ref: bca567faea70bbb0efcbd4cd71d29146bd1cbaed
parent: 0c49370ca07b219476697d684da0356ae5ff5936
author: digitalcraftsman <[email protected]>
date: Fri Sep 16 13:05:38 EDT 2016
docs: Clarify usecase of data files Fixes #1769
--- a/docs/content/extras/datafiles.md
+++ b/docs/content/extras/datafiles.md
@@ -22,7 +22,9 @@
## The Data Folder
-As explained in [Source Organization](/overview/source-directory/), the `data` folder is where you can store additional data for Hugo to use when generating your site. These files must be YAML, JSON or TOML files (using either the `.yml`, `.yaml`, `.json` or `toml` extension) and the data will be accessible as a `map` in `.Site.Data`.
+The `data` folder is where you can store additional data for Hugo to use when generating your site. Data files aren't used to generate standalone pages - rather they're meant supplemental to the content files. This feature can extend the content in case your frontmatter would grow immensely. Or perhaps your want to show a larger dataset in a template (see example below). In both cases it's a good idea to outsource the data in their own file.
+
+These files must be YAML, JSON or TOML files (using either the `.yml`, `.yaml`, `.json` or `toml` extension) and the data will be accessible as a `map` in `.Site.Data`.
**The keys in this map will be a dot chained set of _path_, _filename_ and _key_ in file (if applicable).**