Glossary

asset: see item
attribute: A key-value pair that contains extra metadata about an item or a layout.
compilation: The act of filtering and laying out all items in a site, according to routing rules, compilation rules and layout rules.
compilation rule: A rule that defines how an item should be filtered and/or laid out.
content file: A file containing the actual content of an item or a layout. Usually, there will also be a meta-file containing metadata about that item or layout, although some data sources (e.g. filesystem) merge the content file and the meta-file into a single file.
data source: An object that reads data from a given location and turns this data into items and/or layouts. By default, data can be read from the filesystem, but data sources for databases and online web services are also possible.
filter: An object that transforms content from one format into another format. There are filters that evaluate embedded Ruby code (erb, haml), filters that transform from text to HTML (bluecloth, redcloth), filters that “clean” HTML (rubypants), and more.
helper: A module that offers additional functionality such as easy linking to pages, building XML site maps or Atom web feeds.
identifier: A string that is used to uniquely identify an item or a layout. It is used to construct paths of item representations. See the Identifiers and patterns page for details.
item: The main piece of unprocessed content in a site. This can be an HTML page, a CSS file, a script file, etc. An item can have multiple representations. It is sometimes referred to as a page or an asset.
layout: An object consisting of content and metadata that embeds content from items or layouts. For example, it can be used to add headers, footers, and sidebars to pages.
layout rule: A rule that specifies what filter should be used when processing a layout.
metadata: A collection of attributes, usually stored in a meta-file, for an item or a layout.
meta-file: A file containing metadata about an item or a layout. It is usually paired with a content file. Some data sources put the metadata and the content in a single file.
output directory: The directory to which compiled item representations are written.
path: A string containing the path, relative to the output directory, to a compiled item representation.
page: see item
partial: A layout that is not used for embedding content, but rather used for being embedded in layouts or items using the Rendering helper.
rep: see representation
representation: A "version" of an item. For example, an item can have an HTML, an XHTML, a JSON and a YAML representation. A single representation corresponds to one output file (or zero, if the representation does not have a path).
routing rule: A rule that defines what path a representation should get.
rule: A bit of code that defines how an item should be processed (routed using a routing rule and compiled using a compilation rule), or which filter should be used for processing a given layout in a layout rule.
site: A directory containing items, layouts, rules and custom code. It can also refer to the compiled site, which can be found in the uncompiled site’s output directory.