Docs Documentación

Object Columns

Complete reference for objects.csv columns with bilingual column name support. For column normalization and dual header support, see Project Columns.

Objects CSV (objects.csv / objetos.csv)

Catalogs all objects used in stories and displayed in the gallery.

Location: telar-content/spreadsheets/objects.csv or telar-content/spreadsheets/objetos.csv

If you use the Compositor, it manages objects.csv visually — you don’t need to edit this file directly.

Columns

English Spanish Required Description
object_id id_objeto Yes Unique identifier (lowercase, hyphens, underscores)
title titulo Yes Object title
description descripcion No Long-form description (markdown supported)
source_url url_fuente No IIIF image info.json or manifest URL
creator creador No Creator or artist name
period periodo No Historical period
year año No Year created or dated (used for gallery sorting)
medium medio_genero No Genre or medium of the object (e.g., “Photograph”, “Oil painting”)
dimensions dimensiones No Physical dimensions
source fuente No Location or repository (renamed from location in v0.8.0)
credit credito No Attribution or credit line
thumbnail miniatura No Path to thumbnail image
alt_text texto_alt No Alt text for accessibility (falls back to title if empty)
object_type tipo_objeto No Object classification (used for gallery filter)
subjects temas No Topical subjects, comma-separated (used for gallery filter)
featured destacado No Set to yes to feature on homepage

Custom metadata columns

Any columns you add beyond the 16 standard columns listed above are automatically displayed on object pages as additional metadata fields. The column name becomes the label and the cell value becomes the displayed text.

For example, adding material and technique columns to your spreadsheet:

object_id,title,material,technique
textile-001,Colonial Textile,Cotton and wool blend,Backstrap loom weaving

The values “Cotton and wool blend” and “Backstrap loom weaving” appear as extra metadata on the object page, labeled “material” and “technique” respectively.

Example

English:

object_id,title,description,creator,year,object_type,subjects,source,credit,featured,source_url
textile-001,Colonial Textile,A woven fragment showing complex patterns...,Unknown,1650,textile,"weaving, colonial",National Museum,Public Domain,yes,
map-lima,Map of Lima,Early colonial map showing city layout,Juan de Cuellar,1685,map,"cartography, Lima",British Library,,no,https://example.org/iiif/map/info.json

Spanish:

id_objeto,titulo,descripcion,creador,año,tipo_objeto,temas,fuente,credito,destacado,url_fuente
textil-001,Textil Colonial,Un fragmento tejido con patrones complejos...,Desconocido,1650,textil,"tejido, colonial",Museo Nacional,Dominio Público,si,
mapa-lima,Mapa de Lima,Mapa colonial temprano...,Juan de Cuellar,1685,mapa,"cartografía, Lima",Biblioteca Británica,,no,https://ejemplo.org/iiif/mapa/info.json

Field Notes

object_id / id_objeto

description / descripcion

source_url / url_fuente

year / año

source / fuente

medium / medio_genero

alt_text / texto_alt

object_type / tipo_objeto

subjects / temas

featured / destacado

credit / credito

thumbnail / miniatura

Column Aliases

Normalized Accepts
object_id object_id, id_objeto, objeto, object, id
title title, titulo
description description, descripcion
creator creator, creador
period period, periodo
year year, año, ano
medium medium, medio, medio_genero, medium_genre, object_type, tipo_objeto
dimensions dimensions, dimensiones
source source, fuente, location, ubicacion
credit credit, credito
thumbnail thumbnail, miniatura
alt_text alt_text, texto_alt
subjects subjects, temas, materias, materia
featured featured, destacado
source_url source_url, url_fuente
iiif_manifest iiif_manifest, manifiesto_iiif (legacy)

For the best gallery experience with browse, search, and filter:

  1. Fill in medium for every object — this powers the type filter
  2. Add subjects with 2-4 comma-separated terms — this powers the subjects filter
  3. Include year for chronological sorting
  4. Mark 4-6 objects as featured: yes for the homepage sample
  5. Write meaningful description fields — the search indexes these for full-text search

File Organization

telar-content/spreadsheets/
├── project.csv              # Story metadata
├── objects.csv              # Object catalog
├── colonial-textiles.csv    # Story steps (using story_id)
├── trade-routes.csv         # Another story
└── glossary.csv             # Glossary terms (optional)

Migration from v0.7.x to v0.8.0

New columns (optional)

Add these to your objects.csv if you want gallery filtering and sorting:

Column Purpose
year Enables sort-by-year in gallery
object_type Enables type filter in sidebar
subjects Enables subjects filter in sidebar
featured Controls homepage object sample

Renamed columns

Old (v0.7.x) New (v0.8.0) Notes
location source Old name still works

No breaking changes. All v0.7.x CSVs work without modification.

Validation

Telar validates object CSV data during build:

Errors (build fails):

Warnings (build succeeds):

Check build output for validation messages.

See Also