diff --git a/quartz/plugins/emitters/aliases.ts b/quartz/plugins/emitters/aliases.ts
index 118c392..d407629 100644
--- a/quartz/plugins/emitters/aliases.ts
+++ b/quartz/plugins/emitters/aliases.ts
@@ -15,12 +15,7 @@ export const AliasRedirects: QuartzEmitterPlugin = () => ({
     for (const [_tree, file] of content) {
       const ogSlug = simplifySlug(file.data.slug!)
       const dir = path.posix.relative(argv.directory, path.dirname(file.data.filePath!))
-
-      let aliases: FullSlug[] = file.data.frontmatter?.aliases ?? file.data.frontmatter?.alias ?? []
-      if (typeof aliases === "string") {
-        aliases = [aliases]
-      }
-
+      const aliases = file.data.frontmatter?.aliases ?? []
       const slugs: FullSlug[] = aliases.map((alias) => path.posix.join(dir, alias) as FullSlug)
       const permalink = file.data.frontmatter?.permalink
       if (typeof permalink === "string") {
diff --git a/quartz/plugins/filters/explicit.ts b/quartz/plugins/filters/explicit.ts
index 48f92bd..79a46a8 100644
--- a/quartz/plugins/filters/explicit.ts
+++ b/quartz/plugins/filters/explicit.ts
@@ -3,11 +3,6 @@ import { QuartzFilterPlugin } from "../types"
 export const ExplicitPublish: QuartzFilterPlugin = () => ({
   name: "ExplicitPublish",
   shouldPublish(_ctx, [_tree, vfile]) {
-    const publishProperty = vfile.data?.frontmatter?.publish ?? false
-    const publishFlag =
-      typeof publishProperty === "string"
-        ? publishProperty.toLowerCase() === "true"
-        : Boolean(publishProperty)
-    return publishFlag
+    return vfile.data?.frontmatter?.publish ?? false
   },
 })
diff --git a/quartz/plugins/transformers/frontmatter.ts b/quartz/plugins/transformers/frontmatter.ts
index 26a665d..41c1b13 100644
--- a/quartz/plugins/transformers/frontmatter.ts
+++ b/quartz/plugins/transformers/frontmatter.ts
@@ -5,17 +5,56 @@ import yaml from "js-yaml"
 import toml from "toml"
 import { slugTag } from "../../util/path"
 import { QuartzPluginData } from "../vfile"
+import chalk from "chalk"
 
 export interface Options {
   delims: string | string[]
   language: "yaml" | "toml"
-  oneLineTagDelim: string
 }
 
 const defaultOptions: Options = {
   delims: "---",
   language: "yaml",
-  oneLineTagDelim: ",",
+}
+
+function coerceDate(fp: string, d: unknown): Date | undefined {
+  if (d === undefined || d === null) return undefined
+  const dt = new Date(d as string | number)
+  const invalidDate = isNaN(dt.getTime()) || dt.getTime() === 0
+  if (invalidDate) {
+    console.log(
+      chalk.yellow(
+        `\nWarning: found invalid date "${d}" in \`${fp}\`. Supported formats: https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Reference/Global_Objects/Date#date_time_string_format`,
+      ),
+    )
+
+    return undefined
+  }
+
+  return dt
+}
+
+function coalesceAliases(data: { [key: string]: any }, aliases: string[]) {
+  for (const alias of aliases) {
+    if (data[alias] !== undefined && data[alias] !== null) return data[alias]
+  }
+}
+
+function coerceToArray(input: string | string[]): string[] | undefined {
+  if (input === undefined || input === null) return undefined
+
+  // coerce to array
+  if (!Array.isArray(input)) {
+    input = input
+      .toString()
+      .split(",")
+      .map((tag: string) => tag.trim())
+  }
+
+  // remove all non-strings
+  return input
+    .filter((tag: unknown) => typeof tag === "string" || typeof tag === "number")
+    .map((tag: string | number) => tag.toString())
 }
 
 export const FrontMatter: QuartzTransformerPlugin<Partial<Options> | undefined> = (userOpts) => {
@@ -23,12 +62,11 @@ export const FrontMatter: QuartzTransformerPlugin<Partial<Options> | undefined>
   return {
     name: "FrontMatter",
     markdownPlugins() {
-      const { oneLineTagDelim } = opts
-
       return [
         [remarkFrontmatter, ["yaml", "toml"]],
         () => {
           return (_, file) => {
+            const fp = file.data.filePath!
             const { data } = matter(Buffer.from(file.value), {
               ...opts,
               engines: {
@@ -37,35 +75,29 @@ export const FrontMatter: QuartzTransformerPlugin<Partial<Options> | undefined>
               },
             })
 
-            // tag is an alias for tags
-            if (data.tag) {
-              data.tags = data.tag
-            }
-
-            // coerce title to string
             if (data.title) {
               data.title = data.title.toString()
             } else if (data.title === null || data.title === undefined) {
               data.title = file.stem ?? "Untitled"
             }
 
-            if (data.tags) {
-              // coerce to array
-              if (!Array.isArray(data.tags)) {
-                data.tags = data.tags
-                  .toString()
-                  .split(oneLineTagDelim)
-                  .map((tag: string) => tag.trim())
-              }
+            const tags = coerceToArray(coalesceAliases(data, ["tags", "tag"]))
+            if (tags) data.tags = [...new Set(tags.map((tag: string) => slugTag(tag)))]
 
