Collection 09 · Personal blog theme
A quietly luxurious Ghost theme for one writer with taste — crisp paper, dark ink and a single electric accent colour. A large greeting, an index that reads like a ledger and a real on-screen serif, all set up from Ghost Admin without a line of code.
Need more than one site? Choose the five-site agency licence — US$349. Or get All Access — every theme, now and in the future, for US$549.
Version 1.0.0 · released 17 October 2026 · see the changelog
Needs a Ghost plan that allows custom themes — Ghost(Pro) Starter does not. Publisher or self-hosted is the right fit. More on plans · Compare all nine themes
The theme, in full
Every screen below is the real rendered theme on the live demo — no mockups. The writer, the essays and the photographs are fictional and illustrative. Select any one to view it full size.
The demo runs in electric ultramarine, with the home page in the Journal feed and the archive in the Ledger. Your colour comes from Ghost’s own Accent colour setting, and theme settings change the feed layout, the featured style, the typeface and the colour scheme.
Plain, fast and private
Blogga is plain Handlebars, hand-written CSS and two small JavaScript files. The stylesheet is about 14 KB gzipped, there is no build step for you and no framework between your writing and the reader on a phone.
Newsreader for reading and Instrument Sans for dates, navigation and buttons are bundled with the theme, so the theme itself makes no request to a font service and there is nothing extra to cover in your privacy policy.
Pages, navigation and every post stay readable with JavaScript off. The contents list, image lightbox, copy buttons and Load more are simply not shown, and every row in the index keeps its full date.
Built to WCAG 2.2 AA: a skip link, landmarks, strong focus rings, keyboard access everywhere and reduced motion respected. Checked with axe-core on every page type, at phone, tablet and desktop widths, in light and dark.
Built for one writer
Blogga is designed around how a single writer actually publishes: say who you are, show the best thing first, make the archive a pleasure to browse and get out of the way of the reading.
Your site description becomes the large greeting at the top of the homepage, with your publication icon beside it. Switch it to a small version, or turn it off, with one setting.
Ledger sets one row per post with the year as a large light numeral in the margin. Journal adds a tag, date, excerpt and thumbnail. Grid shows cards, with a typographic date card for posts without an image.
Pin up to three featured posts above the index as a quiet Strip, or lift the newest into a wide, image-led Spotlight. A featured post is removed from the index below, so nothing appears twice.
Ghost’s own Accent colour is the only colour on the page. It runs through link underlines, focus rings, buttons and callouts, and pale colours adapt automatically so text stays readable.
Follow the visitor’s device with a toggle in the header, or force Light or Dark for everyone. The scheme is set before the page paints, so there is no flash of the wrong one.
A 42rem reading column, a standfirst, a contents list, a thin progress bar, an image lightbox, share links, an author box and three Read next posts. Each one is a setting you can switch off.
Choose a narrow template for About or Now pages, a chronological Archive, a Topics directory with post counts, or an Authors page, all from the page settings in Ghost.
Images, galleries, bookmarks, callouts, toggles, buttons, headers, products, files, audio, video, embeds, both quote styles, code and tables all look like they belong. Code is highlighted, with a Copy button on every block.
Native Ghost subscribe forms after each post and in the footer, a quiet paywall with padlocks on members-only posts, comments, search and recommendations. Choose where prompts appear, or switch them off.
Fit check
Not the right fit: Ghost(Pro) Starter sites; magazines and newsrooms that need advertising slots, a ticker or a section builder, where Society or Columnist do more; or authors with a book to feature, where Blyton fits better.
Technical details
| Ghost | Designed for Ghost 6.39 and later |
|---|---|
| Hosting | Ghost(Pro) Publisher or higher, or self-hosted Ghost |
| Licence | Single site: one live Ghost site (US$149). Agency: up to five live sites using this theme (US$349). Staging and local copies included for each licensed site. |
| Updates | Included for the lifetime of the product |
| Support | Email support from the builder; target response within two business days |
| Dependencies | No jQuery, page builder or frontend framework |
| Fonts | Newsreader and Instrument Sans bundled; no third-party font requests unless you choose custom fonts in Ghost |
| Languages | Every label is translatable from a single locale file |
| JavaScript | Pages and navigation work without it; the contents list, lightbox, copy buttons, Load more and the colour toggle need it |
Ghost(Pro) Starter does not support custom themes. Read the compatibility FAQ.
Explore the working demo
These links open the real Ghost demo, populated for a fictional writer: essays, notes and travel pieces, a members-only post and a full archive.
What you receive
After purchase
After checkout, Gumroad emails your download link. You receive the production theme ZIP, setup documentation, lifetime product updates and support from the person who built it. If Blogga is not a fit, the 14-day refund policy applies.
Buyer questions
Quick answers to the questions that usually decide whether a Ghost theme is the right fit.
Blogga is designed for Ghost 6.39 and later and requires a Ghost plan that supports custom themes. Ghost(Pro) Starter does not support custom themes; Ghost(Pro) Publisher or a self-hosted Ghost install is the right fit.
Yes. Twenty documented theme settings cover the typeface, colour scheme, sticky header, intro style, feed layout, featured style, year numerals, pagination and the details of a post, as set out in the settings guide. The accent colour comes from Ghost’s own Brand settings, and the extra pages are chosen as templates in the editor.
Set Ghost’s own Accent colour under Design & branding. Blogga uses it for link underlines, the dot on featured posts, focus rings, buttons and callout tints. Pale colours are darkened automatically so links and buttons stay readable, and the colour is lightened in dark mode.
Yes. System follows the visitor’s device and adds a light and dark toggle in the header, remembering their choice. You can also force Light or Dark for everyone, which hides the toggle.
Yes, through Ghost’s own memberships. Subscribe forms after each post and in the footer, a quiet paywall notice with padlocks on members-only posts, comments and recommendations all work natively, and you can turn each prompt off.
Blogga is built for one writer’s blog, so it has no advertising slots, ticker or section builder. For a magazine or newsroom look at Society or Columnist, and for an author with a book to show off, Blyton is the better fit.
You get email support from the person who built the theme for installation, documented settings and confirmed defects, with a target response within two business days. Your purchase is covered by the 14-day refund policy.
Blogga · US$149
One-time purchase, lifetime product updates and a 14-day money-back guarantee.
Free Ghost launch checklist
Work through the free Ghost Publication Launch Checklist before you publish. You can also get three short emails about choosing a theme and launching your site, followed by occasional theme news.