Welcome to the Ink documentation. This guide covers everything you need to install, configure, and customize Ink — a Ghost theme built for personal publications, journals, and photo-led blogs that want a full-bleed story grid, a warm editorial voice, and a newsletter-first footer.

Ink is built for Ghost 6.x and assumes a basic understanding of the Ghost platform. If you’re new to Ghost, we recommend the official Ghost Help Center before continuing.

Installation

You can install Ink directly from the Ghost admin panel.

Download the Ink theme .zip file:
- After purchase, you’ll receive your Purchase ID by email, sent to the email address you used for the purchase.
- Go to trexthemes.dev/download-theme.
- Enter the email address you used for the purchase and your Purchase ID.
- Click the download link to get the Ink theme .zip file.
In your Ghost admin, click Settings (the gear icon in the bottom left corner), then go to Site → Design & branding.
Click Change theme.
Click Upload theme and select the Ink .zip file you downloaded.
Once uploaded, click Activate to enable Ink on your site.

You do not need to unzip the file — Ghost handles that automatically. The theme is now live.

Note: Uploading a custom theme .zip is not available on the Ghost(Pro) Starter plan. You’ll need a higher Ghost(Pro) plan or a self-hosted Ghost installation.

Routes

Ink works with the default Ghost routing. No custom routes.yaml file is required. All standard Ghost routes are supported out of the box:

Home — /
Post — /{slug}/
Tag — /tag/{slug}/
Author — /author/{slug}/
Page — /{slug}/

If you customize routes, you can upload your own routes.yaml under Settings → Advanced → Labs → Routes.

Ink uses Ghost’s built-in navigation, with two menus: Primary and Secondary. Both are configured under Settings → Site → Navigation.

The primary menu appears centered in the header, next to your logo (e.g., Home, Travel, Parenting, Lifestyle, Author). The current page is underlined. The same links are repeated in the Explore column of the footer.

Each link accepts:

Label — the visible link text
URL — a full URL or a path like /tag/travel/

Because the menu sits in the middle of the header, keep it to about five items so it stays on one line.

The secondary menu powers the Useful links column in the footer, plus the links in the bottom bar. Links appear in the order you add them.

Tip: Ghost supports Portal links in navigation. For example, a Sign up item pointing to #/portal/signup opens the signup flow directly.

Basic settings

Publication title and description

Set your publication title and description under Settings → General → Title & description.

Title — used in browser tabs, meta data, and the copyright line. It is also displayed as text in place of the logo when no logo is uploaded.
Site description — displayed as the large serif headline at the top of the homepage, and again under the logo in the footer brand block — for example:

Travel, parenting, and everyday life, beautifully told.

The description is also used for meta descriptions and structured data, so keep it to one strong sentence.

Publication language

Set your publication language under Settings → General → Publication language. Ink uses it to load a matching translation file — see Translate.

Announcement bar

You can display a site-wide announcement at the very top of every page — useful for launches, sales, or important notices. Configure it under Settings → Site → Announcement bar:

Enter your announcement text
Choose a background style
Choose which visitors see it (visitors, free members, paid members)

Search

Ink integrates Ghost’s native search. The Search link in the header opens the search overlay, where readers can search across posts, pages, tags, and authors.

Search is enabled by default and requires no configuration.

Add your profile URLs under Settings → General → Social accounts. Ghost 6 supports a range of platforms, including X, Facebook, Instagram, Threads, Bluesky, Mastodon, TikTok, YouTube, and LinkedIn.

Your configured accounts appear in the Follow column of the footer as text links. Any social field left empty is automatically hidden.

Customization

Open Settings → Site → Design & branding and click Customize to access all design options. Ghost’s own options live under the Brand tab, and Ink’s custom options live under the Theme tab.

Accent color

Set your accent color under Brand → Accent color. Ink uses it as the background of the footer, as well as for links, buttons, and labels such as the Featured badge — so pick a saturated tone that works with black text.

