Changelog

v1.8.0 — June 9, 2026

Two new ways to open a story: a magazine-style split layout and a photo slideshow.

New Features

• ✨ New split hero puts your headline beside a square feature image — tag a post #hero-split-left or #hero-split-right to pick the side.
• ✨ New slideshow hero turns the feature image and your first gallery into a swipeable photo carousel — tag a post #hero-slideshow.

v1.7.1 — June 6, 2026

Two new end-of-article cards, each driven by a Ghost page you control — plus a Google "Add as a preferred source" button that matches Google's official styling.

New Features

• ✨ A new end-of-article card invites readers to make your publication a preferred source on Google. Its button matches Google's official "Add as a preferred source on Google" button, is fully translated, and you can set your own button label per publication. You write the card's wording in a normal Ghost page, and it only appears once you create that page.
• ✨ A new end-of-article newsletter signup card, in an editorial "sign-off" style. You write its wording in a Ghost page; once published it greets logged-out readers in place of the membership prompt (which returns if you remove the page).

v1.7.0 — June 3, 2026

Two new homepage layouts, section descriptions, WhatsApp sharing, fixed story dates, and a slide-out menu that always stays on top.

New Features

• ✨ New "feature rail" homepage layout: a cinematic lead story beside a uniform stack of four supporting stories.
• ✨ New "wide grid" homepage layout: four stories across on large screens, for high-volume desks.
• ✨ Each homepage section can now show a short description under its title, taken from the section page's excerpt.
• ✨ Readers can now share your articles to WhatsApp, right from the share menu on every post.

Design & Layout

• 🎨 Story dates now show as a fixed date, like "Jun 3, 2026", everywhere on your site — instead of the relative "2 days ago" wording that updated on its own.
• 🎨 Homepage grid sections now show full image-top story cards on phones, matching the desktop look instead of small side-by-side thumbnails.
• 🎨 Section titles and the Editor's Picks heading now sit closer to their descriptions, for a tighter, more consistent header.
• 🎨 On phones, the "Add as preferred source" button now shows a short label instead of just an icon, so its purpose is clear.

Bug Fixes

• 🐛 The slide-out menu now opens above the announcement bar, ad slots, and breaking-news ticker, so it's never covered or partly hidden.
• 🐛 The "Report an issue" option on articles now opens an email already addressed to your support address, instead of a blank one with no recipient.

v1.6.2 — May 31, 2026

An editable archive heading, a calmer breaking-news ticker, and tidier story layouts.

New Features

• ✨ The heading above your main story archive — the small label, the title, and the line beneath it — is now editable from Ghost: create a page with the slug archive-intro and set its title, excerpt, and meta description. Skip it and the built-in wording stays exactly as before.
• ✨ You can now keep the breaking-news ticker pinned to the top by default, with a one-line setting in Code injection.

Design & Layout

• 🎨 The breaking-news ticker now scrolls away as you read by default; readers can pin it to keep it in view, and the theme remembers their choice.
• 🎨 In homepage section lists, stories without a thumbnail now span the full width with the section label above the headline, instead of sitting in a narrow side column.

Bug Fixes

• 🐛 A lead story with no photo no longer leaves an empty gap where the image would be — it now fills the full width.
• 🐛 The end-of-article subscribe invitation no longer doubles up with the paywall on members-only stories; it now shows only on stories a reader can open in full.

Polish & Refinements

• 🧹 The placeholder author portrait now matches the size of real author photos on small screens.

v1.6.1 — May 30, 2026

Richer story-card previews, a refreshed slide-out menu, and more ways to tailor Meridian from Ghost's Code injection — with an expanded, reorganized guide.

New Features

• ✨ Story cards now show your custom excerpt — a short summary beneath the headline — in more layouts, including archive pages and homepage section rows, giving readers a fuller preview before they click.
• ✨ Two more parts of the page can now be restyled from Code injection: the brand logo and the position numbers in the "More to read" list — so you can resize the logo or hide the numbers with a single line.
• ✨ New ready-to-paste snippets, including a header that stays in view as you scroll, a bigger logo, larger article text, and hiding the read-time on story cards.

