Front Matter
By Amr
How to use front matter for Jekyll pages, posts, and collections.
Estimated reading time: 3 minutes
Table of Contents
Front Matter
Front matter is YAML metadata at the top of Markdown or HTML files that controls how Jekyll processes the content.
Basic Structure
---
title: "My Page Title"
layout: default
permalink: /my-page/
---
Your content starts here...
Required Fields
For All Pages
---
title: "Page Title" # Required: Displayed in browser tab and headings
layout: default # Required: Template to use from _layouts/
---
For Blog Posts
---
title: "Post Title"
layout: journals
date: 2025-01-15 # Required for posts: Publication date
---
Common Optional Fields
SEO & Metadata
---
description: "A brief description for search engines (150-160 chars)"
author: "Your Name"
lastmod: 2025-01-20 # Last modified date
keywords:
primary: ["keyword1", "keyword2"]
secondary: ["keyword3"]
---
Organization
---
categories:
- category1
- subcategory
tags:
- tag1
- tag2
- tag3
permalink: /custom-url/ # Override default URL
---
Display Options
---
preview: /images/preview.png # Social sharing image
toc: true # Show table of contents
comments: true # Enable comments (if configured)
sidebar:
nav: docs # Use 'docs' navigation in sidebar
---
Layout Options
Available layouts in Zer0-Mistakes:
| Layout | Purpose |
|---|---|
default |
Standard page with sidebar |
journals |
Blog posts with metadata display |
home |
Homepage layout |
collection |
Collection index pages |
landing |
Full-width landing pages |
Collection-Specific Fields
Documentation (_docs)
---
difficulty: beginner # beginner, intermediate, advanced
estimated_time: "10 minutes"
prerequisites:
- Docker installed
- Basic Jekyll knowledge
updated: 2025-01-15
---
Blog Posts (_posts)
---
excerpt: "Custom excerpt for listings"
preview: /images/post-preview.png
featured: true # Feature on homepage
---
Navigation Sidebar
Control which navigation appears in the sidebar:
---
sidebar:
nav: docs # Uses _data/navigation/docs.yml
---
Available navigation files:
main- Primary site navigationdocs- Documentation sidebarquickstart- Quick start guide
Examples
Complete Documentation Page
---
title: "Installation Guide"
description: "Step-by-step installation instructions"
layout: default
categories:
- docs
- setup
tags:
- installation
- docker
permalink: /docs/installation/
difficulty: beginner
estimated_time: "10 minutes"
prerequisites:
- Docker Desktop
updated: 2025-01-15
sidebar:
nav: docs
---
Complete Blog Post
---
title: "Getting Started with Jekyll"
description: "Learn the basics of Jekyll static site generation"
layout: journals
date: 2025-01-15
lastmod: 2025-01-20
author: "Amr"
categories:
- tutorials
- jekyll
tags:
- jekyll
- getting-started
preview: /images/jekyll-tutorial.png
comments: true
---