Homepage Settings

Crimson’s Homepage settings control what your visitors see above the fold (hero area) and how your tag-based homepage sections are laid out further down the page.

Where to find these settings

In Ghost Admin, go to:

Settings → Design & Branding → (Click) Customize → (Click) Theme tab → (Scroll down to see) Homepage

Homepage settings in Ghost Admin

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Show carousel

What it does

When enabled, Crimson shows a carousel slider at the top of the homepage hero area.

Show carousel

What the carousel displays

• It displays up to 3 posts in a sliding carousel.

• The source of these posts is controlled by the next setting: Carousel slider posts.

When you should enable it

Enable the carousel if you want a highly visual “featured story” experience, for example:

• a magazine/news homepage

• a blog that wants to highlight important content

• a membership site showcasing premium/high-converting posts

Best practices

• Use posts with strong featured images and clear titles (carousel is very visual).

• Keep your top 3 carousel posts “fresh” (update featured posts occasionally if you use Featured source).

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Carousel slider posts

This setting is visible only if Show carousel is enabled.

What it does

This setting decides which posts Crimson pulls into the carousel (maximum 3):

Possible values

• Featured Posts

• Latest Posts

Carousel slider posts

Option A: Featured Posts

Crimson shows the latest 3 posts that are marked as Featured.

How to mark a post as Featured in Ghost

1. Open the post in Ghost Editor

2. Open Post settings (right sidebar)

3. Toggle Featured post on

When to use Featured Posts

• You want editorial control (you decide what appears)

• You want the carousel to remain stable until you change it

Option B: Latest Posts

Crimson shows the latest 3 posts by publish date (latest first).

When to use Latest Posts

• You publish frequently and want the homepage to update automatically

• You don’t want to manually curate “Featured” content

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Show 3 column hero

What it does

When enabled, Crimson shows a 3-column hero section on the homepage (after the carousel if the carousel is enabled).

Show 3 column hero

Why this section is useful

It gives you a “magazine-style” layout where:

• Left column can highlight multiple posts (Latest/Featured)

• Center column can spotlight one key post

• Right column can act like a category feed (Latest/Featured/Tag)

What enabling it unlocks

When you toggle this ON, additional settings appear to control each column:

• Hero center column posts

• Hero left column posts

• Hero right column posts

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Hero center column posts

This setting is visible only if Show 3 column hero is enabled.

What it does

Controls what appears in the center column (maximum 1 post).

Hero center column posts

Possible values

• Featured Posts

• Latest Posts

How to choose

• Featured Posts: best if you want a “main story” that you curate.

• Latest Posts: best if you want the center to always show your freshest content.

Recommended usage

Use the center column for something that should feel “primary”:

• your most important featured post

• a weekly spotlight

• a high-converting membership post

• or the latest and most recent news article

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Hero left column posts

This setting is visible only if Show 3 column hero is enabled.

What it does

Controls what appears in the left column (maximum 3 posts).

Hero left column posts

Possible values

• Featured Posts

• Latest Posts

How to choose

• Latest Posts works well here because the left column can act like a quick “recent feed”.

• Featured Posts works if you want a fully curated hero area.

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Hero right column posts

This setting is visible only if Show 3 column hero is enabled.

What it does

Controls what appears in the right column (maximum 6 posts).

Hero right column posts

Possible values

• Featured Posts

• Latest Posts

• Tag

Special behavior: Column heading changes

Crimson updates the column heading based on the selection:

• Latest → heading becomes Latest

• Featured → heading becomes Featured

• Tag → heading becomes the Tag name

When to use each option

• Latest Posts: “live feed” feel (great for frequently updated blogs)

• Featured Posts: curated list of top content

• Tag: best for creating a dedicated “category rail” like News, Business, Tutorials, etc.

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Hero right column posts tag slug

This setting is visible only if the selected value in Hero right column posts setting is 'Tag'.

What it does

If you select Tag for the right column, this field tells Crimson which tag to pull posts from.

Hero right column posts tag slug

How to fill it

• Enter one tag slug only (example: news)

• Not the tag name (example: “News”), but the slug used in the URL.

How to find a tag slug in Ghost

1. Go to Tags in Ghost Admin

2. Open the tag

3. Copy the Slug field (see the image below)

Copy the tag's slug

Best practices

• Choose a tag that has enough posts (so the column can fill up to 6 posts).

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Tag slugs to show on home

What it does

Crimson can automatically create homepage tag sections further down the homepage, based on tag slugs you provide. Add only comma-separated tag slugs, ideally about 7 slugs.

Tag slugs to show on home

In the demo, we have: politics,science,elections,wars,hollywood,business,sports

Best practices (so sections look good)

• Use tags that behave like categories (broad topics).

• Ensure each tag has:

  • enough posts

  • good featured images

  • a clear, consistent topic

• Keep it around 4–7 tags so the homepage doesn’t become too long.

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Home tag section layout

What it does

Controls how each tag section’s 4 post cards are arranged visually.

Crimson provides three layout styles for these homepage tag sections.

Home tag section layout

Possible layouts

1. One row (1|1|1|1) – four cards in a single row E.g. https://crimson.themeupstudio.com/home-tag-layout-row/

   

   One row with 4 post cards in 1|1|1|1 format
2. Two columns (1|3) (Default)– one card on the left + three on the right E.g. https://crimson.themeupstudio.com/home-tag-layout-1-3/

   

   Two columns with 4 post cards in 1|3 format
3. Two rows (2|2) – two cards on top + two on bottom E.g. https://crimson.themeupstudio.com/home-tag-layout-2-2/

   

   Two rows with 4 post cards in 2|2 format

How to choose the right layout

• 1|1|1|1: clean and uniform; best for minimal designs

• 1|3: best for highlighting one “top” post per tag (the left card feels primary)

• 2|2: balanced grid; great for consistency and readability