Polish & Refinements

• 🧹 The customization guide is now grouped by what you want to change — colours, type, header & logo, hiding things, layout, dark mode, and mobile — so the right snippet is easier to find.
• 🧹 The guide is now called "Code injection", matching the place in Ghost where you paste it.
• 🧹 The slide-out menu got a styling and accessibility refresh — more consistent link sizing and cleaner focus handling, including a Safari fix that removed a stray outline on the title when the menu opens.

v1.6.0 — May 28, 2026

A breaking-news ticker, a second header style, a new Sections page for building topic hubs, a single-author mode, clearer card dates, and stable CSS handles for customising the design through Code injection.

New Features

• ✨ A new breaking-news ticker scrolls your latest urgent headlines across the top of the site — it fills itself from posts you tag #breaking and hides on its own when nothing is tagged.
• ✨ Readers can pause the scroll to click a headline, and pin or unpin the bar so it either stays in view or scrolls away — their choice is remembered.
• ✨ A new Compact header packs the masthead into a single slim row — logo, menu, search, saved articles, and sign-in on one line — and any menu links that don't fit tuck into a "More" dropdown.
• ✨ A new Sections page builds a topic hub: create a page, choose the Sections template, then add the tags you want — each becomes its own section with its name, description, a link to the full archive, and its latest stories.
• ✨ A new Single-author mode hides the repeated byline on story cards — made for one-writer publications. The author still appears on the article itself and in the author bio, so individual stories keep full credit.
• ✨ You can now restyle almost any part of Meridian with a few lines of CSS in Settings → Code injection — every major section, story card, and story part (headline, tag label, summary, byline, image) has a stable, named handle, so your tweaks keep working after theme updates.
• ✨ Recolour the lead headline, hide the breaking-news ticker, restyle the membership band, adjust spacing on just the homepage — small changes that used to need a developer are now a copy-and-paste away.

Bug Fixes

• 🐛 The membership band no longer shows a paid price or trial offer before you've connected payments — until paid plans are live, it invites readers to join for free.
• 🐛 When paid plans are on, the band's trial wording now matches your tier's actual trial length, or shows the custom wording you set on the membership page.
• 🐛 Captions under feature images now use valid markup across every layout — and they share the same handle, so one CSS line hides them site-wide if you'd rather not show them.

Polish & Refinements

• 🎨 Story cards now show a clear calendar date (like May 27, 2026) instead of "time ago", while your lead story keeps the "time ago" cue so the top of the page still feels current.
• 🎨 Primary tag labels on story cards now use your accent colour, so the section line stands out at a glance.
• 🧹 The ticker respects reduced-motion settings — it stops auto-scrolling and becomes a strip readers move themselves.
• 🧹 A live clock in your publication's timezone sits at the end of the ticker on desktop.
• 🧹 On phones the Compact header keeps only the essentials and tucks search into the menu, so the bar stays uncluttered.
• 🧹 A Sections page skips any tag that has no stories yet, and omits the description line when a tag doesn't have one — no empty blocks.
• 🧹 A new Code injection guide in the docs lists every handle with ready-to-paste snippets for the most common tweaks.

v1.5.0 — May 22, 2026

Meridian can now keep a started video playing in a mini-player as readers move between pages, so they never lose their place when they follow a link.

New Features

• ✨ Start a video, then click anywhere on your site — it keeps playing in a corner mini-player instead of stopping and restarting.
• ✨ Works with uploaded videos, YouTube, and Vimeo.
• ✨ The mini-player has a button to jump back to the article and a button to close it; pressing Escape closes it too.
• ✨ Pick which corner the mini-player rests in — bottom-left or bottom-right.
• ✨ On by default; switch it off in Settings to keep the classic per-page player.
• ✨ Pages open instantly while a video is playing, so moving around the site stays smooth.

Polish & Refinements

• 🧹 Members-only videos stay protected — the video never loads for readers who don't have access.
• 🧹 Readers who never start a video, search engines, and visitors without JavaScript see your site exactly as before.

v1.4.1 — May 21, 2026

Meridian can now invite readers to set your publication as a preferred source on Google, so your stories surface higher in their Top Stories.

