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General documentation fixes #2463

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General documentation fixes #2463

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3f5deb1
docs: Clarify `section` page + fix grammar issues
onkoe Mar 19, 2024
7cf7526
docs(fix): Grammar mistakes in `shortcodes.md`
onkoe Mar 19, 2024
1086e46
docs(fix): Grammar pass over `overview.md`
onkoe Mar 19, 2024
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37 changes: 19 additions & 18 deletions docs/content/documentation/content/overview.md
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Expand Up @@ -3,9 +3,7 @@ title = "Overview"
weight = 10
+++

Zola uses the directory structure to determine the site structure.
Each child directory in the `content` directory represents a [section](@/documentation/content/section.md)
that contains [pages](@/documentation/content/page.md) (your `.md` files).
Zola determines your site's structure from its directories. Each child folder in the `content` directory represents a separate [section](@/documentation/content/section.md)[^1]that contains [pages](@/documentation/content/page.md) (your `.md` files).
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What do you think of https://zola.discourse.group/t/proposal-deprecate-sections/1968 ?


```bash
.
Expand All @@ -22,11 +20,11 @@ that contains [pages](@/documentation/content/page.md) (your `.md` files).
└── _index.md // -> https://mywebsite.com/landing/
```

Each page path (the part after `base_url`, for example `blog/cli-usage/`) can be customised by changing the `path` or
Each page path (the part after `base_url`, for example `blog/cli-usage/`) can be customized by changing the `path` or
`slug` attribute of the [page front-matter](@/documentation/content/page.md#front-matter).

You might have noticed a file named `_index.md` in the example above.
This file is used to store both the metadata and content of the section itself and is not considered a page.
This file is used to store both the metadata and content of the section itself, and is not considered a page.

To ensure that the terminology used in the rest of the documentation is understood, let's go over the example above.

Expand All @@ -38,16 +36,15 @@ Sections can be nested indefinitely.

## Asset colocation

The `content` directory is not limited to markup files. It's natural to want to co-locate a page and some related
The `content` directory is not limited to markup files. It's natural to want to colocate a page and some related
assets, such as images or spreadsheets. Zola supports this pattern out of the box for both sections and pages.

All non-Markdown files you add in a page/section directory will be copied alongside the generated page when the site is
built, which allows us to use a relative path to access them.

Pages with co-located assets should not be placed directly in their section directory (such as `latest-experiment.md`), but
Pages with colocated assets should not be placed directly in their section directory (such as `latest-experiment.md`), but
as an `index.md` file in a dedicated directory (`latest-experiment/index.md`), like so:


```bash
└── research
├── latest-experiment
Expand All @@ -72,10 +69,11 @@ It is possible to ignore selected asset files using the
[ignored_content](@/documentation/getting-started/configuration.md) setting in the config file.
For example, say that you have several code files which you are linking to on your website.
For maintainability, you want to keep your code in the same directory as the Markdown file,
but you don't want to copy the build folders to the public web site. You can achieve this by setting `ignored_content` in the config file:
but you don't want to copy the build folders to the public website. You can achieve this by setting `ignored_content` in the config file:

(Note of caution: `{Cargo.lock,target}` is _not_ the same as `{Cargo.lock, target}`)
```

```toml
ignored_content = ["code_articles/**/{Cargo.lock,target}, *.rs"]
```

Expand All @@ -90,7 +88,7 @@ JavaScript) in the root of the static directory. You can also place any HTML or
you wish to be included without modification (that is, without being parsed as Markdown files)
into the static directory.

Note that the static directory provides an _alternative_ to co-location. For example, imagine that you
Note that the static directory provides an _alternative_ to colocation. For example, imagine that you
had the following directory structure (a simplified version of the structure presented above):

```bash
Expand All @@ -103,15 +101,18 @@ had the following directory structure (a simplified version of the structure pre
```

To add an image to the `https://mywebsite.com/blog/configuration` page, you have three options:
* You could save the image to the `content/blog/configuration` directory and then link to it with a
relative path from the `index.md` page. This is the approach described under **co-location**

* You could save the image to the `content/blog/configuration` directory and then link to it with a
relative path from the `index.md` page. This is the approach described under **colocation**
above.
* You could save the image to a `static/blog/configuration` directory and link to it in exactly the
same way as if you had co-located it. If you do this, the generated files will be identical to those
obtained if you had co-located the image; the only difference will be that all static files will be saved in the
* You could save the image to a `static/blog/configuration` directory and link to it in the same way as if you had colocated it.
If you do this, the generated files will be identical to those
obtained if you had colocated the image; the only difference will be that all static files will be saved in the
static directory rather than in the content directory. The choice depends on your organizational needs.
* Or you could save the image to some arbitrary directory within the static directory. For example,
you could save all images to `static/images`. Using this approach, you can no longer use relative links. Instead,
* Or you could save the image to some arbitrary directory within the static directory. For example,
you could save all the images to `static/images`. Using this approach, you can no longer use relative links. Instead,
you must use an absolute link to `images/[filename]` to access your
image. This might be preferable for small sites or for sites that associate images with
multiple pages (e.g., logo images that appear on every page).

[^1]: Zola only considers content folders as sections if they contain an `_index.md` file.
47 changes: 30 additions & 17 deletions docs/content/documentation/content/section.md
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Expand Up @@ -3,12 +3,16 @@ title = "Section"
weight = 20
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A section is created whenever a directory (or subdirectory) in the `content` section contains an
`_index.md` file. If a directory does not contain an `_index.md` file, no section will be
created, but Markdown files within that directory will still create pages (known as orphan pages).
A section is a collection of pages that's located within the `content/` folder. For example, on a blog, you may have a `content/posts/` folder. This `posts` folder would contain your blog posts.

