title: Layout of a Zettel role: manual tags: #design #manual #zettelstore syntax: zmk back: 00001000000000 00001012053200 00001012053800 00001012054200 00001012920800 backward: 00001000000000 00001012053200 00001012053800 00001012054200 00001012920800 box-number: 1 copyright: (c) 2020-present by Detlef Stern created: 20210126175322 forward: 00001006010000 00001006020000 00001006030000 00001006050000 00001007000000 00001007031100 00001007040324 00001008010500 00001012053300 00001012053500 00001012053600 00001012920000 00001012920500 00001012920522 lang: en license: EUPL-1.2-or-later modified: 20251219141318 published: 20251219141318 visibility: public A zettel is composed of two main parts: __metadata__ and __content__. * Metadata provides information about the zettel itself, such as how it should be interpreted, categorized, and sorted within Zettelstore. It helps the system manage and organize the zettels efficiently. * Zettel Content refers to the actual information or notes within the zettel. In most cases, the content is in plain text format, which is ideal for long-term storage and readability. Plain text ensures that your notes remain accessible and usable over time. However, it is also possible to store content in binary format. Metadata has to conform to a [special syntax](00001006010000). It is effectively a collection of key/value pairs. Some keys have a [special meaning](00001006020000) and most of the predefined keys need values of a specific [type](00001006030000). Each zettel is given a unique [identifier](00001006050000). To some degree, the zettel identifier is part of the metadata. The zettel content is your valuable content. Zettelstore contains some predefined parsers that interpret the zettel content to the syntax of the zettel. This includes markup languages, like [Zettelmarkup](00001007000000) and [CommonMark](00001008010500). Other text formats are also supported, like CSS and HTML templates. Plain text content is always Unicode, encoded as UTF-8. Other character encodings are not supported and will never be. There is support for a graphical format with a text representation: SVG. And there is support for some binary image formats, like GIF, PNG, and JPEG. # Plain, parsed, and evaluated zettel Zettelstore may present your zettel in various forms, typically retrieved with the [endpoint](00001012920000) `/z/{ID}`. One way is to present the zettel as it was read by Zettelstore. This is called “[plain zettel](00001012053300)”. The second way is to present the zettel as it was recognized by Zettelstore. This is called “[parsed zettel](00001012053600)”, also retrieved with the [endpoint](00001012920000) `/z/{ID}`, but with the additional query parameter `parseonly`. Such a zettel was read and analyzed. It can be presented in various [encodings](00001012920500). However, a zettel such as this one you are currently reading, is a “[evaluated zettel](00001012053500)”, also retrieved with the [endpoint](00001012920000) `/z/{ID}` and specifying an encoding. The biggest difference to a parsed zettel is the inclusion of [block transclusions](00001007031100) or [inline transclusions](00001007040324) for an evaluated zettel. It can also be presented in various encoding, including the “zmk” encoding. Evaluations also apply to the metadata of a zettel, when appropriate. Please note, that searching for content is based on parsed zettel. Transcluded content will only be found in transcluded zettel, but not in the zettel that transcluded the content. However, you will easily pick up that zettel by following the [backward](00001006020000#backward) metadata key of the transcluded zettel.