Ink supports two separate accent colors — one for light mode (set here) and one for dark mode (set under Site wide → Accent color for dark mode).

Logo

Upload your logo under Brand → Publication logo. It appears in the header and in the footer brand block. If no logo is uploaded, Ink displays your publication title instead.

For best results, use a PNG or SVG with a transparent background.

Ink also supports a separate Logo for dark mode — see Dark mode.

Icon

Your publication icon is configured under Brand → Publication icon. Ghost uses it to generate favicons, and Ink also displays it as the round portrait next to the site bio at the top of the homepage — so use an image that looks good as a circle.

Recommended: a square PNG, at least 60×60 px (512×512 px for the sharpest result).

Typography

Ink ships with a curated editorial type pairing — a high-contrast serif for headlines and post titles, and a small uppercase sans-serif for dates, tags, and buttons. No fonts need to be uploaded.

If you want to change fonts beyond what Ghost’s Brand → Typography options provide, see the Edit theme section.

Site wide

The following options are found under Theme → Site wide and apply across your entire site.

Dark mode

Ink includes a dark color scheme, with a Dark toggle in the header so readers can switch at any time. Two settings keep your brand legible on a dark background:

Accent color for dark mode — Set a version of your accent color that still works behind black text on dark surfaces.
Logo for dark mode — Upload a light-colored (e.g., white) version of your logo so it stays visible against the dark background.

Site bio

A short introduction to your publication, displayed at the top of the homepage next to the headline, below your portrait — for example:

Stories about travel, parenting, and everyday life and written with attention to the details that make them meaningful.

Two or three lines work best. Leave it empty to hide the paragraph.

Set the copyright line shown at the bottom of every page. You can use plain text or basic HTML — for example:

Published with <a href="https://ghost.org/" target="_blank">Ghost</a>

Homepage

Ink’s homepage has three areas: a header intro, a story grid with a Load more button, and a newsletter footer.

The header at the top of every page shows:

Logo — on the left. See Logo.
Primary navigation — centered. See Primary navigation.
Search — opens Ghost’s search overlay. See Search.
Dark toggle — switches between the light and dark color scheme. See Dark mode.

Header intro

The top of the homepage introduces your publication:

Headline — your site description, set under Settings → General → Title & description. It is displayed in large serif type, so a single strong sentence works best.
Portrait — your publication icon, displayed as a circle. See Icon.
Bio paragraph — your Site bio, set under Theme → Site wide → Site bio.
Subscribe now — a button that opens the Portal signup flow.

Story grid

Below the intro, your posts are laid out in a full-bleed mosaic that alternates between three-column and two-column rows, so the page keeps a magazine rhythm as readers scroll. Each card uses the post’s feature image as the background, with the text overlaid:

Author — at the top of the card, e.g., By Nora Bell.
Publish date and primary tag — e.g., 15 SEP 2026 — TRAVEL. The primary tag is the first tag on the post.
Title — in serif type at the bottom of the card.

Cards also display small badges when relevant:

Featured — for posts marked as featured in the Ghost editor, shown in your accent color.
Subscribe only — for posts whose access is limited to members or paid members.

Because titles and metadata sit directly on the image, choose feature images with calm areas and enough contrast, and give every post a feature image so the grid stays even.

Load more

Below the grid, a Load more stories button loads the next set of posts without reloading the page. A counter beneath it (e.g., Showing 13 of 18 stories) shows how many posts are displayed out of the total. The button is hidden once all posts are loaded.

The number of posts loaded per page is set in the theme’s package.json — see Edit theme.

Post

Template

Ink uses a clean, readable post template by default. Individual posts can override this with a custom template — see the Ghost documentation on custom templates if you want per-post variations.

Post settings that affect the theme

Ink relies on Ghost’s standard post settings, so filling them in carefully makes your homepage look its best:

Feature image — used as the background of every card in the story grid. This is the single most important setting for Ink; posts without one will look flat in the grid.
Tags — the first tag becomes the primary tag shown next to the date on cards.
Authors — the primary author is shown at the top of each card.
Feature this post — adds the Featured badge to the card.
Post access — members-only and paid posts display the Subscribe only badge.

