Site-wide Settings
Crimson includes a Site-wide section inside Ghost’s theme settings. These options control global behavior across your website—things like default theme mode, dark mode branding, header behavior, fonts, and more.
Important Notice: Some Crimson settings have moved to Code Injection
In recent versions of Crimson, a few settings that were previously available in Custom Settings (such as Auto-hide header, Pagination style, Open links in new tab, Contact form endpoint, and similar behavior-based options) have been moved to Ghost Admin → Settings → Code Injection.
The below settings are current and latest.
To change these options now, you’ll need to update the Crimson Code Injection variables (the window.GLOBAL overrides) in the Site Header area. This gives you more flexibility and keeps all behavior-related toggles in one place.
For step-by-step instructions and the full list of supported variables, see the Code Injection and Code Injection Variables section of this documentation.
Where to find these settings
In Ghost Admin, go to:
Settings → Design & Branding (and click Customize) → Theme → Site wide
Quick overview
Logo for dark mode
Logo used specifically on dark backgrounds. This logo will also be used in the footer. Footer always stays dark, irrespective of settings.
Upload a white/light logo
Accent color for dark mode
Accent color used when dark mode is active
A bright/light brand accent
Secondary navigation in header
The second to top header strip.
Top Tags
Secondary Navigation
Hidden
Secondary Navigation
Use Portal Links
Portal popups vs Crimson custom membership pages
Depends on your flow
Primary font
Heading + title font (from Crimson font list)
Pick 1 serif/display
Secondary font
Body + paragraph font (from Crimson font list)
Pick 1 sans-serif
Enable multilingual features
Turns on Crimson multilingual system and reveals more settings
Keep Off until ready
Logo for dark mode
What it is
A dedicated logo image that Crimson uses when the site is in the dark mode.
Why it matters
A logo that looks perfect on a white header often becomes invisible (or low-contrast) on dark mode. This setting lets you upload a separate logo optimized for dark UI.
Crimson requirement
Use the same dimensions as your default publication logo to avoid layout shifts.
Best practices
Use a light/white version of your logo for dark backgrounds.
Use transparent background (PNG/SVG depending on your workflow).
Keep spacing/padding similar to your light-mode logo so the header height doesn’t “jump” when switching themes.
Accent color for dark mode
What it is
Crimson lets you select a separate accent color that only applies when dark mode is active.
Why it matters
A color that looks rich on white can look dull or unreadable on dark backgrounds. Dark mode often needs a slightly brighter accent to pop.
Best practices (contrast-friendly)
Pick an accent that is bright enough to stand out on dark gray/black UI. In the demo, we are using
#d67805as the accent color for dark mode.Check common places where accent appears: links, buttons, highlights, small UI elements.
If your brand color is very dark (navy/maroon), consider using a lighter brand variant for dark mode.
Secondary navigation in header
Crimson can show a top header area above the main navigation. You can decide what appears there.
Option A: Top Tags
Shows up to 10 tags, based on which tags have the most posts.
Best for news/magazine sites where tags are your primary “sections” (Politics, Business, Sports, etc.).
Auto-populated and does not need manual editing/changes.
Option B: Secondary Navigation
This displays Ghost’s secondary navigation menu (which you manage in Ghost Admin). Ghost supports both primary and secondary navigation menus.
Why this is powerful in Crimson?
Crimson supports dropdown navigation in menus, both Primary and Secondary. You can create dropdown navigation to show a wide variety of links to your visitors.
How to setup secondary dropdown navigation is explained in Secondary Navigation (Header).
Option C: Hidden
Hides the second to top header strip completely (cleaner/minimal UI).
Use Portal Links
Crimson includes custom pages for:
Sign in
Sign up
Subscribe
Membership
Account
By default, visitors go through Crimson’s branded pages.
What happens when you enable “Use Portal Links”
When enabled, Crimson uses Ghost’s Portal (the built-in membership experience) so signups/subscriptions happen via Portal overlays/popups instead of Crimson’s custom pages.
Ghost Portal is designed to handle the full membership flow and is configurable in Ghost Admin.
When you enable 'Use portal links':
Crimson Membership page still works and can still display pricing plans. But any signups will happen via the Ghost Portal popups.
Actions like Sign up / Subscribe will open Ghost Portal instead of redirecting to Crimson’s custom signup pages.
Signup/Signin/Subscribe Forms on custom pages will be hidden and instead shown a link to open Ghost Portal to perform that action.
When to use Portal Links
Use Portal Links = ON if:
You want the “built-in Ghost” membership flow
You rely heavily on Portal settings and want everything consistent with Ghost’s native experience
Use Portal Links = OFF if:
You want fully branded membership pages (Crimson’s custom UI)
You want complete control over layout and copy on sign-in/up pages
Primary Font
Crimson provides 7 Google font options for headings and titles.
Default font is 'Source Serif 4'.
Available fonts are:
Alegreya
Newsreader
Oswald
Playfair Display
Source Serif 4
Roboto Serif
PT Serif
Merriweather
When it works
This setting only applies if your Ghost Brand typography is set to Theme default for: Brand settings → Typography → Heading font
Best practices
Choose a readable serif/display font that matches your tone (news, editorial, modern).
If your site is content-heavy, prefer clarity over overly decorative fonts.
Secondary Font (Body text)
Crimson provides 9 Google font options used across body text and paragraphs.
Default font is 'Source Sans 3'.
Available fonts are:
Alegreya Sans
Newsreader
Oswald
Roboto
Roboto Flex
Open Sans
Lato
Inter
Source Sans 3
PT Sans
When it works
This setting only applies if Ghost Brand typography is set to Theme default for: Brand settings → Typography → Body font
Best practices
Pick a clean sans-serif for long reading sessions.
Ensure your body font has good readability at small sizes on mobile.
Enable multilingual features
Crimson’s multilingual system is controlled by a master toggle in Site-wide settings.
What it does
Enables Crimson’s language-specific functionality (language switcher + multilingual logic)
Reveals additional settings like Locales, Main Locale, Main Locale URL, and redirect options (covered in Multilingual section)
Recommendation (for now)
If you’re not actively setting up multilingual Ghost installations, keep it OFF until:
you understand the required setup, and
you’re ready to configure the multilingual settings properly.
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