I’m frurstrated. My compile format is not inserting a title page, so I’m ready to create one for myself, but to do that I need to know the field names and the short code for inserting field names in a compile section layout. I can find no references to this online or in any of the manuals I have, all of which focus on much more basic features. I cannot get compile to work without a lot of coding. And Scrivener seems to want to hide the information I need inorder to actually create a project format from scratch. so if someone could recommend a book on programming, or a blog post, or anything, really, that would give me the short code formats and field names so I can get on with this project.
Help menu / placeholders is what they are called. (Assuming I understand what you want.)
There is a complete detailed list. (Help menu)
Scrivener is not hiding anything. I suspect you expect a specific terminology you brought from somewhere else.
Start fresh, everything is there. “Where” is where you need to be patient and learn things right.
@AntoniDol has written a book (Mastering Scrivener) that might potentially help you. Link is on his profile.
Otherwise the manual is complete with everything one needs to know.
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The complete list of placeholder tags can be found in the Help menu, along with an explanation of what each of them does.
To create a Compile Format “from scratch,” duplicate and edit the Default format, as it is the simplest option available. To create a “project format” from scratch, use the Blank Project Template, which again is the simplest option available.
The manual devotes two full chapters to the Compile command, but if you have a specific question plenty of people here would be happy to help.
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I think a primary point of confusion may be that there is no title page feature in the software, it being primarily a writing program rather than a book creation tool. That said you can certainly splice one in by just putting a section into the binder, calling it “title page” and then typing stuff into it (some of the project templates have such an example). So in a sense you’re on the right track it sounds like, but maybe over-complicating things a bit—for example you can use placeholder tags for that if you want to, but you do not have to.
Unless you start getting into using the compiler to reformat your work, that should all there is to it. In that case you could either go the route of styling the title page text (probably the route I would take as that is the cleaner approach in terms of document design), or learning the section type/layout system enough to give the title page (and probably other exceptions like the dedication and copyright pages) a special Section Type that leaves the text formatting alone. The interactive tutorial covers enough to get you started down that path if you need it.