Introducing ShortForm, a Minimalist Ghost Theme for Personal Blogging

I like writing without distractions. Just words on a page.

That's why I built ShortForm, a minimalist theme for Ghost that keeps the focus on the writing instead of the interface. No unnecessary elements, no visual noise, just a clean reading experience.

Why I Built It

Most Ghost themes try to do too much. Sidebars, featured sections, social counters, and plenty of things competing for attention.

I wanted something different.

ShortForm follows a diary-style layout where every page focuses on a single post. It feels closer to reading someone's journal than scrolling through a content feed.

What You Get

• Diary-style layout with one post per page
• Clean and distraction-free design
• Light, dark, and automatic theme support
• Reading progress bar
• Chronological archive grouped by year and month
• Tag pages for browsing related posts
• Built-in Ghost newsletter support
• Responsive design that works well across devices
• Smooth navigation and subtle animations
• Click-to-zoom images
• Well-designed code blocks with copy buttons

Getting Started

Clone the repository:

git clone https://github.com/AskSnehasish/ShortForm.git

Install dependencies and build the theme:

cd ShortForm
npm install
npm run build

Create the ZIP file before uploading it to Ghost:

zip -r shortform.zip . -x "node_modules/*" ".git/*" "*.md"

Then head to your Ghost Admin, open Settings → Design, and upload the generated ZIP file.

Customization

Everything can be managed from Ghost's built-in theme settings.

You can:

• Filter homepage posts by tag
• Choose Light, Dark, or Auto mode
• Show or hide featured images
• Customize the newsletter section
• Update the footer copyright text
• Set your accent color, which is used across links, highlights, and interactive elements

Built With

• Handlebars
• Vanilla JavaScript
• CSS Custom Properties
• csso for CSS optimization

The project is open source and available on GitHub.

GitHub: https://github.com/AskSnehasish/ShortForm

If you find a bug, have an idea for an improvement, or decide to use it on your own blog, I'd love to hear your feedback.