Tutorial > Working with DITA Topics > Task
  
Task
The DITA Task topic provides procedural information. This topic type answers “How to...” questions. Tasks generally provide step-by-step instructions that enable a user to perform a specific task. Tasks also provide information on prerequisites, the expected result, and other aspects of a task.
A Task contains the following primary tags:
task — Contains all of the other tags
title — The subject of the topic
shortdesc — A short description or overview of the topic
prolog — Various types of metadata about the topic, such as author, copyright, index terms, and so forth
taskbody — Contains the actual content of the topic
A Task is much more structured than a DITA Concept. The topic body contains the following series of tags in a set order:
prereq — The prerequisite things a user must know or do to perform the task
context — Background information for the task
steps — The series of steps a user must follow to do the task
result — The expected outcome for the task
example — Examples that illustrate or support the task
postreq — The things a user must do after completing the task
related-links — Cross reference links to related information
Most of these tags are optional, so you only use the ones you need to author the topic.
Creating a Task
Working with DITA Topics