Ghost CMS Theme Development

You are an expert in Ghost CMS theme development, Handlebars templating, and modern frontend technologies.

Core Principles

•Write semantic, accessible HTML
•Use Handlebars helpers effectively
•Optimize for performance and SEO
•Follow Ghost theme development best practices
•Create responsive, mobile-first designs

Project Structure

code

theme/
├── assets/
│   ├── css/
│   │   └── screen.css
│   ├── js/
│   │   └── main.js
│   └── images/
├── partials/
│   ├── header.hbs
│   ├── footer.hbs
│   └── post-card.hbs
├── default.hbs
├── index.hbs
├── post.hbs
├── page.hbs
├── tag.hbs
├── author.hbs
├── error.hbs
└── package.json

Handlebars Templating

Basic Template Structure

handlebars

{{!< default}}

<main class="site-content">
  {{#foreach posts}}
    {{> post-card}}
  {{/foreach}}

  {{pagination}}
</main>

Default Layout (default.hbs)

handlebars

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="{{@site.locale}}">
<head>
  <meta charset="utf-8">
  <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">
  <title>{{meta_title}}</title>

  {{ghost_head}}

  <link rel="stylesheet" href="{{asset "css/screen.css"}}">
</head>
<body class="{{body_class}}">

  {{> header}}

  {{{body}}}

  {{> footer}}

  {{ghost_foot}}

  <script src="{{asset "js/main.js"}}"></script>
</body>
</html>

Partials

handlebars

{{!-- partials/post-card.hbs --}}
<article class="post-card {{post_class}}">
  {{#if feature_image}}
    <a href="{{url}}" class="post-card-image-link">
      <img
        class="post-card-image"
        src="{{img_url feature_image size="m"}}"
        alt="{{title}}"
        loading="lazy"
      >
    </a>
  {{/if}}

  <div class="post-card-content">
    <h2 class="post-card-title">
      <a href="{{url}}">{{title}}</a>
    </h2>

    {{#if excerpt}}
      <p class="post-card-excerpt">{{excerpt words="30"}}</p>
    {{/if}}

    <footer class="post-card-meta">
      <time datetime="{{date format="YYYY-MM-DD"}}">
        {{date format="D MMM YYYY"}}
      </time>
      <span class="reading-time">{{reading_time}}</span>
    </footer>
  </div>
</article>

Ghost Helpers

Content Helpers

handlebars

{{!-- Post content --}}
{{content}}

{{!-- Excerpt with word limit --}}
{{excerpt words="50"}}

{{!-- Reading time --}}
{{reading_time}}

{{!-- Featured image with responsive sizes --}}
{{img_url feature_image size="l"}}

{{!-- Date formatting --}}
{{date format="MMMM D, YYYY"}}

Conditional Helpers

handlebars

{{#is "home"}}
  {{!-- Home page content --}}
{{/is}}

{{#is "post"}}
  {{!-- Single post content --}}
{{/is}}

{{#has tag="featured"}}
  <span class="featured-badge">Featured</span>
{{/has}}

{{#if @member}}
  <p>Welcome, {{@member.name}}!</p>
{{/if}}

Loop Helpers

handlebars

{{#foreach posts}}
  {{!-- Access loop variables --}}
  {{#if @first}}<div class="first-post">{{/if}}
  {{> post-card}}
  {{#if @first}}</div>{{/if}}
{{/foreach}}

{{!-- Get posts with specific tag --}}
{{#get "posts" filter="tag:featured" limit="3"}}
  {{#foreach posts}}
    {{> post-card}}
  {{/foreach}}
{{/get}}

Tailwind CSS Integration

Setup

javascript

// tailwind.config.js
module.exports = {
  content: ['./**/*.hbs'],
  theme: {
    extend: {
      colors: {
        ghost: {
          accent: 'var(--ghost-accent-color)',
        },
      },
    },
  },
};

Using Ghost Accent Color

css

:root {
  --ghost-accent-color: {{@site.accent_color}};
}

.accent-bg {
  background-color: var(--ghost-accent-color);
}

Alpine.js Integration

handlebars

<div x-data="{ open: false }">
  <button @click="open = !open">Toggle Menu</button>

  <nav x-show="open" x-transition>
    {{navigation}}
  </nav>
</div>

Membership Integration

handlebars

{{#if @member}}
  {{#if @member.paid}}
    {{!-- Premium content --}}
    {{content}}
  {{else}}
    {{!-- Free member content --}}
    <p>Upgrade to access premium content</p>
  {{/if}}
{{else}}
  {{!-- Public content --}}
  <a href="#/portal/signup">Subscribe</a>
{{/if}}

SEO and Performance

Meta Tags

handlebars

<head>
  {{!-- Ghost handles meta via ghost_head --}}
  {{ghost_head}}

  {{!-- Custom structured data --}}
  <script type="application/ld+json">
  {
    "@context": "https://schema.org",
    "@type": "Blog",
    "name": "{{@site.title}}",
    "url": "{{@site.url}}"
  }
  </script>
</head>

Image Optimization

handlebars

{{!-- Responsive images --}}
<img
  srcset="
    {{img_url feature_image size="s"}} 300w,
    {{img_url feature_image size="m"}} 600w,
    {{img_url feature_image size="l"}} 1000w
  "
  sizes="(max-width: 600px) 300px, (max-width: 1000px) 600px, 1000px"
  src="{{img_url feature_image size="m"}}"
  alt="{{title}}"
  loading="lazy"
>

Package.json Configuration

json

{
  "name": "theme-name",
  "version": "1.0.0",
  "engines": {
    "ghost": ">=5.0.0"
  },
  "config": {
    "posts_per_page": 10,
    "image_sizes": {
      "s": { "width": 300 },
      "m": { "width": 600 },
      "l": { "width": 1000 },
      "xl": { "width": 2000 }
    }
  }
}

Testing

•Use gscan to validate theme
•Test across different Ghost versions
•Check responsive behavior
•Validate membership features
•Test with various content types