# Glossary

## Overview

Quick definitions for terms used across this manual. Each entry links to the article that covers the concept in depth — this page is for lookup, not for learning a topic from scratch.

## Terms

**CMS (Content Management System)**
: A tool that adds workflow and file-locking to content management, at the cost of reliability trade-offs compared to plain version control. See [CMS: workflow as a bonus, but reliability to be tested](https://docs.redaction-technique.org/en/tech-writing-process/cms-workflow-and-reliability/).

**Concept, task, reference**
: DITA XML's three base information types: a concept introduces or explains an idea, a task is a numbered procedure, and a reference is lookup material like a parameter list. This manual's own articles are tagged with the same three types. See [structured and unstructured formats](https://docs.redaction-technique.org/en/formats/structured-vs-unstructured-formats/).

**Conref**
: A DITA XML mechanism for reusing a block of content by reference: the content of a target node is replaced by the content of a source node at compile time. See [reusing information blocks with conrefs](https://docs.redaction-technique.org/en/formats/nufirewall-case-study/).

**Ditamap**
: An external table-of-contents file that assembles DITA XML topics into a document, without the topics themselves needing to know their position in that document. See [on-demand DITA content assembly with ditamaps](https://docs.redaction-technique.org/en/formats/modular-documentation/).

**Ditaval**
: A DITA XML filter file that includes or excludes content marked with matching attributes at compile time — the mechanism behind DITA's conditional text. See [provide targeted information with ditaval conditional text](https://docs.redaction-technique.org/en/formats/nufirewall-case-study/).

**Docs-as-code**
: Treating documentation like source code: text-based formats, version control, code review, and CI/CD, rather than a separate publishing process. See [adopt docs-as-code](https://docs.redaction-technique.org/en/docs-as-code/).

**DITA XML**
: A structured, modular XML authoring architecture built around the concept/task/reference typology and content reuse via conrefs and ditamaps. See [structured DITA XML format](https://docs.redaction-technique.org/en/structured-authoring/).

**Information typing**
: The discipline of classifying content by its communicative purpose (concept, task, reference) rather than writing undifferentiated prose. See [structured and unstructured formats](https://docs.redaction-technique.org/en/formats/structured-vs-unstructured-formats/).

**Minimalism (minimalist writing)**
: A task section contains only what's needed to complete the task — prerequisites, steps, and a few closely related elements — with conceptual and reference material placed elsewhere. See [structured and unstructured formats](https://docs.redaction-technique.org/en/formats/structured-vs-unstructured-formats/).

**Modular documentation**
: Content built from small, reusable, standalone units (topics or modules) assembled on demand, rather than authored as monolithic documents. See [from document to modular document base](https://docs.redaction-technique.org/en/formats/modular-documentation/).

**Single-sourcing**
: Generating multiple deliverables (PDF, HTML, help formats) from one source, rather than maintaining a separate source per output format. See [target format](https://docs.redaction-technique.org/en/tech-writing-process/target-format/).

**Source format**
: The format content is authored in, as distinct from the [target format](#target-format-1) it's published to — the recipe versus the dish. See [source format](https://docs.redaction-technique.org/en/tech-writing-process/source-format/).

**Structured authoring**
: Writing content whose markup encodes meaning (this is a warning, this is a step) rather than just visual appearance — enabling automated processing, reuse, and consistency checks that unstructured formats can't support. See [structured and unstructured formats](https://docs.redaction-technique.org/en/formats/structured-vs-unstructured-formats/).

**Target format**
: The format a reader actually consumes — PDF, HTML, compiled help — generated from the source format. See [target format](https://docs.redaction-technique.org/en/tech-writing-process/target-format/).

**Technical communication**
: The broader discipline that spans the entire product life cycle and reaches general audiences, prospects, and journalists — as distinct from technical writing, which produces user-facing product documentation after a sale. See [from technical writing to technical communication](https://docs.redaction-technique.org/en/costs/copywriting-to-technical-communication/).

**Topic**
: The smallest autonomous, titled unit of information in DITA XML, typed as concept, task, or reference and assembled into documents via ditamaps. See [topics: basic DITA XML information modules](https://docs.redaction-technique.org/en/formats/modular-documentation/).

**XSL-FO**
: A stylesheet language for transforming and laying out XML content for print/PDF output, commonly paired with DITA XML publishing pipelines. See [DITA XML and XSL-FO tutorials](https://docs.redaction-technique.org/en/tutorials/dita-xml-xsl-fo-tutorials/).

## Related references

- [Use structured authoring](https://docs.redaction-technique.org/en/structured-authoring/)
- [Explore the reference](https://docs.redaction-technique.org/en/reference/)

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Source: https://docs.redaction-technique.org/en/reference/glossary/