Universal attribute group

The universal attribute group defines a set of common attributes available on most DITA elements. The universal attribute group includes all attributes from the metadata, ID, localization, and debug attribute groups, plus the @class attribute.

Note: Earlier versions of the DITA specification grouped some attributes under names taken directly from parameter entities in the standard DTD implementation of DITA. These groups used names such as "univ-atts", which had no meaning outside the context of a DTD module. In DITA 1.3, these groups are restructured and renamed in the specification document for greater clarity, and no longer have a connection to the DTD. For example, this grouping of "Universal attributes" was previously referred to as "univ-atts"; the updated group includes several universal attributes that are not part of the univ-atts group in the DTD.

@class (Not for use by authors): This attribute is not for use by authors. If an editor displays @class attribute values, do not edit them. The @class attribute supports specialization. Its predefined values allow DITA tools to work correctly with ranges of related content. In a generalized DITA document the @class attribute value in the generalized instance might differ from the default value for the @class attribute for the element as given in the DTD or schema. See class attribute rules and syntax for more information. This attribute is specified on every element except for the <dita> container element. It is always specified with a default value, which varies for each element.