---
title:  Frontmatter and keys
blurb:  Examine all of the different frontmatter keys and their use in a single
        location.
layout: template-logo-medium
---
<%= md_links %>
<%= md_images %>


<%= current_page.data.title %>
==============================

<%= current_page.data.blurb %>


Frontmatter
-----------
Frontmatter is metadata that is included at the top of every content page but
will not be present in the output. It is used to provide information to
_Middleman_ and _Middlemac_ on a page by page and group basis.

Here is the frontmatter from this very page’s source file:

~~~ yaml
---
title:  Frontmatter and keys
blurb:  Examine all of the different frontmatter keys and their use in a single
        location.
layout: template-logo-medium
---
~~~

You can also specify your own frontmatter keys and values. All frontmatter is
available for use in your pages and templates via `current_page.data`, e.g.,
`current_page.data.title`.

Also know that if you want to style content that will be rendered to HTML in
the frontmatter, such as in a blurb, then HTML is required. HAML and Markdown
do not touch content in the frontmatter. For example, if you want to emphasize
text in a blurb, you will have do to something like this example:

~~~ yaml
blurb: I must <em>emphasize</em> that going to war with an empty treasury is bad.
~~~


Middlemac Frontmatter Keys
--------------------------

`title`
 : The page title will be used in to the HTML `<title>` tag for every page,
   and more importantly, will be the text displayed for links by all of
   _Middlemac_’s built-in partials.

`blurb`
 : The blurb will be used as a description for a link for the included
   _Middlemac_ partials that render indexes. This help documentation also
   repeats the blurb at the top of every article.

`layout`
 : Specify the layout or template to use to render the page. If you don’t
   specify a layout, then the `layout-html4` layout will be used by default.

`xhtml`
 : Specify this key if you want to force a page to use the `layout-xhtml`
   layout instead of an html4 layout. You should never do this, though, except
   for the main, top-level landing page. Apple’s help specifications require
   HTML4.

`order`
 : Set the sorting/display order for a particular file within its group.

`navigate`
 : When used in a group’s parent (i.e., the `index.html` for the group) then
   members of the group will display the page navigator buttons.

`navigator`
 : When set to `false`, overrides the display of the page navigator for this
   page only.

`target`
 : Indicates which [targets][targets] and [features][features] this page is
   applicable for.

`exclude`
 : Indicates which [targets][targets] and [features][features] this page should
   be hidden from.