# Page config

The front matter is the stuff enclosed in 3 dashes at the top of the page. The front matter is used to configure the settings specific to that page, such as the **title** and **permalink**. Example of front matter below.

```
---
title: This is my title
permalink: /this-is-my-page/
---
```

Specific pages like the [home page](https://app.gitbook.com/configuration/home/overview/) and contact us page have more configuration options, such as the content in the hero banner or the phone numbers displayed.

The way the front matter is structured is called [YAML](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/YAML). You can think of it as a language used to specify data in a way that can be read and understood by Isomer.

Like all languages, YAML has its own 'grammar', known as syntax. Syntax are a list of rules that you have to follow in order for the YAML to be properly understood. There are quite a number of rules in YAML, but we'll just cover what you need to know.

**The most important thing in YAML is the spacing.** Certain lines have extra spaces at the front. See this sample extract from a **home page's (index.md file)** front matter:

```
resources:
  title: Media
  subtitle: Learn more
  button: Contact Us
```

In this example, there is a `resources` section. The `title`, `subtitle`, and `button` properties each have 2 spaces at the front. This means that the 3 properties are describing the `resources` section, instead of the whole page.

The next thing you should know about YAML are lists. Here's an extract from a dropdown menu in **navigation.yml**:

```
options:
  - title: Option A
    url: /page-a/
  - title: Option B 
    url: /page-b/
  - title: Option C
    url: /page-c/
```

A dropdown menu will have multiple options. This is when we need to use a list. Each item in a list is specified by adding a dash (`-`). Note that `url`, which is part of the option together with `title`, must be vertically aligned with `title`.

This is more or less what you need to know for YAML. Don't worry if you don't know the specific options to use for each page - you can always refer to the [configuration options](https://app.gitbook.com/configuration/navbar/overview/) for the details. All you need right now is to understand when the extra spaces are needed, and when lists are needed.

As a final note, if you have special characters like `#` in your YAML, it is a good idea to wrap the entire text in double quotes, like so:

```
title: "#hashtags"
```