435 lines
17 KiB
Markdown
435 lines
17 KiB
Markdown
+++
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title = "Zola"
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description = "Zola is a static site generator"
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date = 2025-05-01T18:00:00+00:00
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updated = 2021-05-01T18:00:00+00:00
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template = "section.html"
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sort_by = "weight"
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weight = 4
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draft = false
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[taxonomies]
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documentation=["Reference"]
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categories=["Web Development", "Static Site Generation", "Zola"]
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+++
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[Zola](https://getzola.org) is a static site generator written in
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[Rust](../rust). It is a single binary that builds an entire web site out of a
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collection of markdown documents in a folder-structured hierarchy, using a
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corresponding collection of HTML templates, which in turn use a corresponding
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collection of SASS collection and a collection of HTML templates. The templating
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language is called [Tera](https://tera.netlify.app).
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If you need anything else (Typescript built into Javascript, templates other
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than Zola's internal, static file conversion, etc.), you'll need separate
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toolchains for those.
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## Mental Model for Zola
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A website built with Zola originates with the `content/` folder. Inside that
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folder, every markdown document and every folder creates a corresponding page in
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the constructed website. There are only *two* models you have to understand
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Zola: *sections* and *pages*.
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A *section* is a folder with a file named `_index.md` in it; note the
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underscore, which signifies the section definition file. For these documents, a
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[`Section` model](#section) is the default context object received by the
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template. Each markdown document in the same folder, and each folder immediately
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underneath this folder that has an `index.md` folder (note the lack of
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underscore) is a *page* and receives the [`Page` model](#page) as the default
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context.
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Every markdown document has two parts: a frontmatter block, written in TOML, and
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the content, written in Markdown. Whether a `section` or `page` context is
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passed by default, if there is content the `.content` field will be the HTML
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output of the markdown in the document.
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Every folder, whether containing an `_index.md` or `index.md` file, can contain
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co-located assets such a images, videos, and even Javascript. These will be
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found in the `.assets` field of the context object (the use of co-located assets
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in why a folder can be a page).
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Whether a `Page` or a `Section`, the corresponding context object provides means
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by which every template has access to the metadata (and even the content!) of
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every other markdown document, arranged in the hierarchy described in the
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`content` folder.
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### Recommendation
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1. Design your document hierarchy first.
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2. Construct your content folder to support that hierarchy.
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3. Build the `Section` template for the home page.
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4. Build the `Section` template for your level two sections
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5. Build the corresponding `Page` templates.
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6. Worry about Sass afterward
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## Running Zola
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Zola has only a few commands:
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- `zola init` - Starts a new Zola project. Creates the structure described in
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the next section, especially if you enable sass.
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- `zola serve` - Starts a localhost webserver to serve your content for demo.
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- `zola build` - Builds a Zola project into a collection of static HTML.
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- `zola check` - Check that the current site is coherent
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- `zola help` - This list!
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## Project Layout
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Zola uses a simple layout of content and support, with a single configuration
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file. The configuration file has two parts: a root which controls compilation,
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and an `[extra]` section that provides data and details that will be available
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to all templates during compilation.
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The following files and folders define a basic Zola project. Any other folders
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in a zola project are ignored.
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- `config.toml`: The configuration file. Uses the [TOML](https://toml.io/en/)
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configuration language.
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- `content/`: The structured content folder. All your "living" stuff goes here.
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- `sass/`: [Sass](../sass) is a CSS preprocessor language that makes CSS easier.
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- `static/`: Static content such as images, fonts, and Javascript
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- `templates/`: The HTML templates (and includes, etc) that define the website's
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layouts
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Every folder under the `content/` folder that has an `_index.md` file is
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considered a *section*, presenting a table of contents or other introductory
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matter. Every other markdown document in a section is considered a *page*.
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Zola uses different templates for sections versus pages, and individual pages
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and sections can choose alternative templates.
