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PSML elements

This collection of documents provides a comprehensive list of PSML elements and attributes. It has been updated to PSML v1.4.

  • When uploading PSML and overwriting an existing document, PageSeeder only modifies the document if there have been changes. If there are changes to white-space only this will NOT trigger a modification. Also changes to <metadata> and <uri> are ignored unless the upload option “Overwrite metadata and document properties” is checked.
  • In the event of a difference between the documentation and the PSML XSD schemas, treat the schema as the authoritative source.

Structural elements

ElementDescription
<document>PSML document
<section>Section
<toc>Table of content placeholder
<fragments>Fragment container (level="metadata" only)
<fragment>PSML fragment with general content
<media-fragment>Fragment for media types other than PSML
<properties-fragment>PSML fragment with a set of properties
<xref-fragment>PSML fragment with a list of cross-references

Metadata elements

Metadata elements do not form part of the PSML content and are generally descendants of either <documentinfo> or <fragmentinfo>.

ElementDescription
<author>Author of version
<compare>Details of compared fragment
<compareto>Details of compared document
<content>Content of note / compared document
<description>Description of document or version
<diff>Difference between versions
<displaytitle>Display title of URI
<documentinfo>Container for document level metadata
<fragmentinfo>Container for fragment level metadata
<fragment-ref>Reference to fragment in structure
<labels>List of document / fragment labels
<locator>Fragment locator
<metadata>Document metadata
<note>Note on a fragment
<notes>List of notes on a fragment
<properties>Metadata properties
<version>Version information of a document
<versions>List of document versions
<reversexref>Reverse reference to a document / fragment
<reversexrefs>List of reverse references
<section-ref>Reference to section in structure
<structure>Structure of compared document
<toc-ref>Reference to TOC in structure
<uri>Underlying URI for a document

Block level elements

Block level elements can either be positioned as blocks or act as containers for other elements. 

ElementBlock levelDescription
<block>position+contentLabeled block 
<blockxref>positionBlock cross-reference
<caption>contentTable caption
<cell>contentTable cell
<hcell>contentTable header cell (deprecated)
<heading>position+contentHeading
<item>contentList item
<list>positionGeneral list
<nlist>positionNumbered list
<para>position+contentParagraph
<preformat>position+contentPreformatted text
<table>positionTable

Character-style elements

Character-style elements can only appear within a block-level container. Except for <br/> and <image/> which are empty and <xref/> and <placeholder/> which can only contain text, they can be intertwined with text and other character style elements.

ElementDescription
<bold> Bold text
<br> Line break
<inline> Inline label
<image> Image
<italic> Italic text
<link> Link
<anchor> Anchor
<monospace> Monospace text
<placeholder> Placeholder variable content
<sub> Subscript text
<sup> Superscript text
<underline> Underlined text
<xref> Inline cross-reference

Context-specific elements

Elements which have neither block-level or character-style properties and can only be used in a specific context.

ElementContextDescription
<col>tableTable column
<property>properties-fragmentProperty
<row>tableTable row
<toc-part>toc-treeTable of contents part
<toc-tree>tocGenerated table of contents
<value>propertyProperty value
<markdown>propertyMarkdown value
Created on , last edited on