Getting Started with Org in WebFact

Welcome to ExtBit WebFact. For developers and technical writers who prefer the robust structure of Emacs Org-mode, WebFact offers first-class support for .org files.

Just like Markdown, WebFact compiles your Org repository into pre-rendered, lightning-fast static HTML, CSS, and JS chunks.

This guide covers everything you need to know about directory routing, metadata extraction, date management, and content authoring using Org syntax in WebFact.

1📁 Directory Structure & Automated Routing

Your /content directory is the single source of truth for your site's architecture. WebFact maps your folder hierarchy directly to public URLs without requiring manual routing configurations or database lookups.

1.1File Mapping Examples

Source File LocationCompiled Production URL
content/index.orghttps://yourdomain.com/index.html
content/about.orghttps://yourdomain.com/about.html
content/blog/2026/08/14/release.orghttps://yourdomain.com/blog/2026/08/14/release.html

💡 Tip: Standard index.org, index.md, or index.html files serve as directory landing pages and directory feeds.

2✍️ Writing Content Without Frontmatter

Traditional static site generators require verbose configuration blocks at the top of every file. WebFact eliminates this friction by inferring page metadata directly from your document's natural Org structure or through simple top-level directives.

#+title: Building Zero-Maintenance Websites
#+created: 2026-08-14
#+unlist: true

Dynamic platforms require continuous patching and database management. WebFact compiles text files straight into static edge bundles.

* Key Advantages

- *Zero Vulnerability Vectors:* No databases or server-side scripts to exploit.
- *Instant SEO:* Crawlers index pre-rendered HTML immediately.

2.1Metadata Extraction Rules

  1. Page Title (=<title>= & =<h1>=): Inferred automatically from the #+title: directive or the first Level 1 Heading (*) in the file.
  2. Summary / Excerpt: Extracted from the first non-heading paragraph. This summary is automatically supplied to blog list feeds and social media meta tags.
  3. Internal Links: Write links using local .org paths (e.g., [[../about.org][Learn More]]). The build engine rewrites these to production .html references during compilation.
  4. List Visibility: Use the #+unlist: true directive to explicitly hide an article from directory index feeds while keeping it accessible via direct URL routing.

3📅 Publication Dates & Feed Metadata

WebFact feeds (such as blog indexes or changelogs) automatically sort items by date. You can define publication dates using two flexible approaches:

3.1Method 1: Date-Based Path Routing (Recommended for Blogs)

Structure your post paths using standard /YYYY/MM/DD/ directory hierarchies. The WebFact build engine parses the year, month, and day directly from the directory path, assigning the timestamp to the article's list entry while maintaining collision-free URLs.

3.2Method 2: Org Directives

For standalone pages or files in flat directory structures, declare timestamps explicitly using the #+created: and #+updated: directives at the top of the file:
#+created: 2026-08-14
#+updated: 2026-08-15

# (Alternatively, you can use the combined time syntax)
#+time: 2026-08-14
#+time: created=2026-08-14 updated=2026-08-15
#+time: created="2026-08-14" updated="2026-08-15"
  • =created=: Initial publication date used for feed sorting.
  • =updated=: Revision date displayed on the page.
  • Localization: At build time, the engine converts these directives into a clean, localized string (e.g., August 14, 2026).

4🚀 Publishing Your Content

Publishing changes with WebFact is fully integrated into your standard Git workflow.

4.11. Save and Preview

When developing locally using the WebFact Webpack engine, saving any Org file triggers instant hot-reloading in your browser:
make serve

4.22. Commit and Push

When your draft is complete, push your changes to your content repository:
git add content/
git commit -m "docs: add guide on writing in org-mode"
git push origin main

4.33. Automated Edge Deployment

Your connected CI/CD pipeline (e.g., GitHub Actions) automatically triggers the WebFact factory compiler, builds your static bundle, and syncs the output to your edge hosting bucket (Cloudflare Pages, Google Cloud Storage, or S3).

Your updates go live globally in seconds—with zero server maintenance required.