Homepage Sections

Crimson’s homepage is built from multiple “sections” stacked in a specific order. Each section can pull content from Ghost (posts, tags, authors), or from Crimson’s theme settings (Design → Theme settings).

If some sections look empty after activating the theme, it’s usually because your site doesn’t yet have enough posts, featured posts, or the required tags/internal tags (like #trending or #editors-choice).

Homepage Layout Order

Typical section order in Crimson:

1. Primary Header

2. Header Secondary

3. Trending News Ticker

4. Carousel

5. 3 Column Hero

6. Tag Sections (repeats for multiple tag slugs)

7. Editor’s Choice (after the 1st Tag section)

8. Top Categories (after the 2nd Tag section)

9. Subscribe Form (after every 4th Tag section)

10. Top Authors (after all Tag sections, at the end, just before Footer)

11. Footer

Note: Some of these appear only when enabled in settings and/or when content exists.

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Where to Configure Homepage Sections

You will mainly configure Crimson homepage behavior from two places:

1) Ghost Navigation (Menus)

Go to: Ghost Admin → Settings → Navigation

• Primary navigation appears in the Primary Header

• Secondary navigation appears in the Header Secondary (when set to show secondary nav)

2) Crimson Theme Settings

Go to: Ghost Admin → Settings → Design → Theme Settings This is where you enable/disable sections and choose sources like Featured vs Latest, tag slugs for sections, etc.

If you want to reorder sections, then you need to edit the theme code

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Primary Header

Primary Header

What it shows

The top-most header typically contains:

• Brand logo

• Primary navigation (menu)

• Search icon

• Dark mode toggle

• Language switcher

• Subscribe button (or Account button if the visitor is logged in)

Where it gets content

• Logo: Ghost brand settings (publication logo)

• Primary navigation: Ghost Admin → Settings → Navigation

• Search: Native search UI

• Dark mode: Theme UI toggle (no Ghost setup required)

• Language switcher: Theme multilingual config (shown only if enabled/configured)

• Subscribe/Account: Ghost Members status (@member) and your portal/account link preference

Read more about the above settings in Custom Settings

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Header Secondary

Header Secondary

What it shows

A second header row that shows either:

• Secondary navigation, OR

• Top Tags (based on your theme setting)

Where it gets content

• Secondary nav: Ghost Admin → Settings → Navigation (Secondary)

• Top Tags: Ghost tags sorted by post count (usually excluding internal tags)

Read more about this setting in Secondary Navigation (Header)

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Trending News Ticker

Trending News Ticker

What it shows

A moving ticker (headline strip) that displays post titles for posts that have the internal tag #trending

Where it gets content

• Posts tagged with internal tag #trending

Read more about this ticker in Trending Ticker

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Carousel

Carousel

What it shows

A carousel slider that displays exactly 3 posts.

You can choose the source as:

• Featured posts, OR

• Latest posts

Where it gets content

• Featured: posts marked “Featured” in Ghost

• Latest: most recent published posts

Read more in Carousel section.

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3 Column Hero

3 Column Hero

What it shows

A hero layout with 3 columns where each column can show:

• Featured or Latest posts (per-column setting)

• Additionally, the right column can optionally show posts from a specific tag slug.

Where it gets content

• Featured or Latest (per column)

• Optional filter: right column by a tag slug (example: news, guides, reviews)

Read more about this in 3 Column Hero section.

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Tag Sections (Repeated)

Tag Sections

What it shows

Crimson can repeat “Tag sections” across the homepage. Each Tag section is built from a tag slug selected in theme settings.

Example:

• Tag section for news

• Tag section for guides

• Tag section for reviews

Where it gets content

• Posts that are assigned to the tag slug configured for that section.

Read more about them in Tag Sections section.

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Editor’s Choice

Editor's Choice

What it shows

A curated section that appears after the first Tag section.

Where it gets content (typical options)

Editor’s Choice is powered by:

• A specific internal tag #editors-choice added to a post.

Read more about this in Editor's Choice section.

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Top Categories

Top Categories

What it shows

A “Top Categories” block (usually tag cards) showing top 4 tags based on number of posts.

It appears after the second Tag section.

Where it gets content

• Ghost tags sorted by post count (public tags only)

Read more about this in Top Categories section.

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Subscribe Form

Subscribe Form

What it shows

A newsletter/membership subscribe form that appears:

• after the 4th, 8th, 12th… Tag section

Where it gets content

• Ghost Members subscribe flow (email signup)

• May open Portal or use embedded form depending on Crimson setup

Read more on this in Homepage Subscribe Forms & CTAs section.

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Top Authors

Top Authors

What it shows

A Top Authors section (usually author cards) that displays the Top 6 authors, sorted by:

• number of published posts

This section appears after all Tag sections end and just before the Footer.

Where it gets content

• Ghost authors and their published post counts

• Crimson uses the Content API to load more, so it requires your Content API key setup for pagination.

Read more about this in Top Authors section.

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Footer

Footer

What it shows

The final section of the homepage, typically containing:

• Footer navigation links

• Brand Logo for Dark mode (Footer is always with dark background)

• Copyright text

Where it gets content

• Footer nav (Ghost Secondary navigation)

• Brand logo is fetched from the custom setting.

Read more about adding logo in Logo for dark mode and adding Footer navigation in Footer Navigation sections.

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Common Setup Checklist (So Homepage Looks Like the Demo)

If your homepage looks empty, do this:

1. Publish at least 10–20 posts

2. Create and assign tags properly

3. Mark at least 3 posts as Featured (if using Featured in Carousel/Hero)

4. Add internal tags where needed:

   • #trending for ticker

   • #editors-choice for editors choice section

5. Configure:

   • Primary + Secondary navigation

   • Homepage tag slugs list (enough to trigger subscribe form if you want it)