-              // remove all non-string tags
-              data.tags = data.tags
-                .filter((tag: unknown) => typeof tag === "string" || typeof tag === "number")
-                .map((tag: string | number) => tag.toString())
-            }
+            const aliases = coerceToArray(coalesceAliases(data, ["aliases", "alias"]))
+            if (aliases) data.aliases = aliases
+            const cssclasses = coerceToArray(coalesceAliases(data, ["cssclasses", "cssclass"]))
+            if (cssclasses) data.cssclasses = cssclasses
+            const created = coerceDate(fp, coalesceAliases(data, ["created", "date"]))
 
-            // slug them all!!
-            data.tags = [...new Set(data.tags?.map((tag: string) => slugTag(tag)))]
+            if (created) data.created = created
+            const modified = coerceDate(
+              fp,
+              coalesceAliases(data, ["modified", "lastmod", "updated", "last-modified"]),
+            )
+            if (modified) data.modified = modified
+            const published = coerceDate(fp, coalesceAliases(data, ["published", "publishDate"]))
+            if (published) data.published = published
 
             // fill in frontmatter
             file.data.frontmatter = data as QuartzPluginData["frontmatter"]
@@ -78,9 +110,19 @@ export const FrontMatter: QuartzTransformerPlugin<Partial<Options> | undefined>
 
 declare module "vfile" {
   interface DataMap {
-    frontmatter: { [key: string]: any } & {
+    frontmatter: { [key: string]: unknown } & {
       title: string
-      tags: string[]
-    }
+    } & Partial<{
+        tags: string[]
+        aliases: string[]
+        description: string
+        publish: boolean
+        draft: boolean
+        enableToc: string
+        cssclasses: string[]
+        created: Date
+        modified: Date
+        published: Date
+      }>
   }
 }
diff --git a/quartz/plugins/transformers/lastmod.ts b/quartz/plugins/transformers/lastmod.ts
index 6e12616..193664d 100644
--- a/quartz/plugins/transformers/lastmod.ts
+++ b/quartz/plugins/transformers/lastmod.ts
@@ -12,21 +12,6 @@ const defaultOptions: Options = {
   priority: ["frontmatter", "git", "filesystem"],
 }
 
-function coerceDate(fp: string, d: any): Date {
-  const dt = new Date(d)
-  const invalidDate = isNaN(dt.getTime()) || dt.getTime() === 0
-  if (invalidDate && d !== undefined) {
-    console.log(
-      chalk.yellow(
-        `\nWarning: found invalid date "${d}" in \`${fp}\`. Supported formats: https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Reference/Global_Objects/Date#date_time_string_format`,
-      ),
-    )
-  }
-
-  return invalidDate ? new Date() : dt
-}
-
-type MaybeDate = undefined | string | number
 export const CreatedModifiedDate: QuartzTransformerPlugin<Partial<Options> | undefined> = (
   userOpts,
 ) => {
@@ -38,23 +23,21 @@ export const CreatedModifiedDate: QuartzTransformerPlugin<Partial<Options> | und
         () => {
           let repo: Repository | undefined = undefined
           return async (_tree, file) => {
-            let created: MaybeDate = undefined
-            let modified: MaybeDate = undefined
-            let published: MaybeDate = undefined
+            let created: Date | undefined = undefined
+            let modified: Date | undefined = undefined
+            let published: Date | undefined = undefined
 
             const fp = file.data.filePath!
             const fullFp = path.posix.join(file.cwd, fp)
             for (const source of opts.priority) {
               if (source === "filesystem") {
                 const st = await fs.promises.stat(fullFp)
-                created ||= st.birthtimeMs
-                modified ||= st.mtimeMs
+                created ||= new Date(st.birthtimeMs)
+                modified ||= new Date(st.mtimeMs)
               } else if (source === "frontmatter" && file.data.frontmatter) {
-                created ||= file.data.frontmatter.date
-                modified ||= file.data.frontmatter.lastmod
-                modified ||= file.data.frontmatter.updated
-                modified ||= file.data.frontmatter["last-modified"]
-                published ||= file.data.frontmatter.publishDate
+                created ||= file.data.frontmatter.created
+                modified ||= file.data.frontmatter.modified
+                published ||= file.data.frontmatter.published
               } else if (source === "git") {
                 if (!repo) {
                   // Get a reference to the main git repo.
@@ -64,7 +47,9 @@ export const CreatedModifiedDate: QuartzTransformerPlugin<Partial<Options> | und
                 }
 
                 try {
-                  modified ||= await repo.getFileLatestModifiedDateAsync(file.data.filePath!)
+                  modified ||= new Date(
+                    await repo.getFileLatestModifiedDateAsync(file.data.filePath!),
+                  )
                 } catch {
                   console.log(
                     chalk.yellow(
@@ -76,10 +61,13 @@ export const CreatedModifiedDate: QuartzTransformerPlugin<Partial<Options> | und
               }
             }
 
+            created ||= new Date()
+            modified ||= new Date()
+            published ||= new Date()
             file.data.dates = {
-              created: coerceDate(fp, created),
-              modified: coerceDate(fp, modified),
-              published: coerceDate(fp, published),
+              created,
+              modified,
+              published,
             }
           }
         },
diff --git a/quartz/plugins/transformers/ofm.ts b/quartz/plugins/transformers/ofm.ts
index f6345c5..735d114 100644
--- a/quartz/plugins/transformers/ofm.ts
+++ b/quartz/plugins/transformers/ofm.ts
@@ -318,7 +318,7 @@ export const ObsidianFlavoredMarkdown: QuartzTransformerPlugin<Partial<Options>
                 }
 
                 tag = slugTag(tag)
-                if (file.data.frontmatter && !file.data.frontmatter.tags.includes(tag)) {
+                if (file.data.frontmatter?.tags?.includes(tag)) {
                   file.data.frontmatter.tags.push(tag)
                 }