---
title: "Formatting"
teaching: 10
exercises: 0
questions:
- "How are Software Carpentry lessons formatted?"
objectives:
- "Explain the header of each episode."
- "Explain the overall structure of each episode."
- "Explain why blockquotes are used to format parts of episodes."
- "Explain the use of code blocks in episodes."
keypoints:
- "Lesson episodes are stored in _episodes/dd-subject.md."
- "Each episode's title must include a title, time estimates, motivating questions, lesson objectives, and key points."
- "Episodes should not use sub-headings or HTML layout."
- "Code blocks can be have the source, regular output, or error class."
- "Special sections are formatted as blockquotes that open with a level-2 header and close with a class identifier."
- "Special sections may be callouts or challenges; other styles are used by the template itself."
---
A lesson consists of one or more episodes,
each of which has:

*   a [YAML][yaml] header containing required values
*   some teachable content
*   some exercises

The diagram below shows the internal structure of a single episode file
(click on the image to see a larger version):

<a href="{{ site.root }}/fig/episode-format.png"><img src="{{ site.root }}/fig/episode-format-small.png" alt="Formatting Rules" /></a>

## Locations and Names

Episode files are stored in `_episodes` so that [Jekyll][jekyll] will create a [collection][jekyll-collection] for them.
Episodes are named `dd-subject.md`,
where `dd` is a two-digit sequence number (with a leading 0)
and `subject` is a one- or two-word identifier.
For example,
the episodes of this example lesson are
`_episodes/01-tooling.md`
`_episodes/02-formatting.md`,
and `_episodes/03-organization.md`.
These become `/01-tooling/index.html`, `/02-formatting/index.html`, and `/03-organization/index.html` in the published site.
When referring to other episodes, use:

{% raw %}
    [link text]({{ site.root }}/dd-subject/)
{% endraw %}

i.e., use the episode's directory path below the site root
*without* the `index.html` (which the web server fills in automatically).
This will ensure that the link is valid both when previewing during desktop development
and when the site is published on GitHub.

## Episode Header

Each episode's [YAML][yaml] header must contain:

*   the episode's title
*   time estimates for teaching and exercises
*   motivating questions
*   lesson objectives
*   a summary of key points

These values are stored in the header so that [Jekyll][jekyll] will read them
and make them accessible in other pages as `site.episodes.the_episode.key`,
where `the_episode` is the particular episode
and `key` is the key in the [YAML][yaml] header.
This lets us do things like
list each episode's key questions in the syllabus on the lesson home page.

> ## Raw Text
>
> Markdown in YAML values in the header is *not* rendered when the value is used elsewhere.
{: .callout}

## Episode Structure

The episode layout template in `_layouts/episode.html` automatically creates
an introductory block that summarizes the lesson's teaching time,
exercise time,
key questions,
and objectives.
It also automatically creates a closing block that lists its key points.
In between,
authors should use only:

*   paragraphs
*   images
*   tables
*   ordered and unordered lists
*   code samples (described below).
*   special blockquotes (described below)

Authors should *not* use:

*   sub-headings
*   HTML layout (e.g., `div` elements).

## Formatting Code

Inline code fragments are formatted using back-quotes.
Longer code blocks are formatted by opening and closing the block with `~~~` (three tildes),
with a class specifier after the block:

    ~~~
    for thing in collection:
        do_something
    ~~~
    {: .source}

which is rendered as:

~~~
for thing in collection:
    do_something
~~~
{: .source}

The class specified at the bottom using an opening curly brace and colon,
the class identifier with a leading dot,
and a closing curly brace.
The [template]({{ site.template_repo }}) provides three styles for code blocks:

*   `.error`: error messages.
*   `.output`: program output.
*   `.source`: program source.

> ## Why No Syntax Highlighting?
>
> We do not use syntax highlighting for code blocks
> because some learners' systems won't do it,
> or will do it differently than what they see on screen.
{: .callout}

## Special Blockquotes

We use blockquotes to group headings and text
rather than wrapping them in `div` elements.
in order to avoid confusing [Jekyll][jekyll]'s parser
(which sometimes has trouble with Markdown inside HTML).
Each special blockquote must started with a level-2 header,
but may contain anything after that.
For example,
a callout is formatted like this:

~~~
> ## Callout Title
>
> text
> text
> text
>
> ~~~
> code
> ~~~
{: .callout}
~~~

(Note the empty lines within the blockquote after the title and before the code block.)
This is rendered as:

> ## Callout Title
>
> text
> text
> text
>
> ~~~
> code
> ~~~
{: .callout}

The [lesson template]({{ site.template_repo }}) defines styles
for the following special blockquotes:

<div class="row">
  <div class="col-md-6" markdown="1">

> ## .callout
>
> An aside or other comment.
{: .callout}

> ## `.challenge`
>
> An exercise.
{: .challenge}

> ## `.checklist`
>
> Checklists.
{: .checklist}

> ## `.keypoints`
>
> Key points of an episode.
{: .keypoints}

  </div>
  <div class="col-md-6" markdown="1">

> ## `.objectives`
>
> Episode objectives.
{: .objectives}

> ## `.prereq`
>
> Prerequisites.
{: .prereq}

> ## `.testimonial`
>
> A laudatory quote from a user.
{: .testimonial}

  </div>
</div>

Most authors will only use `.callout`, `.challenge`, and `.prereq`,
as the others are automatically generated by the template.
Note that `.prereq` is meant for describing things that learners should know before starting this lesson;
setup instructions do not have a particular style,
but are instead put on the `setup.md` page.

[jekyll]: http://jekyllrb.com/
[jekyll-collection]: https://jekyllrb.com/docs/collections/
[yaml]: http://yaml.org/