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A folder under a section that has an `index.md` file (note the lack of
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underscore prefix) is considered a *page*. This allows content writers to
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supply additional assets, such as images or data files, along with the contents
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of the page.
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## The Templating Language
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The Tera templating language looks a lot like Django's, or for that matter any
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number of templating languages. Every page generated with Tera receives a
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_context_, which can be thought of as a JSON object with which to populate the
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page (it is, technically, a [Serde::Serializable](https://serde.rs/)). Zola
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provides a large and complex context, which is explained further down.
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Tera has the following syntax. Everything within these markers is processed by
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Tera; everything outside is left untouched.
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- `{{` and `}}` for expressions
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- `{%` and `%}` for statements
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- `{#` and `#}` for comments
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Statements that have a dash as part of their delimiter remove all whitespace
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from around the delimiter. `{%-` says to eliminate all whitespace between this
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statement and anything that came before it; `-%}` says to eliminate everything
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that comes after it.
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### Statements
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#### `block`
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The `block` is probably the most important statement; it defines a chunk of
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content. When a template is created, it can define its whole content as a
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block, and it can define subsections (note: section is a heavily overloaded
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word) of itself. These blocks can be used as-is, or replaced when another
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template inherits them and overwrites them.
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You can inherit and extend a block with a `super()` command:
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``` jinja2
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{% block stylesheet %}
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{{ super() }}
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{# Insert your own stylesheet HTML here #}
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{% endblock %}
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```
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<aside>Note that using some of these templates in this document to *show* them
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required the use of the Unicode "zero-width" space (Ux200B;) to prevent Tera
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from interpreting them.</aside>
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#### `extends`
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The `extends` keyword imports one template into another. A file that `extends`
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that import then provides its own overrides or extensions for blocks found in
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the imported templates, substituting its own content and processing for that of
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the extended template.
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#### `set`
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Variables are set in a given scope with `set`:
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```jinja2
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{% set my_var = "hello" %}
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```
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Sets a variable `my_var`. Variables can contain booleans, floats, strings,
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integers, and arrays. There is a special syntax, `set_global`, that can be used
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to set variables one level up in scope when working inside `for` loops (i.e. in
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the outer scope containing the loop, preserving its content between iterations).
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#### `if`
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Conditional statements are managed with `if/is ... else ... endif`
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```jinja2
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{% if my_var is ... %} ... {% endif %}
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```
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The list of `is` tests that are shipped with Zola are:
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{{ definition_list(source="zola/predicates.json") }}
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#### `for`
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Arrays are iterated with the `for x in array/map ... endfor` syntax.
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```jinja2
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{% for name in users %}
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Hello: {{ name }}
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{% endfor %}
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```
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Maps will provide a key/value pair. The names of the two fields are arbitrary:
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```jinja2
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{% for name, label in options %}
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<option value="{name}">{label}</option>
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{% endfor %}
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```
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Array filters (see below) are invoked before the loop. The following will print
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the list in reverse order.
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```jinja2
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{% for name in users | reverse %}{{ name }}{% endfor %}
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```
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Loops have `continue` and `break` statements that can be invoked inside `if`
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blocks.
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#### `include`
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Include other content into the current template being rendered. Include strings
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cannot be built out of variables, but they _may_ be a list, in which case the
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first filename found is rendered. If the include block has the phrase 'ignore
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missing' at the end a missing file will not cause an error at build time.
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```jinja2
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{% include "header.html" %}
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```
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#### Macros
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Macros are blocks of template that can be passed variables; they're basically
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just big chunks of content that can be parameterized. Macros must be defined in
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a file separate from the main content and imported with a distinct syntax from
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`import`:
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```jinja2
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{% import "header.html" as header %}
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```
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The header macro can be invoked in that file like this:
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```jinja2
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{{ header::header("My Blog!") }}
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```
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And an example of this macro (again, in the `header.html` file) would look like this:
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```jinja2
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{% macro header(title) %}
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<header class="header">
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<h1>{ title }</h1>
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</header>
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{% endmacro %}
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```
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#### `raw`
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```jinja2
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{% raw %}Content {{ goes here }}{% endraw %}
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```
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Content within the `raw` block will not be processed.
