Siwa brings a personal introduction, visual story discovery, and newsletter signup into one publication. It suits independent writers and small visual magazines that publish words, photographs, or video and want readers to get to know the person behind the work.
A Personal Introduction
Give readers a person to connect with before they choose a story. The homepage introduction has room for your words beside a portrait or video, so you can explain what you publish and invite visitors to stay.
A video can make that introduction more personal. Visitors press Play to watch with sound in a lightbox; the page stays quiet until they choose to watch.
Reader quotes follow the introduction. Add the words and attribution yourself, with an optional background color for each quote. They sit between meeting the publisher and exploring the work.
Featured Stories
Your newest post may not be the best place to begin. Choose up to three Featured stories to introduce your work through large cards, excerpts, and images or muted video previews. Individual background colors give each story its own emphasis.
The Latest Stories grid follows with up to six recent posts, excluding the stories already selected for Featured. Returning readers can find what has changed while new visitors still have a clear starting point.
Navigation Previews
A title tells readers where a link goes; an image gives them a glimpse of what they will find. Desktop dropdowns pair grouped links with previews from posts, pages, tags, and authors. Supported video stories can show muted previews.
On mobile, the menu keeps the grouped links in a drawer. Previews are a desktop enhancement: links remain usable when an image or video is unavailable.
Browse Beyond the Homepage
As your publication grows, readers need a way back to earlier work. Archive presents titles and dates in a compact list, while Latest offers an image grid. A reader can scan for a familiar title or browse for something that catches their eye.
Tag and author pages offer other routes into the collection, and the tags directory lets readers choose a subject.
Five Post Layouts
A written essay, a photo story, and a studio film can begin differently. Siwa gives you five post layouts, so the opening can suit the piece while the publication keeps its identity.
Use Default for a centered title above the image, Hero for a title over the image, Fullscreen for a screen-filling cover, or Split to place the image beside the title and excerpt. Each example below opens in the demo.
For a story that begins with moving images, Post Video places the first supported video above the article. It supports native Ghost video, YouTube, and Vimeo, with playback started by the reader. The same story can have muted previews in cards and desktop navigation.
Video that belongs farther into a piece can stay within an ordinary article instead.
Reading Tools
Once the story begins, readers can adjust the text size or use Listen to hear it read aloud through their browser’s text-to-speech support. Available voices depend on the browser and device.
A reading progress bar and automatic table of contents help readers follow longer pieces. Sharing and Ghost comments are close at hand; comments open in a side panel when enabled.
Image Lightbox
A photograph may deserve a closer look than the article column allows. Readers can open unlinked article images and galleries in a fullscreen viewer, then move between images with the arrows, keyboard, or a swipe.
Make It Your Publication
The site palette sets the background for your publication. Start with dark Default Colors, or choose Cloud Dancer, Kombu Green, Port Royale, or Sodalite Blue. Custom Colors lets you set your own background and text pair; Ghost’s accent color controls buttons and links.
Individual story cards and sections can have their own backgrounds. A mint introduction and a peach Featured card can share a dark site, with contrasting text selected automatically. You can also use Ghost custom fonts.
Newsletters and Memberships
After readers have explored your work, give them a specific reason to receive the next piece. The newsletter section has its own heading, description, and optional image, with choices drawn from the newsletters you configure in Ghost. Visitors can choose what they want in their inbox.
With an image, the section pairs artwork and signup controls on desktop and stacks them on smaller screens. Without one, the words and form use a centered column. This shared section appears before the footer across the site for signed-out visitors when Ghost Members is enabled and your newsletter page is published.
Siwa also supports Ghost’s native memberships, including member-only and paid posts. Signed-in members do not see the repeated signup section. The newsletter setup guide explains how to add your copy, image, and newsletter choices.
Stock Quotes
If you write about US stocks, inline quotes can put the latest available price and percentage change beside the symbol in your text.
Quotes require a Finnhub API key and separate setup. The recommended stock ticker setup uses a Cloudflare account to keep the key private; a direct setup is also available. Symbol coverage and request limits depend on Finnhub.
Speed and Quality
The Siwa demo scored 100 for Performance, Accessibility, Best Practices, and SEO in the test shown below. Scores vary with content, hosting, and test conditions.
Is Siwa Right for You?
Open the Siwa demo to explore the introduction, try a video story, and browse the Archive. The setup guide covers the homepage sections, post layouts, colors, and memberships.
Also included: mobile navigation, tag and author pages, native Ghost search, and twelve interface translations.
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