Lines

v1.0.0

Setup and customization guide for the Lines Ghost theme.

Live demo Get the theme

Welcome to the Lines documentation. This guide covers everything you need to install, configure, and customize Lines — a Ghost theme built for independent writers and magazines who want a bold editorial homepage, topic-driven sidebars, and a clean reading experience.

Lines assumes a basic understanding of the Ghost platform. If you’re new to Ghost, we recommend the official Ghost Help Center before continuing.

Installation

Installation

You can install Lines directly from the Ghost admin panel.

  1. Download the Lines 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 thepixelthemes.com/download-theme.
    • Enter the email address you used for the purchase and your Purchase ID.
    • Click the download link to get the Lines theme .zip file.
  2. In your Ghost admin, go to Settings → Site → Design & branding.
  3. Click Change theme.
  4. Click Upload theme and select the Lines .zip file you downloaded.
  5. Once uploaded, click Activate to enable Lines on your site.

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

Routes

Lines 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.

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

Primary navigation

The primary menu appears in the header, next to your logo. Add links in the order you want them shown. Each link accepts:

  • Label — the visible link text (e.g., Home, About, Tag, Author)
  • URL — a full URL or a path like /about/

Secondary navigation

The secondary menu powers the link columns in the footer. Lines lays the links out in columns automatically, 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, and meta data.
  • Site description — displayed as the large headline at the top of the homepage and as the intro text in the footer brand block. See Header intro.

The description is also used for meta descriptions and structured data, so keep it to one or two clean sentences.

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)

Lines 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 supports a range of platforms, including X, Facebook, Instagram, Threads, Bluesky, Mastodon, TikTok, YouTube, and LinkedIn.

Any social field left empty is automatically hidden from your site. Your configured accounts appear as text links in the footer bottom bar.

Customization

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

Accent color

Set your accent color under Brand → Accent color. This color is used for links, buttons, highlights, and other interactive elements throughout your site.

Lines 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).

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

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

Icon

Your publication icon (the favicon) is configured under Brand → Publication icon. Ghost automatically generates the various favicon sizes needed by modern browsers.

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

Typography

Lines ships with a curated editorial type pairing — a serif for headings and a clean sans-serif for body text. 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

Lines includes a dark color scheme. Two settings keep your brand legible on a dark background:

  • Accent color for dark mode — Set a lighter or more saturated version of your accent color so it stands out against 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.

Full description

A longer introduction to your publication, displayed on the homepage directly below the headline (your site description).

Use it to tell readers what you cover, what formats you publish, and what they can expect — for example:

Independent writing on philosophy, cinema, politics, culture and
society. Essays, film notes, overlooked ideas, conversations, and
reflections on modern life.

Leave it empty to hide the paragraph.

The background color of the Featured Posts box in the homepage sidebar. Pick a color that contrasts well with black text — a soft, saturated tone works best. See Featured posts box.

Choose which tags get their own box in the homepage sidebar. Enter tag slugs separated by a pipe character |, in the order you want the boxes to appear:

screenings|heritage
  • Use the tag slug, not the display name. You can find it under Tags → your tag → Slug.
  • Don’t add spaces around the | separator.
  • Each tag’s box color is set in the tag itself — see Tag boxes.

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>

Lines displays it alongside the current year and your publication title.

Homepage

Lines’ homepage has four distinct areas: a header intro, an inline subscribe bar, a latest posts grid with a sidebar, and a subscribe call-to-action above the footer.

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.
  • Intro paragraph — your Full description, set under Theme → Site wide → Full description.

Inline subscribe bar

Below the intro, a subscribe bar shows “Subscribe to” followed by your publication title, a short supporting line, and a Subscribe button that opens the Portal signup flow.

The supporting text comes from the theme’s translation file — see Translate to change it.

Latest posts grid

The main column lists your most recent posts in a three-column grid. Each card shows:

  • Feature image — set in the post settings of the Ghost editor.
  • Title
  • Primary tag and publish date — the primary tag is the first tag on the post.
  • Excerpt — the custom excerpt from post settings, or the start of the post if none is set.

Cards also display small labels when relevant:

  • Featured — for posts marked as featured in the Ghost editor.
  • Subscribers only — for posts whose access is limited to members or paid members.

The first box in the sidebar lists your featured posts. To feature a post, open it in the Ghost editor, open Post settings, and turn on Feature this post.

Each entry shows the feature image, primary tag, date, title, and author. The box background is set with Featured posts box bg.

Tag boxes

Below the featured posts box, Lines displays one box per tag listed in Featured tags. Each box shows the tag name, its latest posts, and an All {tag} link to the full tag page.

The background of each tag box uses the tag’s own color from Ghost Admin:

  1. Go to Tags in the Ghost admin sidebar.
  2. Click the tag you want to edit (e.g., Screenings).
  3. Set a hex value in the Color field (e.g., #A8F0CF).
  4. Click Save.

This way every topic gets its own recognizable color. We recommend setting a color for every tag you list in Featured tags.

Subscribe call-to-action

Above the footer, a full-width subscribe section invites readers to join your newsletter, with a Subscribe button that opens Portal. The heading uses your publication title; the supporting text comes from the translation file.

Post

Template

Lines 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

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

  • Feature image — shown on post cards and in sidebar boxes. Use images of similar proportions for a tidy grid.
  • Tags — the first tag becomes the primary tag shown on cards, and determines which tag box a post can appear in.
  • Excerpt — shown under the title on post cards. Keep it to two or three lines.
  • Feature this post — adds the post to the Featured Posts box and shows the Featured label.
  • Post access — members-only and paid posts display the Subscribers only label.

Lines’ footer combines several configurable pieces.

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. Because the footer uses a dark background, upload a Logo for dark mode so your logo stays visible.

The link columns on the right come from the Secondary navigation menu. See the Navigation section for details.

The bottom bar shows your copyright line on the left and your social links on the right. See Copyright footer and Social links.

Membership

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

Portal

Portal is Ghost’s native sign-in and subscription flow. All Subscribe buttons in Lines open Portal. 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 are labeled on the homepage so readers know what’s available with a subscription.

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.

  1. Download the current Lines .zip from thepixelthemes.com/download-theme or from Settings → Site → Design & branding → Change theme → Installed.

  2. Unzip the file. The assets/ folder contains CSS and JavaScript; templates use the Handlebars format (.hbs).

  3. Install Node.js v22.

  4. Open a terminal in the theme folder and install the dependencies:

    npm install

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

    npm run start

  6. 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.

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

Translate

Lines is translation-ready. Interface text such as section headings, subscribe messages, labels, and link text comes from locale files.

  1. Set your publication’s language under Settings → General → Publication language.
  2. Lines loads a matching locale file if one is available in locales/.
  3. To add a new language, create a .json file inside locales/ (e.g., es.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 line under “Subscribe to Lines”.

Update theme

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

  1. Download the new .zip file:
    • Go to thepixelthemes.com/download-theme.
    • Enter the email address you used for the purchase and your Purchase ID.
    • Click the download link to get the latest Lines theme .zip file.
  2. Upload it via Settings → Site → Design & branding → Change theme → Upload theme. Ghost will replace the older version.
  3. 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 — 2026-09-16

  • Initial release