Sinai vs Hakone: Cards or Complete Posts?

By Ahmad Ajmi October 5, 2026

A minimal Ghost theme can give readers two very different experiences. It can show several stories and let them choose, or put the writing directly in front of them. Sinai takes the first approach with a post grid. Hakone takes the second with complete posts on the homepage.

The useful choice is how your readers should meet the work. Compare the same kind of post in both layouts before deciding from colors or demo photographs.

Sinai: Let Readers Choose a Story

Sinai demo homepage displaying three post cards and their excerpts — Sinai presents several posts with images, titles, dates, tags and excerpts.

Sinai gives each post a card. A reader can scan the title, topic and excerpt before opening the article. The grid makes several choices visible together, which is useful when visitors arrive looking for a particular subject or want to browse a writing archive.

That arrangement asks the excerpt to do useful work. A title that needs context should have an excerpt explaining the question or story behind it. The reader then opens a separate article page for the complete text.

Hakone: Start Reading on the Homepage

Hakone demo homepage showing The Library as full prose rather than a post card — Hakone’s homepage begins with the text and images of a complete post.

Hakone renders post content in the homepage feed. In the demo, the reader begins The Library immediately, then reaches its images and the following entries by scrolling. Individual post URLs still exist; the homepage provides an additional place to read.

This suits a journal, a stream of short observations or a publication where seeing the work matters more than choosing from a catalog. It also changes how much of the archive fits in one visit: a long first post occupies space that Sinai uses to introduce several stories. These screenshots show Aspire Themes demos, not customer publications.

Test the Length and Images You Actually Publish

Put a short note, a long essay and an image-heavy post into your comparison. These formats expose the consequence of the homepage choice more clearly than a feature checklist.

For a short note, Hakone lets the reader finish without opening another page. For a long essay, the same behavior can mean substantial scrolling before the next entry. Sinai keeps the initial browsing view compact because the card shows an excerpt rather than the entire essay.

Photographs can play either role. Sinai uses feature images to help readers choose a story. Hakone displays images inside the post content, so a photographic sequence can be part of the homepage itself. That does not make Sinai unsuitable for photography or Hakone suitable for every portfolio: the decision is whether visitors should select a series or begin viewing it immediately.

Neither layout removes the need to check your images. Open a post with no feature image as well as one with several photographs. On a phone, check that titles remain clear, captions belong to the right images and the path to the next story is easy to find. The demo’s imagery is an example of content, not part of the theme download.

Give Older Work a Clear Route

Once you know how the latest work appears, check how a visitor reaches an older piece. A complete-post feed makes the next entry a scrolling destination; a grid makes it another card. Both still need navigation appropriate to the publication.

Sinai supports a tag directory and optional homepage sections for selected tags. Those sections give recurring subjects a place below the main grid. The Sinai documentation explains the setup; they do not appear merely because a topic has been mentioned in a post.

Hakone’s demo links to Tags and Archive from its header. Use those destinations when the visitor needs a topic or date rather than the newest entry. Follow the Hakone documentation for its archive and page setup. A demo navigation item is not proof that the corresponding page is already configured on a new installation.

Choose the Homepage Role First

Choose Sinai when readers should compare several stories, browse recurring subjects and open the piece they want. Choose Hakone when the homepage should be a place to read the posts themselves, and you are comfortable with the scrolling that their length creates.

Test a representative post in the Sinai demo and Hakone demo before choosing. If you need a large introduction before the writing, compare Siwa and Ubud. If the publication needs several distinct magazine sections and a stronger lead-story hierarchy, compare Tripoli and Taba.