Writing never shown

A layout builds pages that have writing and never asks for it, so each of those pages is published without its writing. The message names the layout, says how many pages it builds that way, and lists them.

A page’s writing is everything below its front matter. A layout puts it on the page with {{ page.content }}.

What you’ll see

warning  Writing never shown: 3 pages built by `templates/hollow.html` have writing it never shows
  Add `{{ page.content }}` where the writing belongs.
  More: https://statac.dev/e/writing-never-shown/

In the terminal the message also names the file and line where there is one, and marks the exact text.

Why Statac warns

The pages are built as the layout says, and a layout that leaves the writing out may be what you meant: a page of links, say, or a home page that only lists posts. Statac can’t tell that from a layout whose {{ page.content }} was forgotten, and what you wrote would be missing from the site without a word, so it says so once for each layout.

A layout shows the writing where it asks for page.content or page.excerpt, itself or in a template it extends or a snippet it calls. What only describes the writing, such as page.opening, page.words or page.toc, puts none of it on the page and doesn’t count. A page with front matter and nothing below it, or only HTML comments, has no writing to show and is never counted.

How to fix it

Where the writing belongs on the page, add {{ page.content }} to the layout.

Where it doesn’t, take the writing out of the pages the message lists, or keep it and quieten the warning with quiet: [writing-never-shown] in statac.yaml.

Example

templates/hollow.html shows a title and nothing else:

<h1>{{ page.title }}</h1>

content/post-1.md is built by it:

---
title: Post 1
layout: hollow
---
Post 1 says this.

The page is published with its title and without Post 1 says this. To show it:

<h1>{{ page.title }}</h1>
{{ page.content }}

Its name

Name	writing-never-shown
In the terminal	statac explain writing-never-shown
To stop showing it	quiet: [writing-never-shown] in statac.yaml, once you have understood it. Statac still counts it.