In addition to containing posts, every section has its own `_index.md` file that describes it and its posts. Like other parts of Zola, you can easily add different localizations by adding another file. For example, sites aiming to support French may give `_index.md` a matching `_index.fr.md`.

If a folder is created in the `content/` directory, but it doesn't contain an `_index.md` file, Markdown files inside will still be rendered. However, no section will be created. The resulting pages are known as *orphan pages*.

## Creation

The homepage (i.e., the page displayed when a user browses to your `base_url`) is a section,
which is created whether or not you add an `_index.md` file at the root of your `content` directory.
which is created regardless of whether you add an `_index.md` file at the root of your `content` directory.
If you do not create an `_index.md` file in your content directory, this main content section will
not have any content or metadata. If you would like to add content or metadata, you can add an
`_index.md` file at the root of the `content` directory and edit it just as you would edit any other
Expand All @@ -19,27 +23,27 @@ Any non-Markdown file in a section directory is added to the `assets` collection
Markdown file using relative links.

## Drafting
Just like pages sections can be drafted by setting the `draft` option in the front matter. By default this is not done. When a section is drafted it's descendants like pages, subsections and assets will not be processed unless the `--drafts` flag is passed. Note that even pages that don't have a `draft` status will not be processed if one of their parent sections is drafted.

Just like pages, sections can be drafted by setting the `draft` option in the front matter. Sections are not drafted by default. When Zola encounters a drafted section, it will not process its descendants, including pages, subsections, and assets. Please note that even pages that don't have a `draft` status will not be processed if one of their parent sections is drafted.

## Front matter

The `_index.md` file within a directory defines the content and metadata for that section. To set
the metadata, add front matter to the file.

The TOML front matter is a set of metadata embedded in a file at the beginning of the file enclosed by triple pluses (`+++`).
The TOML front matter is a set of metadata embedded in a file at the beginning of the file, enclosed by triple pluses (`+++`).

After the closing `+++`, you can add content, which will be parsed as Markdown and made available
to your templates through the `section.content` variable.

Although none of the front matter variables are mandatory, the opening and closing `+++` are required.

Note that even though the use of TOML is encouraged, YAML front matter is also supported to ease porting
legacy content. In this case the embedded metadata must be enclosed by triple minuses (`---`).
legacy content. In this case, the embedded metadata must be enclosed by triple minuses (`---`).

Here is an example `_index.md` with all the available variables. The values provided below are the
default values.


```toml
title = ""

Expand Down Expand Up @@ -130,7 +134,7 @@ by setting the `paginate_path` variable, which defaults to `page`.
## Sorting

It is very common for Zola templates to iterate over pages or sections
to display all pages/sections in a given directory. Consider a very simple
to display all pages/sections in a given directory. Consider a basic
example: a `blog` directory with three files: `blog/Post_1.md`,
`blog/Post_2.md` and `blog/Post_3.md`. To iterate over these posts and
create a list of links to the posts, a simple template might look like this:
Expand All @@ -156,22 +160,26 @@ If several pages have the same date/weight/order, their permalink will be used
to break the tie based on alphabetical order.

## Sorting pages

The `sort_by` front-matter variable can have the following values:

### `date`

This will sort all pages by their `date` field, from the most recent (at the
top of the list) to the oldest (at the bottom of the list). Each page will
get `page.lower` and `page.higher` variables that contain the pages with
earlier and later dates, respectively.

### `update_date`
Same as `date` except it will take into account any `updated` date for the pages.

Same as `date` except it will account for any `updated` date for the pages.

### `title`

This will sort all pages by their `title` field in natural lexical order, as
defined by `natural_lexical_cmp` in the [lexical-sort] crate. Each page will
defined by `natural_lexical_cmp` in the [lexical-sort] crate. Each page will
get `page.lower` and `page.higher` variables that contain the pages
with previous and next titles, respectively.
with previous and next titles, respectively.

For example, here is a natural lexical ordering: "bachata, BART, bolero,
μ-kernel, meter, Métro, Track-2, Track-3, Track-13, underground". Notice how
Expand All @@ -180,23 +188,27 @@ special characters and numbers are sorted reasonably.
[lexical-sort]: https://docs.rs/lexical-sort

### `title_bytes`

Same as `title` except it uses the bytes directly to sort.
Natural sorting treats non-ascii
characters like their closest ascii character. This can lead to unexpected
Natural sorting treats non-ASCII
characters like their closest ASCII character. This can lead to unexpected
results for languages with different character sets. The last three characters
of the Swedish alphabet, åäö, for example would be considered by the natural
sort as aao. In that case the standard byte-order sort may be more suitable.
of the Swedish alphabet, åäö, for example, would be considered by the natural
sort as aao. In that case, the standard byte-order sort may be more suitable.

### `weight`

This will sort all pages by their `weight` field, from the lightest weight
(at the top of the list) to the heaviest (at the bottom of the list). Each
page gets `page.lower` and `page.higher` variables that contain the
pages with lighter and heavier weights, respectively.

### `slug`

This will sort pages or sections by their slug in natural lexical order.

### Reversed sorting

When iterating through pages, you may wish to use the Tera `reverse` filter,
which reverses the order of the pages. For example, after using the `reverse` filter,
pages sorted by weight will be sorted from lightest (at the top) to heaviest
Expand All @@ -205,9 +217,10 @@ to newest (at the bottom).

`reverse` has no effect on `page.lower` / `page.higher`.

If the section is paginated the `paginate_reversed=true` in the front matter of the relevant section should be set instead of using the filter.
If the section is paginated, the `paginate_reversed=true` in the front matter of the relevant section should be set instead of using the filter.

## Sorting subsections

Sorting sections is a bit less flexible: sections can only be sorted by `weight`,
and do not have variables that point to the heavier/lighter sections.

Expand Down