information or content that focuses on a specific subject or task.</glossdef>
    </glossentry>
</topic>

In this example, two glossary entries are defined in a DITA topic, each with a <glossterm> representing the term and a <glossdef> representing its definition.