Set up your homepage

Atlas Vertical gives you a set of focused controls in Ghost Admin → Design → Customize → Theme tab.

Hero layout

The hero is the top section of your homepage — your publication name, intro text, and the first content a visitor encounters.

Hero layout (dropdown) controls the overall structure. Options vary between a centred editorial layout and an asymmetric layout that leads with content. Choose based on how prominent you want your publication intro to be relative to your video feed.

Show publication intro (toggle) controls whether the intro block appears at all. If your site is purely a content feed with no additional context needed, turn this off. If you want to introduce yourself or your publication to new visitors, leave it on.

Publication intro headline (text field) sets the headline text in the intro block. This is separate from your Ghost site title — use it for a short, direct statement about what you publish and for whom. One sentence. No punctuation at the end.

Publication intro alignment sets the text alignment within the intro block. Centre alignment suits publications with a strong brand presence. Left alignment reads more editorial.

Home feed

Enable video feed (toggle) controls whether your homepage displays the video feed layout or a standard post feed. For most Atlas Vertical publishers this should be on — it surfaces your video content in the vertical card format the theme is designed around.

Home hero columns (dropdown) sets how many columns the feed renders at the top of the homepage. A single column creates a strong, focused lead post. Two columns shows more content above the fold. Start with one and adjust based on how your content looks at your actual post volume.

Show post date (toggle) controls whether publish dates appear on post cards in the feed. Dates help readers orient in a chronological archive. If your content is evergreen and you'd rather not signal age, turn this off.

Navigation

Nav style controls the navigation bar presentation — whether it sits flush with the page or has a distinct background. The default works well for most setups. If your hero image or cover creates contrast issues, adjust here.

Nav button color sets the accent colour on the primary nav CTA button. This pulls from your Ghost accent colour by default. Override it here if you need the button to read clearly against a specific background.

Phone frame

Phone frame (toggle) wraps your video embeds and vertical content in a phone frame graphic. Turn it on if you want the visual association with mobile-native content — it reinforces the short-form vertical format. Turn it off for a cleaner, less literal presentation.

Default theme

Default theme (dropdown) sets whether the site loads in light or dark mode for first-time visitors. Visitors can toggle after landing. This setting determines the starting state before any preference is stored.

Set it to match where your content looks strongest. Atlas Vertical is designed for both — but if your video thumbnails are optimised for dark backgrounds, start dark.

After any change in Customize, hit Save in the top right.

Changes are live immediately on your published site — no rebuild required.