Designing Taba: Giving a Busy Front Page a Clear Order

A magazine that covers several subjects has more than one answer to “what should I read?” There is the lead story, the latest report, a subject the reader follows, and a video they might want to watch. A front page needs to distinguish those answers before the reader opens anything.

On the Taba demo, the lead gets a large image and its own text panel. Three supporting stories follow. Further down, recent posts, topics, an editorial pick and video coverage offer different ways to continue. The page changes its arrangement as the reason for choosing a story changes.

Taba is a Ghost theme I make at Aspire Themes. The screenshots use its sample publication; the explanation concerns the implemented design, not measured results from a newsroom.

Establish Priority Before Volume

Taba’s Featured section holds one large lead and up to three supporting stories. The lead pairs media with a title and excerpt, giving the editor room to explain why that story deserves attention. The smaller cards let other selections remain visible without taking the same space.

Scale supplies the first distinction. Someone arriving without a topic in mind can begin with the lead, while a reader looking for another angle can choose a supporting story. Making every card equally prominent would leave the visitor to establish that priority themselves.

Latest then answers a different need: what has been published recently? Keeping it separate from Featured gives editorial selection and publication order their own roles. A story can be important without being the newest thing on the site.

Give a Topic More Than One Headline

Recent work can range across subjects. A reader following one of those subjects needs a collection that stays together.

Homepage topic sections give selected subjects a heading and a row of up to four stories. The heading links to the topic’s archive. A single subject can therefore offer an immediate selection and a route into its wider coverage.

Topic columns use the space differently. Each column starts with an image-led story and follows it with a compact list of titles. Several subjects can sit alongside one another without each requiring a full-width section. The two lists of homepage topics are independent: a publisher can give a major beat a broad section and place other regular subjects in columns.

This flexibility brings an editorial responsibility. A subject with only one occasional story cannot offer the same depth as an actively maintained beat. The arrangement is most useful when it reflects the publication’s actual coverage, rather than a set of empty departments it hopes to fill.

The header’s Topics menu keeps subjects within reach after the reader leaves the front page. The homepage can stay selective because it is not the only route into the archive.

Separate a Recommendation From a Format

Between topic coverage and the lower columns, Editors’ Pick gives one selected story another large presentation. It excludes the four Featured selections, allowing the recommendation to introduce something beyond the opening group.

Video has a different reason to be separate. The homepage Video section collects video-tagged stories, while the standard Featured and topic groups exclude those entries. A visitor choosing to watch can find that format together, instead of discovering only after opening a card that the main story is a video.

The video archive continues that route. The separation is useful when video is a recurring part of the publication. A magazine publishing mainly written stories can let its topic coverage do more of the work.

Change the Entrance When the Story Requires It

The front page helps a reader choose. The article opening needs to make the choice feel specific to the piece they have opened.

Taba includes gallery, image and video templates with different treatments for the opening media. An Image Cover gives a photograph a large opening presence. Image Wide keeps the photograph in a wider frame, while Gallery makes a set of images part of the entrance.

A report with one supporting image does not need the same opening as a photographic feature. The distinction lets the editor give a major visual story more space while retaining a simpler arrangement for everyday writing.

Video layouts make playback the primary media and offer different amounts of surrounding space. The Theater treatment gives the player a particularly large stage; other variants place video in a banner, cover or background arrangement. The choice concerns how the story begins, not a requirement to use every template.

The Tripoli and Taba comparison considers these formats as a purchase decision. Here, their role is within one publication: a consistent site can still give different stories different entrances.

Move From Choosing to Reading

A front page needs many routes. Once a reader opens an article, that density can recede so the text has room.

Text-size controls, browser voice playback and sharing sit with the article. Reading progress gives a sense of position in a longer piece. Listen relies on browser speech support; it does not mean the publisher has recorded an audio edition.

Those controls serve the person who has already chosen a story. They belong near the reading experience, rather than becoming another group of competing front-page choices.

Make Following the Publication Specific

A broad magazine may publish more than one newsletter. Asking a reader to subscribe becomes clearer when the site explains what each one contains.

Taba’s newsletters page presents the publication’s Ghost newsletters as separate choices with descriptions. A signed-out visitor selects what to receive; a signed-in member can manage preferences through Ghost Portal. These choices depend on the newsletters the publisher has configured.

The same distinction that organizes the front page carries into the invitation. A reader can choose a subject or format on the site, then choose which part of the publication should arrive in their inbox.