diff --git a/code/DocumentationParser.php b/code/DocumentationParser.php
index fe5374c..61bbe54 100755
--- a/code/DocumentationParser.php
+++ b/code/DocumentationParser.php
@@ -44,7 +44,7 @@ class DocumentationParser {
 	public static function parse(DocumentationPage $page, $baselink = null) {
 		if(!$page || (!$page instanceof DocumentationPage)) return false;
 
-		$md = $page->getMarkdown();
+		$md = $page->getMarkdown(true);
 		
 		// Pre-processing
 		$md = self::rewrite_image_links($md, $page);
diff --git a/code/DocumentationService.php b/code/DocumentationService.php
index 453fba1..4b3747f 100755
--- a/code/DocumentationService.php
+++ b/code/DocumentationService.php
@@ -76,6 +76,20 @@ class DocumentationService {
 	 * @var bool
 	 */
 	private static $automatic_registration = true;
+
+	/**
+	* by default pagenumbers start high at 10.000
+	* 
+	* @var integer 
+	*/
+	private static $pagenumber_start_at = 10000; 
+
+	/**
+	 * allow the use of key/value pairs in comments 
+	 *  
+	 * @var boolean 
+	 */
+	private static $meta_comments_enabled = false;	
 	
 	/**
 	 * Return the allowed extensions
@@ -138,6 +152,43 @@ class DocumentationService {
 	public static function automatic_registration_enabled() {
 		return self::$automatic_registration;
 	}
+
+	/** 
+	 * set the number to start default pagenumbering, allowing room for 
+	 * custom pagenumbers below.
+	 * 
+	 * @param int $number
+	 */
+	public static function start_pagenumbers_at($number = 10000) {
+		if (is_int($number)) self::$pagenumber_start_at = $number;
+	}
+
+	/**
+	 * return the startlevel for default pagenumbering
+	 * 
+	 * @return int
+	 */
+	public static function get_pagenumber_start_at() {
+		return self::$pagenumber_start_at;
+	} 
+
+	/**
+	 * Allow the use of key/value pairs in comments? 
+	 * 
+	 * @param bool $allow
+	 */
+	public static function enable_meta_comments($allow = true) {
+		self::$meta_comments_enabled = (bool) $allow;
+	} 
+	
+	/**
+	 * can we use key/value pairs 
+	 * 
+	 * @return bool
+	 */
+	public static function meta_comments_enabled() {
+		return self::$meta_comments_enabled;
+	}	
 	
 	/**
 	 * Return the entities which are listed for documentation. Optionally only 
@@ -459,6 +510,7 @@ class DocumentationService {
 	 */
 	public static function get_pages_from_folder($entity, $relativePath = false, $recursive = true, $version = 'trunk', $lang = 'en') {
 		$output = new ArrayList();
+		$metaCommentsEnabled = self::meta_comments_enabled(); 
 		$pages = array();
 		
 		if(!$entity instanceof DocumentationEntity) 
@@ -475,6 +527,7 @@ class DocumentationService {
 		}
 
 		if(count($pages) > 0) {
+			$pagenumber = self::get_pagenumber_start_at(); 
 			natsort($pages);
 			
 			foreach($pages as $key => $pagePath) {
@@ -497,12 +550,17 @@ class DocumentationService {
 				// does this page act as a folder?
 				$path = $page->getPath();
 				if (is_dir($path)) { $page->setIsFolder(true); }
-
+				
+				$page->setPagenumber($pagenumber++); 
+				
+				// we need the markdown to get the comments
+				if ($metaCommentsEnabled) $page->getMarkdown();
+				
 				$output->push($page);
 			}
 		}
 		
-		return $output;
+		return ($metaCommentsEnabled)? $output->sort('pagenumber') : $output; 
 	}
 	
 	/**
diff --git a/code/models/DocumentationPage.php b/code/models/DocumentationPage.php
index b5a20d2..2345a63 100755
--- a/code/models/DocumentationPage.php
+++ b/code/models/DocumentationPage.php
@@ -42,6 +42,12 @@ class DocumentationPage extends ViewableData {
 	 */
 	protected $isFolder = false;
 
+	/**
+	 *
+	 * @var integer
+	 */
+	protected $pagenumber = 0; 	
+	
 	/**
 	 * @param Boolean
 	 */
@@ -56,6 +62,14 @@ class DocumentationPage extends ViewableData {
 		return $this->isFolder;
 	}
 
