data cite

data-cite

Applies to: any element

Manually links an element to a specific term, section, or spec — or scopes all xref lookups within a container to a specific spec.

When to use data-cite

Situation	Use
Term is in the xref database	[=term=] shorthand (preferred)
Term is not exported by the defining spec	data-cite="SPEC#anchor" on a container
Linking to a section heading (not a term)	[[[SPEC#section-id]]] or data-cite="SPEC#section-id"
Linking to the spec itself (bibliography)	data-cite="SPEC"
Documenting a term defined elsewhere (re-exporting)	<dfn data-cite="SPEC#dfn-id">

Syntax

data-cite="[!]SPEC-ID[/path-to-doc][#fragment]"

• ! — normative citation (omit for informative)
• SPEC-ID — shortname from SpecRef
• /path-to-doc — sub-path for multi-page specs
• #fragment — anchor ID in the target document

Scoping xref lookups with data-cite on a container

When placed on any container element, data-cite scopes all {{IDL}}, [=term=], and [^element^] lookups within that element to the named spec. This is the preferred way to reference terms from specs not in your xref profile:

<section data-cite="fileapi">
  <p>The {{Blob}} interface represents raw binary data.
  A {{File}} is a {{Blob}} with a name.</p>
</section>

<li data-cite="fileapi">Assert: |data| is a {{Blob}}.</li>

<pre class="idl" data-cite="fileapi">
typedef (DOMString or Blob) DataSource;
</pre>

This is far cleaner than manually writing <a data-cite="fileapi#dom-blob">Blob</a> for every reference. The scoped spec is also added to the document's bibliography automatically.

Usage

<a data-cite="FETCH#concept-request">request</a>

<a data-cite="!FETCH#concept-request">request</a>

<p>The <dfn data-export data-cite="DOM#concept-event">event</dfn> is...</p>

<a data-cite="HTML#event-loop">event loop section of HTML</a>

<p>This is defined in [[FETCH]] — see <a data-cite="FETCH">the Fetch Standard</a>.</p>

<a data-cite="HTML/webappapis.html#event-loop">event loop</a>

<dfn data-cite> — re-exporting terms

When your spec needs to use and expose a term defined elsewhere, mark a local <dfn> with data-cite pointing to the canonical definition. This tells ReSpec where the term lives without defining it locally, and makes it linkable within your spec:

<!-- This lets other parts of your spec use [=request=] to link here -->
<p>A <dfn data-cite="FETCH#concept-request" data-export>request</dfn> is...</p>

Notes

• Browse spec shortnames and anchor IDs at respec.org/xref
• Always prefer [=term=] when the term is in the xref database — data-cite is for exceptions
• When using data-cite="SPEC" without a fragment, the spec is added to the bibliography automatically