3 Column Hero

The 3-Column Hero is Crimson’s magazine-style hero area on the homepage. It lets you highlight a curated mix of Featured, Latest, or Tag-based posts across three columns, and can optionally show a subscribe block beneath the hero center column.

This section is ideal when you want a “news/magazine” homepage with multiple story entry points instead of a single large hero.

3 Column Hero Areas

What it includes

1) Left column (up to 3 posts)

Displays up to 3 posts.

Source options:

• Featured Posts

• Latest Posts

2) Center column (up to 1 post)

Displays 1 prominent hero card (maximum 1 post).

Source options:

• Featured Posts

• Latest Posts

3) Right column (up to 6 posts)

Displays up to 6 posts in a compact list layout.

Source options:

• Featured Posts

• Latest Posts

• Tag (posts filtered by a specific tag slug)

4) Subscribe block (below the center column)

If Ghost Members is enabled on your site, Crimson shows a subscribe block below the 3-Column Hero.

Special behavior:

• If the site is invite-only, Crimson shows an invite-only message instead of a subscription form.

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How to enable/disable the 3-Column Hero

Go to:

Ghost Admin → Settings → Design & branding → Theme → Homepage group (wording may vary slightly by Ghost version)

Look for a toggle similar to:

• Show 3 column hero

This controls whether the entire 3-Column Hero is rendered.

3 Column Hero Settings

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Configuration options

All controls are in the theme’s Homepage custom settings.

Show 3 column hero

show_3_column_hero (boolean)

• true → show the 3-column hero

• false → hide it

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Column content sources

Hero center column posts

hero_center_column_posts (select)

• Featured Posts

• Latest Posts

Notes

• Shows maximum 1 post

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Hero left column posts

hero_left_column_posts (select)

• Featured Posts

• Latest Posts

Notes

• Shows maximum 3 posts

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Hero right column posts

hero_right_column_posts (select)

• Featured Posts

• Latest Posts

• Tag

Notes

• Shows maximum 6 posts

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Hero right column posts tag slug

This setting is only visible when the 'Hero right column posts' is selected as 'Tag'

hero_right_column_posts_tag_slug (text)

• Example: news, design, guides

• Use the tag slug, not the display name.

• Use only 1 tag slug

Visibility rule

• This field is only relevant/used when:

  • hero_right_column_posts = Tag

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Troubleshooting

The 3-Column Hero is not showing

Check:

1. show_3_column_hero is enabled in theme custom settings

2. You’re using a homepage layout that includes the hero section

3. You didn’t disable it accidentally while testing other hero options

“Featured” columns look empty

Most common causes:

• You have not marked enough posts as Featured

• The featured posts are still drafts

Fix:

• Mark at least 3–6 posts as Featured (so all columns have content)

• Ensure they are published

Tag right column shows nothing

Check:

• hero_right_column_posts_tag_slug matches the tag slug exactly

  • usually lowercase

  • hyphenated (example: cloud-security)

• The tag has published posts assigned to it