Key references and their usage

You can define a variable in a map and then insert it into a topic as a key, which is also known as a key reference or <keyref>.

A key provides you with consistent and efficient control of phrases or words you regularly reuse.

• Names or phrases: You can use keys to define items, such as product or product feature names. That way, if product or feature names change over time, you don't need to edit all the topics that contain their mention. Instead, you edit the key in the map that contains the related topic.
• Hyperlinks: You can use keys instead of direct hyperlinks, an <href>, to create context-aware references to other objects such as maps, topics, or images.
• Content references: You can combine the power of keys with the flexibility of a content reference, a <conref>, to create a <conkeyref>, which allows you to manage context-aware references that point to larger pieces of information.

While keys are powerful, their effective usage requires you to be aware of object relationships.