New Features

• ✨ A new "Add as preferred source" button lets readers prefer your site on Google Search in one tap.
• ✨ Off by default — turn it on in Settings whenever you're ready; nothing changes until you do.
• ✨ The button appears on every article next to Share, and in your site footer alongside your other social links.
• ✨ Add them in Ghost's new Settings → Social accounts panel (added in Ghost 6.37) and they appear automatically — no code needed.

Polish & Refinements

• 🧹 Prefer Code Injection, or still on a Ghost version before 6.37? Your custom social links keep working, and they never show up twice next to the built-in ones.

v1.4.0 — May 20, 2026

Meridian can now show ads — image banners or ad-network code like Google AdSense — placed from your dashboard, and never shown to paying members.

New Features

• ✨ Turn ads on in Settings, then place each one by creating a page. No code required.
• ✨ Ads can appear at the top of the site, around the homepage and archives, inside and after articles, and as a dismissible bar on phones.
• ✨ Each ad can be a plain image banner or ad-network code — Google AdSense, Google Ad Manager, or any other provider. Paste it into the page and you're done.
• ✨ Homepage ads sit among your sections and reorder just like any other section, so you decide exactly where they land.
• ✨ The homepage now shows up to 30 section rows (up from 20), so there is room for ad rows alongside all your usual sections.
• ✨ Add your Google AdSense publisher ID once and Meridian loads everything for you, including Auto ads.
• ✨ Ads are hidden from paying members automatically — subscribers get a clean, ad-free read, and the ad scripts never even load for them.
• ✨ The in-article ad shows only to readers who can open the story, so paywalled teasers stay clean.
• ✨ The phone-only sticky banner can be closed with a single tap.
• ✨ A built-in EU, UK and Switzerland consent baseline holds ads back until consent is given, working alongside Google's "Privacy & messaging" or your own consent banner.

Polish & Refinements

• 🎨 Every ad is clearly labelled "Advertisement".
• 🎨 Ads fit their space on phones, tablets and desktops.
• 🎨 Empty ad spots collapse cleanly, so your layout never shows blank gaps.

v1.3.1 — May 17, 2026

Meridian now plays Vimeo videos in #video posts the same way it already does for YouTube and uploaded videos.

New Features

• ✨ Drop a Vimeo embed into a #video post and Meridian hoists it into the click-to-play hero above the headline, alongside the existing support for uploaded videos and YouTube. Channel and group URLs work too.
• ✨ Vimeo embeds anywhere else in the article body are now upgraded to a lightweight click-to-play facade. The heavy Vimeo player only loads when a reader actually presses play, keeping pages fast on slow connections.
• ✨ The sticky mini-player at the corner of the screen now works for Vimeo as well. Readers can keep watching while they scroll through the rest of the article, and the dismiss button (or Escape) pauses and tucks the player away.

v1.3.0 — May 15, 2026

Long reads can now show a small "In this story" list at the top of the article, so readers can scan the sections before diving in.

New Features

• ✨ Tag a post with #toc and Meridian adds an "In this story" list above the article body — built automatically from your H2 and H3 headings. Off by default, on per post.
• ✨ The list opens by default on larger screens and folds away on mobile, so the headline still leads on a phone.
• ✨ Tapping an entry jumps to that section with a smooth scroll, and the active entry highlights as readers scroll.

Polish & Refinements

• 🎨 The first paragraph, heading, or image in every story now sits flush against the toolbar above it — no inconsistent gap depending on what the post opens with.
• 🎨 Reporter pages now announce the story list as the "Reporter archive" to screen readers, matching the breadcrumb labelling used elsewhere.

v1.2.0 — May 14, 2026

Meridian now ships in twelve more languages, and the wording adapts properly to each one.

