📖 Book's opening pages 💾 File's metadata block

front matter

7.0

A block of information at the start of a digital file that gives title and date for website tools

noun
/frʌnt ˈmætər/

Texting

: metadatos

In Jekyll, the front matter at the top of a post sets layout, title, and date.

Examples

The static site generator failed because the page's front matter was missing the required permalink field.
Before converting, check that the document's front matter uses valid YAML keys for metadata extraction.
The front matter includes the title and author information.
Please check the front matter for any errors.
In Jekyll, the front matter at the top of a post sets layout, title, and date.
Before converting, check that the document's front matter uses valid YAML keys for metadata extraction.
The static site generator failed because the page's front matter was missing the required permalink field.

Antonyms

back matter

Specialized

1 6.0

Sections at the end of a book that give extra information like appendices and an index

Surface Forms

front matter singular

front matters plural

Morphology

front + matter

The phrase is literally the combination of 'front' (at the beginning) and 'matter' (written content), so a learner who knows both words can infer it means material located at the start of a document. While specialized senses (e.g. metadata in YAML/TOML) are technical, the basic idea 'content at the front' is directly compositional and predictable.

Etymology

Front matter in digital files takes the book idea: the front is the start and the matter is the information, so a small block at the top shows things like the 'title', 'date', or 'layout' to the tools that build the site. That's why people call this top block 'front matter'—it gives the page's basic details before the main content.