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DITA: Cross references

You create cross references by pointing to the ID of a particular element that you want to link to.

Referring to specific steps

To refer to a specific step, do the following:

  1. Add an ID tag on the step: 
    <task id="task_lxj_zps_44">

...

<step id="deploy">
  2. Reference the ID through an xref element and include type="li". 
    Now perform the same routine as you did in <xref href="#task_lxj_zps_44/deploy" type="li"/>.

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Referring to a specific section

To refer to a specific section with a cross reference, in your regular content, add an ID attribute on the element like this:

<section id="date_selection"><title>Date Selection</title>

Then refer to it like this:

<p> Select the date range you want. See the previous section, <xref href="yourditatopic.dita#thetopicid/date_selection" type="section"/>, for
 details about the options.</p>

About Tom Johnson

Tom Johnson

I'm an API technical writer based in the Seattle area. On this blog, I write about topics related to technical writing and communication — such as software documentation, API documentation, AI, information architecture, content strategy, writing processes, agent skills, tech comm careers, and more. Check out my AI courses for more on the latest in AI and tech comm. If you're looking for info about documenting APIs, see my API documentation course.

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