DocBook Website: The Definitive Guide
Editor: Richard Hamilton
Version 0.9.11 for DocBook Website 5.2
Updated: 4 January, 2026
Copyright © 2010–2026 Norman Walsh.
Table of Contents
- Preface
- Part I. Introduction
- Part II. Reference
- I. DocBook Element Reference
- abbrev — An abbreviation, especially one followed by a period
- abstract — A summary
- acronym — An often pronounceable word made from the initial (or selected) letters of a name or phrase
- affiliation — The institutional affiliation of an individual
- alt — A text-only annotation, often used for accessibility
- appendix — An appendix in a book or article
- attribution — The source of a block quote or epigraph
- audiodata — Pointer to external audio data
- audioobject — A wrapper for audio data and its associated meta-information
- author — The name of an individual author
- authorgroup — Wrapper for author information when a document has multiple authors or collaborators
- authorinitials — The initials or other short identifier for an author
- bibliodiv — A section of a bibliography
- bibliography — A bibliography
- bibliomisc — Untyped bibliographic information
- bibliomixed — A cooked entry in a bibliography
- bibliomset — A cooked container for related bibliographic information
- blockquote — A quotation set off from the main text
- caption (db.caption) — A caption
- caption (db.html.caption) — An HTML table caption
- citetitle — The title of a cited work
- col — Specifications for a column in an HTML table
- colgroup — A group of columns in an HTML table
- colspec — Specifications for a column in a table
- command — The name of an executable program or other software command
- computeroutput — Data, generally text, displayed or presented by a computer
- config — A website configuration parameterV5.0 Website
- copyright — Copyright information about a document
- date — The date of publication or revision of a document
- edition — The name or number of an edition of a document
- editor — The name of the editor of a document
- email — An email address
- emphasis — Emphasized text
- entry — A cell in a table
- entrytbl — A subtable appearing in place of an entry in a table
- epigraph — A short inscription at the beginning of a document or component
- example — A formal example, with a title
- figure — A formal figure, generally an illustration, with a title
- filename — The name of a file
- firstname — A given name of a person
- footnote — A footnote
- footnoteref — A cross reference to a footnote (a footnote mark)
- givenname — The given name of a personV5.1
- head — The head in a webpageV5.0 Website
- holder — The name of the individual or organization that holds a copyright
- honorific — The title of a person
- html:button — A button in an HTML form
- html:fieldset — A fieldset element in an HTML form
- html:form — An HTML form
- html:input — An input element in an HTML form
- html:label — A label in an HTML form
- html:legend — A legend in an HTML form fieldset
- html:option — An option element in an HTML form
- html:select — A select element in an HTML form
- html:textarea — A textarea element in an HTML form
- imagedata — Pointer to external image data
- imageobject — A wrapper for image data and its associated meta-information
- info (db.info) — A wrapper for information about a component or other blockV5.0
- info (db.titleforbidden.info) — A wrapper for information about a component or other block without a titleV5.0
- info (db.titleonly.info) — A wrapper for information about a component or other block with only a titleV5.0
- info (db.titleonlyreq.info) — A wrapper for information about a component or other block with only a required titleV5.0
- info (db.titlereq.info) — A wrapper for information about a component or other block with a required titleV5.0
- informaltable (db.html.informaltable) — An HTML table without a title
- informaltable (db.cals.informaltable) — A table without a title
- inlinemediaobject — An inline media object (video, audio, image, and so on)
- issuenum — The number of an issue of a journal
- itemizedlist — A list in which each entry is marked with a bullet or other dingbat
- keyword — One of a set of keywords describing the content of a document
- keywords — The keywords for a webpageV5.0 Website
- keywordset — A set of keywords describing the content of a document
- legalnotice — A statement of legal obligations or requirements
- lineage — The portion of a person's name indicating a relationship to ancestors
- lineannotation — A comment on a line in a verbatim listing
- link (db.link) — A hypertext link
- headlink — A link in the head of a webpageV5.0 Website
- listitem — A wrapper for the elements of a list item
- literal — Inline text that is some literal value
- literallayout — A block of text in which line breaks and white space are to be reproduced faithfully
- mediaobject — A displayed media object (video, audio, image, etc.)
