Kontur documentation
A Swiss-style blog: one strict grid, big type, sharp corners and a single accent colour, with your stories as a wall of posters or a sideways pan.
Installation
- Download
kontur-package.zipfrom your purchase email or your purchases library and unzip it: it containskontur.zip(the theme),kontur-demo.zip(the demo content), a README and the licence. Do not unzipkontur.zip. - In Ghost Admin, open Settings → Design & branding → Change theme.
- Click Upload theme, select the zip, then Activate.
Kontur requires Ghost 6 (self-hosted, or a Ghost(Pro) plan that allows custom themes).
Updating
Upload the new zip the same way and confirm the overwrite. Your content, navigation and theme settings are kept.
Import the demo content
The download includes kontur-demo.zip: posts, pages, tags, navigation and images.
- Use a new or empty site: importing over existing content creates duplicates. On a fresh Ghost, first delete the default content in Settings → Advanced → Danger zone → Delete all content.
- Open Settings → Advanced → Import/Export and import the zip (not just the JSON, or the images will be missing).
- Theme settings are not part of an import: set them in Design & branding (see the table below).
Identity
- Without an image logo, the site title is set in a block of your accent colour (Design & branding → Brand), against the left edge. With a logo, only the logo shows; add a light version in Logo for dark mode.
- Text on the accent turns dark or light automatically, so red, blue or yellow all stay readable.
- Typeface: Geist, Archivo Expanded or Host Grotesk (only the chosen one is loaded). Fonts chosen in Ghost’s Typography settings take precedence.
Homepage sections
| Section | Content comes from |
|---|---|
| Lead story | The latest post marked Featured, or the latest post. Not repeated in Latest. |
| Latest | The latest posts, 8 per page, in the Latest layout you choose (see below). |
| Selected | Posts tagged #selected, 5 at most; the layout adapts from 1 to 5. |
| About | The page with the slug about: its feature image (black and white, colour on hover), its excerpt set large and a Read more link. No about page, no section. |
| Topics | Your 10 most used public tags, set large, with their number of posts. |
# (type #picks in the Tags field of a post). Readers never see them and they have no public page; the theme uses them to pick content.Posters or Pan
- Posters: a modular wall in a pattern of seven stories (large photo, tall photo, a story in the accent colour beside its picture, two photos, a type-only story on a dark ground, a square photo). Load more continues the pattern. A post without a feature image becomes a type poster.
- Pan: the section stays on screen while the reader scrolls and the stories slide sideways, with a progress bar; the last tile leads to the older stories. On phones, and when the reader asks for reduced motion, it becomes a row to swipe.
Newsletter block
A block in the accent colour at the bottom of every page (Show newsletter), with Newsletter heading and Newsletter text.
Posts, tags and authors
Posts open on a column of facts (topic, date, reading time, author, comments when enabled) beside a large title, and end with tags, sharing, the author and three posts of the same topic. Tag and author pages open on an accent block with the name set large, beside the tag image or the author’s cover; without an image, the name repeats as a giant watermark. Corners are square everywhere.
All settings
| Setting | Tab | Default | What it does |
|---|---|---|---|
| Typeface | Site-wide | Geist | Typeface of the whole site. Ghost's own font settings take precedence when set. |
| Color scheme | Site-wide | Light | Default color scheme. Readers can still switch with the toggle. |
| Logo for dark mode | Site-wide | — | Optional logo used when the dark scheme is active |
| Footer text | Site-wide | A journal about architecture, type, objects and cities. | Short text under the site name in the footer |
| Other social links | Site-wide | — | Extra social profile URLs, comma-separated (Pinterest, WhatsApp, GitHub...) |
| Show newsletter | Site-wide | On | Newsletter block in the accent colour at the bottom of every page |
| Newsletter heading | Site-wide | One letter, every Sunday. | Heading of the newsletter block |
| Newsletter text | Site-wide | Free. One click to unsubscribe. | Short line under the newsletter form |
| Show lead | Homepage | On | Lead story: the latest Featured post (or the latest post) with a large title and photo |
| Show latest | Homepage | On | Latest stories |
| Latest layout | Homepage | Posters | Posters: a modular wall of stories. Pan: stories scroll sideways while the reader scrolls down. |
| Show selected | Homepage | On | Selected: up to five posts with the internal tag #selected |
| Show about | Homepage | On | About: image, excerpt and link of the page with the slug about |
| Show topics | Homepage | On | Topics: your public tags set large, with their number of posts |
| Table of contents | Post | On | Show a table of contents on posts with three or more headings |
Posts per page: 8 (set by the theme). Settings are in Settings → Design & branding → Customize, in the Site-wide, Homepage and Post tabs.
Navigation & social links
- Dropdowns: in Settings → Navigation, start a label with a dash (
-About) to put it in a dropdown under the item above. That parent item only opens the dropdown; its URL is not used. - Social accounts: X, Facebook, LinkedIn, Bluesky, Threads, Mastodon, TikTok, YouTube and Instagram come from Settings → General → Social accounts. Add any other profile in the Other social links setting (comma-separated URLs): Pinterest, WhatsApp, Telegram, Discord, GitHub, Dribbble, Behance, Spotify, Twitch, Snapchat, Reddit and Medium get their icon, any other URL gets a link icon.
- The RSS icon is added automatically.
Posts & pages
- Table of contents: added automatically to posts with three or more H2 headings (setting Table of contents).
- Full width page template: choose it in the page settings for landing pages.
- The page option Show title and feature image is respected.
- Every editor card is styled, including wide and full-width images, galleries, toggles, callouts, buttons and bookmarks.
Members & newsletter
The subscription block uses Ghost’s native members. It is hidden for signed-in members, and when sign-ups are off or invite-only (Settings → Membership).
Translation
Every text of the theme goes through Ghost’s translation system. Copy locales/en.json inside the theme to locales/fr.json (or your language code), translate the values, zip the theme again and upload it. Then set the language in Settings → General → Publication language.
FAQ
My site title does not appear in a coloured block.
The block only shows without an image logo. Remove the logo in Design & branding → Brand to use it; its colour is the accent colour.
A section of the homepage does not appear.
Check its switch in Design & branding, then its content: every section hides itself when it has nothing to show (no Featured post, no post with the internal tag, an empty tag…).
Can I change the fonts?
Yes: the fonts chosen in Design & branding → Typography replace the theme’s heading and body fonts.