3.2.4.1.6 glossAlt

The <glossAlt> element contains a variant term for the preferred term. The variant should have the same meaning as the term in the <glossterm> element; the variant is simply another way to refer to the same term. There may be many ways to refer to a term; each variant is placed in its own <glossAlt> element. The <glossUsage> element may be used within <glossAlt> to indicate when use of the alternate term is appropriate.

Note: Any list of alternative terms is, of course, specific to the language, so translation of a glossentry topic may result in empty elements within a <glossAlt> container.

Contains

Note: These models represent only the default document types distributed by OASIS. Actual content models will differ with each new document type.

Doctype	Content model
ditabase, glossary, glossentry, glossgroup	( (glossAbbreviation or glossAcronym or glossShortForm or glossSynonym) (optional) then (glossStatus) (optional) then (glossProperty) (any number) then (glossUsage) (optional) then (note or hazardstatement) (any number) then (glossAlternateFor) (any number) )

Contained by

Doctype	Content model
ditabase, glossary, glossentry, glossgroup	glossBody

Inheritance

- topic/section concept/section glossentry/glossAlt

Example

Figure 1. The glossary term "USB flash drive" with additional information

<glossentry id="usbfd">
 <glossterm>USB flash drive</glossterm>
 <glossdef>A small portable drive.</glossdef>
 <glossBody>
 <glossPartOfSpeech value="noun"/>
 <glossUsage>Do not provide in upper case (as in "USB Flash
Drive") because that suggests a trademark.</glossUsage>
 <glossAlt>
 <glossAcronym>UFD</glossAcronym>
 <glossUsage>Explain the acronym on first occurrence.</glossUsage>
 </glossAlt>
 <glossAlt id="memoryStick">
 <glossSynonym>memory stick</glossSynonym>
 <glossUsage>This is a colloquial term.</glossUsage>
 </glossAlt>
 <glossAlt>
 <glossAbbreviation>stick</glossAbbreviation>
 <glossStatus value="prohibited"/>
 <glossUsage>This is too colloquial.</glossUsage>
 <glossAlternateFor href="#usbfd/memoryStick"/>
 </glossAlt>
 <glossAlt>
 <glossAbbreviation>flash</glossAbbreviation>
 <glossStatus value="prohibited"/>
 <glossUsage>This short form is ambiguous.</glossUsage>
 </glossAlt>
 </glossBody>
</glossentry>

Attributes

Name	Description	Data Type	Default Value	Required?
univ-atts attribute group (includes select-atts, id-atts, and localization-atts groups)	A set of related attributes, described in univ-atts attribute group
global-atts attribute group (xtrf, xtrc)	A set of related attributes, described in global-atts attribute group
class, outputclass	Common attributes described in Other common DITA attributes

Parent topic: 3.2.4.1 Glossentry elements

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