- meta — The meta in a webpage headV5.0 Website
- multimediaparam — Application specific parameters for a media playerV5.1
- note — A message set off from the text
- option — An option for a software command
- orderedlist — A list in which each entry is marked with a sequentially incremented label
- orgname — The name of an organization
- othercredit — A person or entity, other than an author or editor, credited in a document
- othername — A component of a person's name that is not a first name, surname, or lineage
- para — A paragraph
- personblurb — A short description or note about a person
- personname — The personal name of an individual
- phrase (db._phrase) — A limited span of text
- phrase (db.phrase) — A span of text
- programlisting — A literal listing of all or part of a program
- pubdate — The date of publication of a document
- publishername — The name of the publisher of a document
- quote — An inline quotation
- rddl:resource — V5.0 Website
- releaseinfo — Information about a particular release of a document
- replaceable — Content that may or must be replaced by the user
- revdescription — A extended description of a revision to a document
- revhistory — A history of the revisions to a document
- revision — An entry describing a single revision in the history of the revisions to a document
- revnumber — A document revision number
- revremark — A description of a revision to a document
- row (db.entrytbl.row) — A row in a table
- row (db.row) — A row in a table
- script — A script in the head of a webpageV5.0 Website
- section — A recursive section
- sidebar — A portion of a document that is isolated from the main narrative flow
- spanspec — Formatting information for a spanned column in a table
- style — A style section in the head of a webpageV5.0 Website
- subject — One of a group of terms describing the subject matter of a document
- subjectset — A set of terms describing the subject matter of a document
- subjectterm — A term in a group of terms describing the subject matter of a document
- subscript — A subscript (as in H₂O, the molecular formula for water)
- subtitle — The subtitle of a document
- summary — A short summary of a webpageV5.0 Website
- superscript — A superscript (as in x², the mathematical notation for x multiplied by itself)
- surname — An inherited or family name; in western cultures the last name
- systemitem — A system-related item or term
- table (db.html.table) — A formal (captioned) HTML table in a document
- table (db.cals.table) — A formal table in a document
- tbody (db.cals.entrytbl.tbody) — A wrapper for the rows of a table or informal table
- tbody (db.html.tbody) — A wrapper for the rows of an HTML table or informal HTML table
- tbody (db.cals.tbody) — A wrapper for the rows of a table or informal table
- td — A table entry in an HTML table
- term — The word or phrase being defined or described in a variable list
- textdata — Pointer to external text data
- textobject — A wrapper for a text description of an object and its associated meta-information
- tfoot (db.html.tfoot) — A table footer consisting of one or more rows in an HTML table
- tfoot (db.cals.tfoot) — A table footer consisting of one or more rows
- tgroup — A wrapper for the main content of a table, or part of a table
- th — A table header entry in an HTML table
- thead (db.cals.entrytbl.thead) — A table header consisting of one or more rows
- thead (db.html.thead) — A table header consisting of one or more rows in an HTML table
- thead (db.cals.thead) — A table header consisting of one or more rows
- title — The text of the title of a section of a document or of a formal block-level element
- titleabbrev — The abbreviation of a title
- tr — A row in an HTML table
- trademark — A trademark
- userinput — Data entered by the user
- variablelist — A list in which each entry is composed of a set of one or more terms and an associated description
- varlistentry — A wrapper for a set of terms and the associated description in a variable list
- videodata — Pointer to external video data
- videoobject — A wrapper for video data and its associated meta-information
- volumenum — The volume number of a document in a set (as of books in a set or articles in a journal)
- webpage — A page in a websiteV5.0 Website
- webtoc — Marks the location of a TOC in a webpageV5.0 Website
- xref — A cross reference to another part of the document
- year — The year of publication of a document
- I. DocBook Element Reference
- Part III. Appendixes
- Glossary
- Index
List of Figures
List of Tables
List of Examples