{meta} says in the template what a page with PHP would say in its .php - so a plain .pad, or an .html file dropped into the application, can set its title or its layout. Like {extends} it is no tag that renders: the {meta} tags are read while the page is assembled - after the PHP of _inits.php and of the page itself, before the template renders - and taken out of the text. Their values are expressions and may use the PHP's variables.

• layout= frames the page with a layout, exactly as {extends} does.
• cache= is the page's own cache time in an application whose page cache is on; 0 or false keeps the page out. It is read from the file before the cache is consulted, so only a plain value counts there.
• access= and sitemap= are kept for others to read: padMeta ( 'access' ) for the page being built, padMeta ( 'sitemap', 'reports/monthly' ) from another page's file; sitemap=false leaves a page out of {sitemap}.
• Any other name becomes a variable of the page: title= is $title, which the wrapper's <title> shows.

A page may hold more than one {meta}. Every example on this site starts with one - its title and about line are what the indexes show. The tag must stand directly in the page's own template, outside any other tag; anywhere else it is an error under the strict check, as is a name that is not a valid variable name.