Static variables are the simplest type of keyword in the iWP Markup Language. A variable is nothing more than a placeholder for real data. If you have ever programmed before, you're probably aware of what a variable is. However, variables in iWebPress are defined slightly differently than in most other programming languages. To understand why these variables are called static, it is important to understand what a variable means in iWebPress.

In iWebPress variables comes in two forms: lists and statics. When a variable is a list, this means that the variable represents a list of data (see the introduction to lists section below for more information). Static variables, however, are placeholders for single bits of data. For instance, %paperName% will be replaced with The Daily Planet. You can easily recognize static variables because they do not have a list keyword after them. Lists always have a set of parenthesis following the variable (ex: %sectionName(#)%). For a list of variables, see the available variables section.