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### Expressions
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Tera's `{{` ... `}}` syntax supports expressions, usually just evaluating the
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variable. There are a few basic operations and filters available, however:
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**Math And Logic Expressions**:
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{{ definition_list(source="zola/expressions.json") }}
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**Concatenation**:
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Strings can be concatenated with the `~` operator.
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**Filters**:
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Filters can be used to, well, filter and edit expressions. A filter is placed
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at the end of an expression with a pipe between them, i.e. `{{ name | upper }}`
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would upper-case the contents of the variable `name`.
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An entire chunk of HTML can be filtered by:
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``` jinja2
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{% filter filter_name %}
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...
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{% endfilter %}
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```
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The filters provided are:
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{{ definition_list(source="zola/filters.json") }}
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### Functions
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Only a few functions provide ad-hoc expressions in-line with template
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interpretation.
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- `range(end=n, start=0, [step_by=n])`: Generates an array of numbers.
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- `now(datetime, utc)`: Generates the current datetime.
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- `get_random(end=n, [start=0])`: Generates a random number
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- `get_env(name="s", default="d")`: Returns an environment variable
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- `get_page(path="p")`: Returns a the content of a page in the Zola content folder
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- `get_section(path="p")`: Returns the content of a Zola section (an `_index.md`) file as an
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object.
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- `get_taxonomy_url(kind="taxonomy", name=page.taxonomies.category)`: Returns the URL of a Zola taxonomy index
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- `get_url(path="p")`: Gets the generated URL for a document in the Zola content folder
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- `get_image_metadata(path="p")`: Gets the metadata for an image in Zola's static folder
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- `load_data(path="p")`: (Zola) Loads static data from a file. Understands TOML, JSON, CSV and
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BibTeX. Takes either `path=` or `url=` (!) as an argument.
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- `resize_image(path, width, height, op, format, quality)`: (Zola) Takes an
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image, resizes the image, and provides a link to the resized image.
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## Zola Content
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### Sections {#section}
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In Zola, every folder under `./content/` (including that folder itself) is
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potentially a _section_. Sections are basically Zola's version of the WWW
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`index` protocol. A section is defined by the presence of an `_index.md` file
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which contains both a TOML header (separated by `+++` above and below), and by
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some optional content. The TOML header _may_ specify which template to use to
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render the section info, otherwise Zola falls back to the default at
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`./templates/section.html`.
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The arguments that con be placed into the TOML header of a the `_index.md` file are:
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- `title`: a string
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- `description`: a string
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- `draft`: `true`/`false` if this section should be included in builds
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- `sort_by`: Sorting function to use: `date`, `title`, `weight`, or `none`
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- `weight`: Used to provide subsection weight to a parent section
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- `template`: The template to render this section. Defaults to `./templates/section.html`
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- `page_template`: The default template to render pages in this section. Pages with this field specified overide this setting
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- `paginate_by`: Number of pages to paginate by. Set to `0` for no pagination
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- `paginate_path`: The prefix for paginations. Default to "page"
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- `paginate_reversed`: boolean
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- `insert_anchor_links`: One of `left`, `right`, or `none`. Specifies whether an anchor-link should be provided for every header item. Probably overridable by the template.
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- `in_search_index`: Include this section in the search index. Only matters if search is enabled
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- `transparent`: `true`/`false`, specifies if this section should be inherited by the parent
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- `aliases`: An array of paths to redirect to this folder
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- `[extra]`: Your extra data block
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The context for a section page contains the following fields, which will be
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available to the template:
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- `content`: The content of the `_index.md` file
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- `title`: The Title found in the TOML part of `_index.md`
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- `description`: (optional): The description
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- `path`: As provided by Zola
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- `components`: The path, split into atoms
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- `permalink`: The URL for this page
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- `extra`: The contents of the TOML's `[extra.*]` blocks.