New Features

• ✨ Meridian now speaks 12 more languages — German, French (including Canadian French), Spanish, Portuguese (Brazil and Portugal), Italian, Dutch, Swedish, Polish, Danish, and Norwegian. Pick your language in Ghost's settings and the whole theme follows.
• ✨ The print version of an article — its cover page and footer note — now appears in your site's language too, instead of always English.

Polish & Refinements

• 🎨 Lines that mix wording with a number or a name — story counts, "More from" an author, page numbers, the upgrade prompt — are now phrased to stay grammatical in every language, not stitched together word by word.

v1.1.1 — May 14, 2026

Story cards now show what's behind the paywall at a glance, the upgrade prompt got a clearer redesign, and the membership panel handles free-only sites gracefully.

New Features

• ✨ Every gated story now shows a small label — Free members, Paid, or Subscribers only — on its card, so readers see what's locked before they click.
• ✨ These labels appear everywhere stories are listed: the homepage, Editor's Picks, related coverage, and the previous/next links on posts.

Polish & Refinements

• 🎨 The upgrade prompt on gated stories has a cleaner look — an accent border and a small pointer tying it back to the story above.
• 🎨 The upgrade prompt now tailors its wording to the story — paid, free members, or a specific membership tier by name.
• 🎨 The membership panel shows a "Free / forever" plan when you haven't set up a paid tier, so it never looks half-finished.
• 🎨 The "Compare plans" link only appears when there's actually a paid plan to compare it against.
• 🎨 The free-signup line now reads "with select stories" so it fits any publication, not just news sites.
• 🎨 Callout boxes drop their grey fill — just the accent rule down the side now, for a cleaner look on the page and in print.
• 🎨 Static pages are wider, and their header images keep their natural shape instead of being cropped to a fixed banner.

Bug Fixes

• 🐛 The membership savings percentage now matches the figure Ghost shows at checkout.
• 🐛 Instagram posts now sit centred in the story instead of drifting to the left.
• 🐛 Article text styling no longer bleeds into the upgrade prompt or membership boxes, in both light and dark mode.
• 🐛 Links inside dropdown menus keep their full-width hover area and click target.
• 🐛 Navigation sub-items no longer flash briefly while the menu finishes loading.

v1.1.0 — May 13, 2026

New Features

• ✨ Tag any post #video to feature an uploaded video or YouTube clip at the top of the post.
• ✨ Click the poster to play inline; the video docks in a small corner player when you scroll past it.
• ✨ The corner player can be dismissed at any time and only appears once you've pressed play.
• ✨ Video posts show a centred play badge on every thumbnail across the site, so readers spot them at a glance.
• ✨ Carousels are now fully keyboard-friendly — use arrow keys, Home and End to move between stories.

Polish & Refinements

• 🎨 Theme accent colour auto-adjusts so button text stays readable on any accent you pick.
• 🎨 Membership CTA highlight and trial badge stay readable in both light and dark mode.
• 🎨 Inactive pagination numbers have softer borders so the current page stands out clearly.
• 🎨 Reader preferences and share popovers now identify themselves to screen readers.
• 🎨 Membership CTA buttons gain a subtle hover effect.

Performance & Accessibility

• ⚡ YouTube embeds across the site load lighter on first view — the player only loads when readers press play.
• ⚡ Article cards on mobile request smaller images for faster scrolling.

Bug Fixes

• 🐛 Theme switcher no longer animates when reduced-motion is turned on.
• 🐛 Heading order on post pages and homepage columns now flows cleanly for screen readers.
• 🐛 Editor's Picks and other carousels no longer confuse screen readers with mixed structure.
• 🐛 Wordmark underline only appears when you've uploaded a site logo.

1.0.0 — Initial public release

The first public release of Meridian — a print-editorial Ghost theme for news publications.

Homepage

• Asymmetric responsive 3-column lead grid (secondary aside + hero + most-read rail with sticky newsletter CTA).
• Editor's Picks horizontal scroll strip, populated from Ghost's native Featured flag (up to 8 posts).
• Seven tag-driven section row layouts below the fold: #home-feature-package, #home-briefing, #home-briefing-carousel, #home-asymmetric-lead-list, #home-opinion-hedcut, #home-tag-columns, #home-standard-3-column-grid.
• 18-post archive tail under the section band.
• Optional Editor's note panel sourced from a Ghost page with slug editors-note.

