Metadata
The link and date of each post are generated from the contents and creation date of the file. You can override this and other metadata at the start of the file:
Date: July 3rd, 2025 Link: introduction Metadata is optional. It must be separated from the rest of the post by at least one blank line. You must leave a space after the colon between the metadata property (e.g. 'Date') and its value.
Metadata reference
Title |
By default is the text of the first heading in the post or the file’s name.
You should generally only set this metadata when you want to show a different title for the post or page in your site’s menu or on your archives page. It is best practice to either rename the source file or use a heading in the post itself.
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Date |
By default is the file’s creation date. Specify a different date in the file’s metadata with one of the supported formats. You can also change a post’s date using the file’s path.
The publication date for a post is copied from the file’s creation date. You can set your own date using your folder or in the file’s metadata, like this: Blot supports many date formats. You can use dashes, slashes, dots and underscores to separate the numbers in the date You can specify a post’s date in its path. For example, all of these files become posts with the same date and time:
Please note that a date specified inside a file in its metadata will override a date extracted from its path. |
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Link |
By default is a URL-friendly version of the post’s title. Specify a different link in the file’s metadata, or adjust the default link format. The leading slash is optional. Do not include a protocol or the host of your site.
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Tags |
Use tags to connect posts with similar subjects. Specify tags in the file’s metadata or in its path. Here’s an example post with two tags in its metadata:
Tags are case-insensitive and may contain whitespace. Blot picks the case you used most recently when displaying the tag on your site. You can add tags to a post in the file’s name or path. Include the tag, wrapped in brackets. For example, all of these files become posts tagged Pictures and Sicily.
If you specify tags in both the file’s metadata and its path, Blot will combine them. |
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Comments |
Determines whether comments are enabled on the post or the page. Can be Yes or No. By default is Yes for posts and No for pages. Has no effect if comments are disabled in the site settings.
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Summary |
By default is the text of the first sentence of the first paragraph in the file. Some templates make use of this metadata, others do not.
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Teaser |
By default is the first few paragraphs of the post. You can specify the end of the teaser using the {{more}} tag:
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Search |
Determines whether a post is included in your site’s search results. Can be Yes or No. By default is Yes for posts and No for pages.
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Thumbnail |
By default is the first image or video thumbnail in the post with both a height and width greater than 64 pixels. You can specify a URL, or a path to an image in your site’s folder. | ||||
Draft |
Determines whether a file becomes a draft. Can be ’Yes’ or ’No’. By default is ’No’ unless the file is inside a folder called ’Drafts’. | ||||
Page |
Determines whether a file becomes a page or a post. Can be ’Yes’ or ’No’. By default is ’No’ unless the file is inside a folder called ’Pages’. | ||||
Menu |
Determines whether a file appears on your site’s menu. Can be ’Yes’ or ’No’. By default is ’Yes’ for pages and ’No’ for posts. | ||||
Slug |
Used to generate the URL for a post or page as part of your site’s link format setting. |
Custom metadata
You can also define your own metadata for use in your template.
Metadata in HTML files
You can use a comment at the start of an HTML file to specify metadata.
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<!--
Date: July 3rd, 2025
Link: /metadata
-->
The comment containing metadata in an HTML file
<b>must</b> start on the file's first line.
Metadata in YAML front matter
You can also use YAML front matter to declare the metadata for your post:
--- Date: July 3rd, 2025 Link: Apple --- Blot is able to extract the metadata from this post too.
Schedule a post for publication in future
If you specify a date in the future, your post will be scheduled for publication at that future date. You can verify the date of publication if you click on the file on your dashboard.
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