Sidebar widgets

The homepage post list can run beside a narrow sidebar built from eight widgets. Each one is fed by something you already manage in Ghost — an internal tag, a page, a theme setting — and each one disappears on its own when there is nothing to show.

The sidebar appears on the homepage only. Post lists on /blog/, tag pages and author pages always run full width.

Setup Instructions#

1. Go to ⛭ Settings → Design
2. Click Customize
3. Open the Theme tab
4. Turn on Show publication info sidebar
5. Click Save

What Fills Each Widget#

Widgets always render in this order:

1. Spotlight#

One large card at the top of the sidebar, with the post title over its feature image.

1. Open the post you want to promote
2. Click Post settings and scroll to Tags
3. Type #spotlight and press Enter
4. Click Update

The newest post carrying the tag wins, so moving the spotlight is a matter of tagging a newer one. If no post is tagged #spotlight, the widget falls back to your newest featured post, and shows nothing if you have none.

2. Projects#

Up to four rows, each with a thumbnail, a title and one line of description.

1. Open a post and add the tag #project
2. Give the post a feature image — it becomes the thumbnail
3. Write a short line in Post settings → Excerpt, or let the theme take the first words of the post

The four newest tagged posts are shown. The same tag also fills the /projects/ page. If your site has a page with the slug projects, the widget heading becomes a link to it.

3. Authors#

A list of author profiles with their post counts, driven by a setting rather than a tag.

1. Go to ⛭ Settings → Design → Customize → Theme
2. Find Section authors filter
3. Enter a value such as popular:6, a-z:6, recent:4, or a comma-separated list of author slugs
4. Click Save

The default is popular:6 — the six authors with the most posts. Clearing the field hides the widget. The full syntax is described in Filters. If your site has a page with the slug authors, the widget heading links to it.

4. Sponsors#

Up to five rows, each a logo tile and the sponsor name. Every sponsor is an ordinary post.

1. Create a post named after the sponsor
2. Add the tag #sponsor
3. Upload the sponsor's logo as the feature image
4. Put the sponsor's URL in Post settings → Excerpt
5. Publish the post

The title becomes the sponsor name and the feature image becomes the logo tile, fitted rather than cropped. The Excerpt field holds the outbound link, so the row opens that URL in a new tab; leave it empty and the row links to the post instead. The five newest sponsors are shown, and if a page with the slug sponsors exists the heading links to it.

5. House ad#

A promo card for your own campaign — a course, a report, a paid newsletter — labeled Promotion.

1. Go to Pages → New page
2. Enter the headline as the page title
3. Open Page settings and set Page URL to house-ad
4. Upload the artwork as the feature image
5. Put the destination URL in the Excerpt field
6. Publish the page

With a URL in the excerpt the card opens it in a new tab; without one it links to the page itself. Without artwork the card falls back to a plain letter tile. Deleting or unpublishing the page removes the widget.

6. Tips#

A short donate card, shown only when you have set a donation link.

1. Go to ⛭ Settings → Design → Customize → Theme
2. Enter your donation link in Donate url
3. Click Save

See Tips for the links you can use. Clearing the field hides the widget.

7. Recommendations#

Three of the publications you recommend, using Ghost's own Recommendations feature.

1. Go to ⛭ Settings → Growth → Recommendations
2. Add the publications you want to recommend
3. Reload your homepage

The widget appears only while recommendations are enabled and at least one is set. If your site has a page with the slug recommendations, the heading links to it.

8. About#

The closing card: your publication cover as its background, with the site title, the site description and your social links.

1. Go to ⛭ Settings → Design → Customize → Brand
2. Upload a Publication cover
3. Check the site title and description under ⛭ Settings → General
4. Add your profiles under ⛭ Settings → Social accounts

Nothing here is required. Without a cover the card uses a plain background, and without a description it shows the title alone.

Notes#

• Widgets that have nothing to show are skipped, and the ones below move up. An empty sidebar leaves the post list full width.
• Authors, Projects and Recommendations are not sidebar-only: a header dropdown can open onto any of them as a mega menu block, two columns wide, fed by the same content. See Navigation.
• Every widget is fed by regular Ghost content, so you can change what the sidebar shows without touching theme settings.
• Internal tags — the ones starting with # — never appear on your site, so a #sponsor or #spotlight post stays out of your tag lists.