Ink’s footer sits on your accent color and combines several configurable pieces.

The top of the footer is a signup block with a heading, an email field, and a Subscribe button that creates a member through Ghost’s membership system, plus a short line linking to your terms.

The heading and supporting text come from the theme’s translation file — see Translate. The terms links point to the pages you create in Ghost (e.g., /terms/ and /conditions/).

Brand block

The left side shows your logo and site description. Both are pulled from the same sources as the rest of the site — no separate configuration is needed.

Explore and Useful links columns

Explore — your Primary navigation links, so readers can jump straight to your main topics.
Useful links — your Secondary navigation links.

See the Navigation section for details.

Follow column

Your social accounts, listed as text links. See Social links.

Bottom bar

The bottom bar shows your copyright line on the left and a short set of secondary links on the right. See Copyright footer.

Membership

Ink integrates fully with Ghost’s built-in membership system.

Portal

Portal is Ghost’s native sign-in and subscription flow. The Subscribe now button on the homepage opens Portal, and the footer newsletter form signs readers up directly. Configure sign-up options under Settings → Membership → Portal settings.

Access

Set a post’s visibility (public, members, paid members, or specific tiers) under Post settings → Post access in the editor. Restricted posts show the Subscribe only badge on the homepage, and visitors without access see a preview followed by a call-to-action to subscribe or upgrade.

Comments

Ghost’s native comments are supported on post pages. Enable comments under Settings → Membership → Commenting and choose whether comments are open to all members or only paid members.

Advanced

Edit theme

You can modify the theme source directly.

Download the current Ink .zip from trexthemes.dev/download-theme or from Settings → Site → Design & branding → Change theme → Installed.
Unzip the file. The assets/ folder contains CSS and JavaScript; templates use the Handlebars format (.hbs).
Install Node.js v22.
Open a terminal in the theme folder and install the dependencies:

npm install

Start the development build. Ink uses Gulp to compile assets and watch for changes while you edit:

npm run start

When you’re done, create the production build:

npm run build

The theme .zip file is created in the production/ folder. 7. Upload the new .zip to Ghost via Settings → Site → Design & branding → Change theme → Upload theme.

To change how many posts appear per page on the homepage, edit the posts_per_page value under config in package.json before building.

Keep the theme name in package.json unchanged — Ghost ties your custom theme settings to the theme name, and renaming it resets them to their defaults.

Only advanced users should modify the theme source. Custom edits are not covered by our support.

Translate

Ink is translation-ready. Interface text such as section headings and labels (e.g., Subscribe now, Featured, Subscribe only, Load more stories, Newsletter, Explore, Useful links, Follow) comes from locale files.

Set your publication’s language under Settings → General → Publication language.
Ink loads a matching locale file if one is available in locales/.
To add a new language, create a .json file inside locales/ (e.g., fr.json) with translations for each key found in locales/en.json.

You can also edit locales/en.json to change the default English text — for example, the newsletter heading in the footer.

Update theme

When a new version of Ink is released, you’ll receive an email notification. To update:

Download the new .zip file:
- Go to trexthemes.dev/download-theme.
- Enter the email address you used for the purchase and your Purchase ID.
- Click the download link to get the latest Ink theme .zip file.
Upload it via Settings → Site → Design & branding → Change theme → Upload theme. Ghost will ask to overwrite the existing version — confirm to continue.
Your settings (logos, colors, navigation, custom theme options) are preserved. Edits made directly to theme files, including locale files, are replaced — back them up first.

Can’t find your Purchase ID? Contact us directly and we’ll help you get the latest version.

Feedback

Have a suggestion or want to report a bug? Contact us — we read every message.

Changelog

1.0.0 — 2026-09-22

Initial release