# Customizing HTML with a .properties file

You can also use a .properties file to reference a set of build parameters when building output with the dita command. The DITA-OT documentation uses a .properties file to include custom CSS, header branding, and table-of-contents navigation in the HTML5 output.

## Procedure

1. Create a .properties file to store the parameter settings for your customization.
   Tip:
   You can use one of the sample .properties files from the DITA-OT documentation as a starting point for your own customizations. These files are available in the installation folder under docsrc/samples/properties/.

   For example:

   Figure 1. The docsrc/samples/properties/sequence-html5.properties file

       # Directory that contains the custom .css file:
       args.cssroot = ${args.input.dir}/css/

       # Custom .css file used to style output:
       args.css = style.css

       # Copy the custom .css file to the output directory:
       args.copycss = yes

       # Location of the copied .css file relative to the output:
       args.csspath = branding

       # Generate a full navigation TOC in topic pages:
       nav-toc = full

2. Reference your .properties file with the dita command when building your output.

       dita --input=my.ditamap --format=html5 --propertyfile=my.properties

## Results

Note:
For an example of HTML output generated using this method, see the HTML5 version of the DITA-OT documentation included in the installation folder under doc/index.html.