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- `pages`: An array of all child pages _in this same folder_.
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- `subsections`: An array of all child sections _in this same folder_.
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- `toc`: An array of `Header` objects: id, title, permalink, children (Which is itself
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an array of `Header` objects)
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- `word_count`: Unicode-smart.
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- `reading_time`: Number;
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- `assets`: An array of assets available in this section.
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- `ancestors`: An array of parent paths, with the root being the last one.
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### Pages {#page}
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A page is _either_ a markdown file within the same folder as its section, or it
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is in a subfolder with a file named `index.md` (note the lack of prefix
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underscore!). The latter syntax is preferred if the file has associated assets,
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such as JavaScript or images, that you want to load alongside the content within
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the markdown page.
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The following items can appear in the TOML header of a page:
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- `title`: The title of this page.
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- `description`: A description of this page
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- `date`: Date this page was published
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- `updated`: Date this page was updated
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- `weight`: A number, used for sorting
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- `draft`: Boolean. Specifies if this page should be rendered at build time
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- `slug`: String. The slug Zola should use when generating the URL
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- `path`: A manually specified absolute path to this content
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- `aliases`: An array of former urls that lead here, to redirect people here
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- `in_search_index`: If set to false and search is enabled, this page will not be included
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- `template`: The template used to render this page. Defaults to `./templates/page.html`
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- `[taxonomies]`: The taxonomies for this page
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- `[extra]`: Your own extra data
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Pages derive the following information in their context:
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- `content`: The markdown content from the page's file
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- `title`: The title, if present in the TOML block
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- `description`: The description
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- `date`: The date this file was added
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- `updated`: The date this file was last updated
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- `slug`: The slug name of this file
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- `path`: The path to this file
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- `draft`: true/false, will tell Zola not to include this file during builds
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- `components`: The path, split by '/'
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- `permalink`: The URL Zola generates for this file
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- `summary`: A provided string
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- `taxonomies`: The taxonomies list, if any
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- `extra`: The extras block
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- `toc`: An array of `Header` objects as derived from the Markdown
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- `word_count`: A naive word count
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- `reading_time`: A primitive reading time, in minutes
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- `earlier`: The content of the previous page, if the section header entry 'sort_by' is set to 'date.'
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- `later`: The content of the next page
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- `heavier`: The content of the previous page, if the section header entry 'sort_by' is set to 'weight'
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- `lighter`: The content of the next page
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- `year`: Year as a number.
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- `month`: Month as a number.
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- `day`: Day as a number.
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- `assets`: An array of assets available to this page.
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- `ancestors`: An array of parent paths, with the root being the last one.
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### Pagination
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Pagination is provided by a `Paginator` object available to the section page.
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The paginator will automatically generate multiple pages for the section, and
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will provide links to earlier/later pages within the collection.
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### Shortcodes
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Shortcodes are chunks of HTML or Markdown that you can store in the
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`./templates/shortcodes` folder. Shortcodes will be processed for variables, and
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Zola will create a corresponding named hook that will take those variables as
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named parameters, much like a Tera function, and return the processed HTML.
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### Internal links
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The relationship between a Markdown file and its generated content is
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deterministic, but not always readily apparent. If you want to link to content
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in another markdown file, you can use the link syntax `[my
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link](@/pages/about.md#example-code)`, which will generate a URL to the generated
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copy of that page, and will provide a header link to the header entitled
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"Example Code".
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### Taxonomies
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Taxonomies are a primitive organizational mechanism. You can create a list of
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taxonomies in the `config.toml` file, and then provide entries for those
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taxonomies in pages; those pages will then be included in the `taxonomies`
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collection. The Taxonomy pages are generated with list of various taxonomies
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and the collections of pages that relate to the taxonomy.
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