Frontmatter Reference

Complete field-by-field guide to all frontmatter options.

What is Frontmatter?

Frontmatter is the section at the top of every .md file between --- lines. It contains metadata about your entry.

---
draft: false
title: "My Project"
date: 2024-01-15
---

Content goes here below the frontmatter.

Think of frontmatter as a form that tells the system about your content.

Required Fields

Every entry MUST have these fields:

Field	What It Does	Format	Example
`type`	Entry type — controls filter label and project-only features	Lowercase text	`type: award`
`draft`	Controls visibility	`true` or `false`	`draft: false`
`title`	Main heading	Text in quotes	`title: "Casa Marianella"`
`date`	When it happened	YYYY-MM-DD	`date: 2023-06-15`

type

What it does: Sets the entry's type — determines its filter label in the index and which fields apply (e.g. only projects get galleries and collaborators).

Format: Lowercase text, no quotes

Standard values: project, news, award, feature, lecture, exhibition, staff

Custom values: You can invent any type — it will appear as a filter option automatically.

Example:

type: award

Note: Entries in entries/projects/ should use type: project. All other entries live in entries/other/ and use any other type value.

draft

What it does: Controls whether the entry appears on the site.

Values:

draft: false — Published (visible on site)
draft: true — Hidden (won't appear in index or have a page)

When to use draft: true:

Work in progress
Content not ready to publish
Outdated entries you want to hide (but not delete)

Example:

draft: false

title

What it does: The main name/heading shown everywhere (index, project pages, navigation).

Format: Text in quotes

Tips:

Keep it concise (2-6 words usually)
Use title case: "Casa Marianella" not "casa marianella"
Don't include taglines here (use subtitle instead)

Example:

title: "Wolf Creek Ranch"

date

What it does: When this entry happened. Determines sort order (newest first by default).

Format: YYYY-MM-DD (four-digit year, two-digit month, two-digit day)

Examples:

date: 2023-06-15
date: 2024-01-01
date: 2022-12-31

Note: For projects, you can use year instead if you only want to show the year.

Common Optional Fields

These fields work for ALL entry types:

subtitle

What it does: Tagline or brief description shown below the title.

Format: Text in quotes

Example:

subtitle: "Community Housing and Resource Center"

Tips:

Keep it short (3-8 words)
Adds context without cluttering the title
Appears in Column 2 of the index, below the title

position

What it does: Overrides date-based sorting. Lower numbers appear first.

Format: Number (no quotes)

Example:

position: 1

When to use:

Feature a specific entry at the top
Control order of entries with the same date
Group related entries together

Default: Entries are sorted by date (newest first) if no position is set.

Project-Specific Fields

These fields ONLY work for entries with type: project in entries/projects/:

year

What it does: Show only the year instead of the full date in the index.

Format: Four-digit number (no quotes)

Example:

year: 2023

When to use:

When exact date isn't important
When you only know the year
For cleaner display in the index

Note: Still include date for sorting purposes.

collaborators

What it does: Lists partners, contractors, engineers, etc. who worked on the project.

Format: List of objects with name and role

Example:

collaborators:
  - name: "Structural Innovations"
    role: "Structural Engineer"
  - name: "GreenBuild Contractors"
    role: "General Contractor"
  - name: "EcoDesign Consultants"
    role: "Sustainability Consultant"

Display: Shows in Column 3 of the index, below categories.

Tips:

Use quotes around names and roles
List primary collaborators first
Be specific with roles

location

What it does: Geographic location of the project.

Format: Text in quotes

Example:

location: "Austin, TX, USA"

Tips:

Be specific: city, state, country
Optional but helpful for context

status

What it does: Current status of the project (Built, In Progress, Proposed, etc.).

Format: Text in quotes

Example:

status: "Built"

Tips:

Use consistent values: "Built", "In Progress", "Proposed", "Concept"
Helps visitors understand project phase

featured

What it does: Marks a project as featured so it appears in the Featured Projects section on the homepage.

Applies to: Projects only (type: project). For awards, use showInAwardsTable instead.

Format: true or false (no quotes)

Example:

featured: true

Tips:

featured: true — project appears in the Featured Projects section on the homepage
featured: false (default) — normal display only
Add a featured.jpg to the project folder to use a different image on the homepage than the main header.jpg (see Image Guide)

featuredPosition

What it does: Controls the display order of projects within the Featured Projects section on the homepage.

Format: Number (no quotes)

Example:

featuredPosition: 1

When to use:

Control which featured project appears first, second, etc.
Override the default order (which follows the global position field)

Default: Projects without featuredPosition sort after those that have it set.

Note: Only applies to projects with featured: true.

description (Projects)

What it does: Short project summary.

Format: Text in quotes

Example:

description: "A community resource center providing housing and support services for immigrants and refugees"

Tips:

1-2 sentences
Focus on what the project is, not how great it is
Avoid jargon

Update-Specific Fields

These fields work for non-project entries (news, award, feature, lecture, exhibition, staff):

link

What it does: External URL. Makes the title clickable and opens in a new tab.

Format: Full URL in quotes starting with https://

Example:

link: "https://archleague.org/article/emerging-voices-2022/"

When to use:

Award ceremony announcements
Press articles on external sites
Lecture event pages
Exhibition gallery websites

Tips:

Always use full URL (including https://)
Test the link to make sure it works
Prefer stable URLs (not temporary event pages)

description (Updates)

What it does: Summary text shown in Column 3 of the index.

