---
title: "DITA: Shortdesc (short description)"
date: 2014-12-27
description: "{% include notes.html %} The shortdesc element is more important than it initially appears to be. Although optional, it's highly recommended that you use this tag...."
canonical_url: https://idratherbewriting.com/short_desc/index.html
---

> For AI agents: a documentation index is available at https://idratherbewriting.com/llms.txt. Markdown versions of all pages are available by appending .md to any page URL.

# DITA: Shortdesc (short description)

> The `shortdesc` element allows you to add a summary overview of the topic in a couple of sentences right below the topic `title` and before the `conbody` or `taskbody` element.

The `shortdesc` element is more important than it initially appears to be. Although optional, it's highly recommended that you use this tag. The `shortdesc` appears in several key places:

- As a tooltip in links pointing to the page
- As a description on a parent page containing child pages
- As the summary that appears in search results
- Possibly as context sensitive help (perhaps pulled as a tooltip to show in an interface with a link to learn more)

Here's an example:

```xml
<concept id="concept">
 <title>Wheel truing overview</title>
 <shortdesc>Truing your wheels requires you to tighten or loosen spokes with a spoke wrentch in a balanced pattern in order to change the shape of the wheel.</shortdesc>
 <conbody>
   <p>Blah blah blah...</p>
 </conbody>
</concept>
```