+	/**
+	 * 
+	 * @param int $number
+	 */
+	public function setPagenumber($number = 0) {
+		if (is_int($number )) $this->pagenumber = $number;
+	} 
+	
 	/**
 	 * @return DocumentationEntity
 	 */
@@ -247,16 +261,19 @@ class DocumentationPage extends ViewableData {
 	 *
 	 * @return string
 	 */
-	function getMarkdown() {
+	function getMarkdown($removeMetaData = false) {
 		try {
 			$path = $this->getPath(true);
 
 			if($path) {
 				$ext = $this->getExtension();
-				
-				if(DocumentationService::is_valid_extension($ext)) {
-					return file_get_contents($path);
-				}
+								
+				if(empty($ext) || DocumentationService::is_valid_extension($ext)) {
+					if ($md = file_get_contents($path)) {
+						if ($this->title != 'Index') $this->getMetadataFromComments($md, $removeMetaData);
+					}  
+					return $md;
+				}   
 			}
 		}
 		catch(InvalidArgumentException $e) {}
@@ -274,4 +291,42 @@ class DocumentationPage extends ViewableData {
 	function getHTML($version, $lang = 'en') {
 		return DocumentationParser::parse($this, $this->entity->getRelativeLink($version, $lang));
 	}
+	
+	/**
+	 * get metadata from the first html block in the page, then remove the 
+	 * block on request
+	 * 
+	 * @param DocumentationPage $md
+	 * @param bool $remove
+	 */
+	public function getMetadataFromComments(&$md, $removeMetaData = false) {
+		if($md && DocumentationService::meta_comments_enabled()) {
+			
+			// get the text up to the first whiteline
+			$extPattern = "/^(.+)\n(\r)*\n/Uis";
+			$matches = preg_match($extPattern, $md, $block);
+			if($matches && $block[1]) {
+				$metaDataFound = false;
+				
+				// find the key/value pairs
+				$intPattern = '/(?<key>[A-Za-z][A-Za-z0-9_-]+)[\t]*:[\t]*(?<value>[^:\n\r\/]+)/x';
+				$matches = preg_match_all($intPattern, $block[1], $meta);
+				
+				foreach($meta['key'] as $index => $key) {
+					if(isset($meta['value'][$index])) {
+						
+						// check if a property exists for this key
+						if (property_exists(get_class(), $key)) {
+							$this->setMetaData($key, $meta['value'][$index]);
+							$metaDataFound = true;
+						}  
+					}
+				}
+				// optionally remove the metadata block (only on the page that is displayed)
+				if ($metaDataFound && $removeMetaData) {
+					$md = preg_replace($extPattern, '', $md);
+				}
+			}
+		}
+	} 	
 }
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/docs/en/Configuration-Options.md b/docs/en/Configuration-Options.md
index 89aaf64..0c62420 100755
--- a/docs/en/Configuration-Options.md
+++ b/docs/en/Configuration-Options.md
@@ -54,5 +54,51 @@ to new structures.
 	));
 	
 	
+## Custom metadata and pagesorting
 
+Custom metadata can be added to the head of the MarkDown file like this:  
+
+	pagenumber: 1
+	title: A custom title
+	
+
+Make sure to add an empty line to separate the metadata from the content of
+the file. 
+
+You now need to explicitly enable the use of metadata by adding the following to 
+your _config.php:
+
+	```php
+	DocumentationService::enable_meta_comments();
+	```
+
+**Note:** SilverStripe needs to read the contents of each page to retrieve the 
+metadata. This is expensive, so if you do not plan to use custom sorting, 
+do not enable this feature:
+
+### Custom page sorting
+
+By default pages in the lefthand menu are sorted alphabetically. Adding a 
+pagenumber to the metadata, like in the example above, allows for custom 
+pagenumbering.
+
+**Note:** although folders appear in the menu as 'pages', you obviously can't  
+number them, so you need to number their index.php page instead.
+
+Pages that have no custom pagenumber, keep their original 
+order, but for them not to interfere with custom sort, they also receive a 
+pagenumber, starting at 10.000. 
+
+You can change this starting point for default pagenumbers:
+
+	```php
+	DocumentationService:: start_pagenumbers_at(80);
+	```
+
+### Other key-value pairs
+
+Basically all DocumentationPage properties can be added to the metadata comment 
+block. Beware that the outcome isn't always predictable. Adding a title 
+property to the block will change the menu title, but the breadcrumbs 
+are at this time not yet supported.
 	
\ No newline at end of file