Format: Text in quotes

Example:

description: "LowDO selected for the prestigious Emerging Voices program recognizing emerging architecture studios"

Tips:

1-2 sentences
Concise and informative
Appears in the index, not on a detail page (updates don't have detail pages)

relatedProjects

What it does: Links an award, feature, news, or other entry to one or more projects. The entry will appear in the "Awards & Recognition" section on each linked project page.

Format: List of project folder slugs (no quotes needed on list items)

Example — one project:

relatedProjects:
  - wolf-creek-ranch

Example — multiple projects:

relatedProjects:
  - wolf-creek-ranch
  - casa-marianella
  - river-house

When to use:

Linking awards to the projects they recognize
Connecting press features to related projects
Showing lectures or exhibitions related to specific projects
Any time you want an entry to appear in a project's "Awards & Recognition" section

Tips:

Use the folder name of the project (the slug in the URL, e.g. /project/wolf-creek-ranch/ → wolf-creek-ranch)
Only works for non-project entries in entries/other/
The entry will display on each project page with its title, categories, and date
If the entry has a link field, the title will be clickable

Example: Linking an award to multiple projects

In entries/awards/design-excellence/design-excellence.md:

---
draft: false
title: "Design Excellence Award"
subtitle: "American Institute of Architects"
date: 2024-05-15
categories:
  - AWARD
relatedProjects:
  - wolf-creek-ranch
  - casa-marianella
link: "https://example.com"
---

The award will appear in the "Awards & Recognition" section of both /project/wolf-creek-ranch/ and /project/casa-marianella/.

showInAwardsTable

What it does: Shows this entry in the Awards & Recognition table on the homepage.

Applies to: Non-project entries only (typically type: award). This field is ignored on projects — use featured for projects instead.

Format: true or false (no quotes)

Example:

showInAwardsTable: true

Tips:

showInAwardsTable: true — entry appears in the Awards table on the homepage (title, organization, year)
showInAwardsTable: false (default) — entry is not shown in the homepage Awards table
This field works regardless of the entry's type — if you rename type: award to something else, the entry will still appear in the table

Field Type Guide

Text (String)

Use quotes around text values:

title: "My Title"
subtitle: "My Subtitle"
description: "Description text here"

Number

No quotes for numbers:

position: 1
year: 2023

True/False (Boolean)

No quotes:

draft: false
draft: true

List (Array)

Use dashes and indentation:

categories:
  - HOUSING
  - DESIGN
  - SUSTAINABLE

Each item on a new line, indented, starting with -.

List of Objects

Nested structure with dashes and indentation:

collaborators:
  - name: "Partner Name"
    role: "Their Role"
  - name: "Another Partner"
    role: "Another Role"

Each object starts with -, properties indented below.

Complete Examples

Project Example

---
draft: false
title: "Wolf Creek Ranch"
subtitle: "Residential Development"
date: 2022-11-20
year: 2022
categories:
  - HOUSING
  - SUSTAINABLE
  - RESIDENTIAL
collaborators:
  - name: "Structural Innovations"
    role: "Structural Engineer"
  - name: "EcoDesign Consultants"
    role: "Sustainability Consultant"
description: "A sustainable residential development in the Texas Hill Country"
position: 1
featured: true
featuredPosition: 1
---

Award Example

---
draft: false
title: "Emerging Voices Award"
subtitle: "Architectural League of New York"
date: 2021-12-31
categories:
  - AWARD
  - PRESS
link: "https://archleague.org/article/emerging-voices/"
description: "Selected for prestigious Emerging Voices program"
showInAwardsTable: true
---

News Example

---
draft: false
title: "Studio Expansion"
subtitle: "New Office in East Austin"
date: 2024-01-10
categories:
  - NEWS
  - STUDIO
description: "LowDO opens second office location to better serve East Austin community"
---

Common Mistakes

❌ Wrong: Missing quotes

title: Casa Marianella
subtitle: Community Housing

✅ Correct:

title: "Casa Marianella"
subtitle: "Community Housing"

❌ Wrong: Wrong date format

date: 01/15/2023
date: Jan 15, 2023

✅ Correct:

date: 2023-01-15

❌ Wrong: Quotes on numbers

year: "2023"
position: "1"

✅ Correct:

year: 2023
position: 1

❌ Wrong: Inconsistent indentation

categories:
- HOUSING
  - DESIGN

✅ Correct:

categories:
  - HOUSING
  - DESIGN

❌ Wrong: Using collaborators for non-projects

# In entries/news/announcement/
collaborators:
  - name: "Someone"

✅ Correct: Collaborators only work in entries/projects/

Validation

If your entry doesn't appear or looks wrong:

Check indentation - Use 2 spaces, not tabs
Check quotes - Text needs quotes, numbers/booleans don't
Check format - Date must be YYYY-MM-DD
Check syntax - Use a YAML validator: https://www.yamllint.com/

Next Steps

Adding a Project - Use these fields in practice
Adding News/Awards - For non-project entries
Category Guidelines - Choose categories

Questions?

See Common Issues for troubleshooting.