Markdown metadata format

Question

Is there a standard or convention for embedding metadata in a Markdown formatted post, such as the publication date or post author for conditional rendering by the renderer?

Answer 1

Correct.

Use the yaml front matter key-value syntax — like MultiMarkdown supports — but (ab)use the official markdown URL syntax to add your metadata.

… my workaround looks like this:

---
[//]: # (Title: My Awesome Title)
[//]: # (Author: Alan Smithee)
[//]: # (Date: 2018-04-27)
[//]: # (Comment: This is my awesome comment. Oh yah.) 
[//]: # (Tags: #foo, #bar)  
[//]: # (CSS: https://path-to-css)  
---

Put this block at the top of your .md doc, with no blank line between the top of the doc and the first ---.

Your fake yaml won't be included when you render to HTML, etc. … it only appears in the .md.

You can also use this technique for adding comments in the body of a markdown doc.