1+++
2title = "templates and sections"
3date = 2026-04-18
4+++
5
6zola uses [tera](https://keats.github.io/tera/) for templating. this site uses four templates:
7
8- `base.html` — shared layout with header, nav, footer, and CSS
9- `index.html` — homepage that lists posts
10- `section.html` — section pages (like the posts listing)
11- `page.html` — individual content pages
12
13## content organization
14
15content is organized in sections (folders with `_index.md`):
16
17```
18content/
19  _index.md          # homepage
20  about.md           # standalone page
21  posts/
22    _index.md        # posts section
23    hello-world.md   # a post
24```
25
26each section can set `sort_by = "date"` in its frontmatter to order pages chronologically.
27
28## frontmatter
29
30every content file starts with TOML frontmatter between `+++` markers:
31
32```toml
33+++
34title = "my page"
35date = 2026-04-19
36description = "optional description"
37+++
38```