Post page

• Hero with custom-excerpt deck, visibility chip (Public / Free members / Paid / Subscribers only), and #breaking badge.
• Action toolbar: Save / Comments / Reader controls / Share, with a sticky compact clone that takes over after the toolbar scrolls off.
• Reading-progress indicator.
• Drop-cap support via the #dropcap internal tag.
• Tier-aware member CTA (signup → upgrade → hidden) with copy editable in Theme → Site wide.
• Related coverage, recommendations, latest articles, from-this-writer, post navigation, Ghost-native comments.

Membership CTA (footer band)

• Full-bleed band rendered above the footer on every page.
• Editorial copy sourced from a Ghost page with slug membership-cta (eyebrow ← custom_excerpt, issue line ← meta_description, trial badge ← meta_title, headline + body ← page body).
• Accent phrase in headline created by highlighting in Koenig (⌘+Option+H on Mac / Ctrl+Alt+H on Windows/Linux).
• Pricing auto-fills from the cheapest active public paid tier; "save N%" line computed client-side, self-removes when there's no real savings.
• Deleting or unpublishing the membership-cta page hides the band site-wide — admin opt-out.

Theme settings

• 7 custom settings, all under Settings → Design & branding → Customize → Theme → Site wide: Color scheme, Background palette, Font heading, Font body, Dark mode logo, Member CTA headline, Member CTA body.

Typography

• 11 self-hosted variable typefaces (Source Serif 4, Newsreader, Fraunces, Roboto Slab, Inter, Literata, EB Garamond, IBM Plex Sans, Public Sans, Charter, System Serif) + JetBrains Mono for code.
• Conditional preload — only fonts in active use are preloaded; duplicate heading/body picks skip the duplicate preload.
• Ghost's custom-font picker overrides the theme setting when set; falls back to Meridian's pick when empty.

Paper palettes

• Four presets: Newsprint, Mist, Stone, Press.
• Each preset pairs a light-mode and dark-mode value; body-text contrast clears WCAG AAA on every paper × scheme combination.

Reader controls

• Text size (Small / Default / Large) and appearance (Light / Dark / System) in a masthead popover.
• Persisted to localStorage (readingFontSize, theme) and synced across tabs.
• Appearance picker hides when the admin locks the site to Light or Dark via the Color scheme setting.

Bookmarks

• Local-only saved-articles feature backed by localStorage — no API key, no signup.
• Save button on every post card and post hero; popover in the masthead utility row.
• Dedicated /bookmarks/ page (requires a Ghost page with slug bookmarks).
• Cross-tab sync via the storage event.

Navigation

• Primary horizontal section bar in the masthead with edge-fade overflow on mobile.
• Secondary hamburger drawer + footer columns hydrate from Ghost's secondary navigation, using # (heading) and - (sub-item) prefix conventions.
• Drawer slides from the right edge in RTL locales (Arabic, Hebrew, Persian, Urdu).
• External URLs auto-gain an ↗ icon.

Social links

• Native support for Facebook and X via Ghost's social-accounts settings.
• 20+ additional platforms via a Code Injection snippet (Instagram, YouTube, LinkedIn, Bluesky, Mastodon, Substack, etc.).
• Anchor-block form for per-link placement (footer, author, or both) and custom SVG fallback.

Print

• @media print cover masthead, drop caps, and colophon footer with source URL + retrieval date.
• Print button in the post toolbar triggers window.print() directly.

i18n

• 183-key English locale shipped in en.json.
• Full RTL support for ar, he, fa, ur.
• yarn lint:i18n parity check between templates and locales/en.json.

Tech

• Tailwind CSS v4 with design tokens in CSS variables.
• Vite 8 build.
• Alpine.js 3 + Alpine plugins (collapse, focus, intersect).
• PhotoSwipe 5 (dynamic import — only loaded when Koenig galleries / image cards are present).
• Self-hosted variable fonts via Fontsource packages.