frontmatter

Front matter refers to the portion of a publication that appears before the main text. In books and manuscripts, it includes the preliminary material that introduces the work, such as the title page, half title, copyright page, dedication, epigraph, table of contents, lists of figures or tables, foreword, preface, acknowledgments, and author biography. The exact composition and order vary by genre, publisher, and cultural tradition. In print editions, front matter is usually paginated separately with Roman numerals and precedes the main matter, which begins with Chapter 1.

Front matter serves to identify the work, frame its purpose, provide credits, and help readers navigate the book. It also supplies metadata such as publication date and edition. Some editions omit certain items, and digital formats may relocate, replace, or omit components to suit e-book layouts and navigation.

In manuscript practice, front matter is distinct from back matter. The front matter often carries roman numeral pagination and may include logistics such as licensing or permissions; in scholarly editions it can contain a preface or introduction that precedes the main text.

In computing, front matter refers to metadata at the start of a file. YAML front matter is common in static site generators and is delimited by three dashes at the top and bottom. It contains key-value pairs such as title, date, author, layout, and tags. Some systems support JSON or TOML as alternatives, and the front matter is used to populate templates without appearing in the rendered content.

Overall, front matter is a flexible concept that appears in publishing and digital content workflows. It provides identification, navigation, and structure, while keeping the main text separate from metadata and auxiliary information.