Core vocabulary

The 52 reserved node names that need no definition — the resolver skips binding lookup for them and every renderer ships a handler. Grouped below by category, one entry per node, each with the HTML it emits, the parameters it honours, and its context. Also here: the node opaque container and the two special-cased renderers (table, bibliography).

Unresolved fallbacks

When a name binds to nothing, the renderer emits a marker span rather than failing silently.

Headings — 6

@h1 Title h1@            → <h1>Title</h1>
@h2(id sec) A h2@        → <h2 id="sec">A</h2>

Any level is legal at any nesting depth; the theme styles h1 through h6. Fixture: 18-core-vocab/headings.wit.

Inline marks — 10

Each wraps its body in the same-named tag. All are inline-context and take id / class only — except br, which is void (no body, no params).

@strong Bold strong@       → <strong>Bold</strong>
@code x < y code@          → <code>x &lt; y</code>
Line one@br break          → Line one<br>break

and strong are the explicit form of _italic_ and *bold* — identical HTML, useful when the token-wrap rule of the marks gets in the way. codeescapes its body; it is not a raw node — for verbatim text use @@code … code@@. Fixture:18-core-vocab/inline-marks.wit.

Lists — 6

@ul
@li First li@
@li Second li@
ul@

@dl
@dt Term dt@
@dd Definition dd@
dl@

These are hand-authored lists. For data-driven lists prefer a collection def plus (each) — see data model. Fixture: 18-core-vocab/lists.wit.

Links and media — 6

Typed renderers: each has its own param set, not the id/class allowlist.

a

@a |href /x| Go a@              → <a href="/x">Go</a>
@a |href /x| |target _blank| Go a@ → <a href="/x" target="_blank">Go</a>

Only href and target survive; id / class are not emitted for anchors. Inline-context.

img

Void. src / alt / width / height are raw attributes; size and aligncompile to an inline style.

@img |src p.jpg| |alt A| |size medium| |align center|

Emits:

<img src="p.jpg" alt="A" style="max-width:380px;height:auto;display:block;margin-left:auto;margin-right:auto">

→ block-centred; right / left→ block with the opposite auto-margin. Presets and pixel values cap (max-width); full and percents fill (width). Fixture:18-core-vocab/links-and-media.wit.

figure

Block. align sets text-align on the figure's contents (image and caption together); a capped sizecentres the figure box.

@figure |align center|
@img |src p.jpg| |alt A|
@figcaption Cap figcaption@
figure@

Emits:

<figure style="text-align:center"><img src="p.jpg" alt="A"><figcaption>Cap</figcaption></figure>

figcaption / audio / video

@audio |src clip.mp3| |controls!| audio@
→ <audio src="clip.mp3" controls></audio>

The body of audio / video renders inside for fallback text or source elements. Fixture:18-core-vocab/links-and-media.wit.

Tables — 8

is dispatched to the complex renderer (see the tables reference); the core-vocab branch is only a fallback. The other seven are hand-authored table parts.

Most authors use @table |rows …| rather than assembling parts by hand. Fixture: 19-tables/*.

Blocks — 4

@blockquote A quote blockquote@ → <blockquote><p>A quote</p></blockquote>
@hr                             → <hr>

escapes its body (whitespace preserved by the theme); for unescaped raw text use @@pre … pre@@. Fixture: 18-core-vocab/blocks.wit.

Sectioning — 7

Each emits its same-named HTML element (block; id / class). Pure semantic containers — the theme adds no styling beyond block flow. Good targets for @@style.

@nav(class toc) … nav@ → <nav class="toc">…</nav>

Generic containers — 2

@div(class card) Body div@ → <div class="card"><p>Body</p></div>
@span note span@           → <span>note</span>

The building blocks for author-defined layout. Fixture: seeded from a built snippet (not in fixture 18).

Layout — 2

An invisible flex band and its columns — side-by-side content without floats.

row

Emits a fixed-style flex container; no params honoured beyond the body.

<div style="display:flex;gap:1.5rem;align-items:flex-start;flex-wrap:wrap;margin:1.2em 0">…</div>

col

A flex child. size sets its width; no size fills the remaining space.

@row
@col |size 220| Left col@
@col Right col@
row@

Emits:

<div style="display:flex;…"><div style="flex:0 0 220px;min-width:0"><p>Left</p></div><div style="flex:1 1 0;min-width:0"><p>Right</p></div></div>

Columns wrap (stack) when the row is too narrow. Put an image in one column and prose in another for a side-by-side. Fixture: built snippet.

Other — 1

@cite The Book cite@ → <cite>The Book</cite>

Cross-cutting entries

node — opaque dispatch

If type names a core-vocab node, render as that element; otherwise emit a div carrying every named param as a data-* attribute (the key is sanitised).

@node(type h2) T node@         → <h2>T</h2>
@node(type box, role note) Hi node@
  → <div data-type="box" data-role="note"><p>Hi</p></div>

20-opaque-node/*.

bibliography — special renderer

Not core vocab and has no HTML element of its own. Entries are contributed with additive +#bibliography: value-blocks; a bare @bibliography then expands them, each contribution on its own line. The dedicated renderer wraps a literal bibliography body in <div class="wit-bibliography"> and gives each entry its own paragraph (stripping one wrapping paragraph so APA runs do not collide).

#reference_entry ||author, year, title||
::author:: (::year::). ::title::.
reference_entry#

+#bibliography:
@reference_entry
author: Boud, D.
year: 2001
title: Using journal writing
reference_entry@
!!

@bibliography

23-form-fill/bibliography-style.wit.

Raw-text elements

@@style … style@@ and @@script … script@@ emit their body verbatim (unescaped; guarded against a nested closing tag). Every other @@@ raw node escapes its Text body.

@@style .lead { color: red } style@@ → <style>.lead { color: red }</style>

Standalone record / collection

A node use whose body is exactly one record or collection literal renders as <table class="wit-record"> / <ul class="wit-collection">. Ordinary record-arg syntax attaches records as params, so normal authoring rarely reaches this legacy path.

See also

· Tables · Data model · Errors · Limitations.