Layouts & Presets

One platform. Infinite voices.

Inkwell separates structure from surface. A Layout decides how a blog reads. A Preset decides how it feels. Pick one of each, mix them freely, and swap without a rebuild.

Twenty layouts

Choose your structure.

Each Layout controls the markup, navigation, and reading flow of a blog. One tenant, one Layout — choose from 20, with six of the editorial classics shown here.

Vol. XIV · No. 03
Magazine

An editor’s letter, a leader column, and three departments — laid out with the rhythm of a printed monthly. Generous margins, drop caps, and pull quotes that resolve where you expect them.

FeatureEssay
MagazinePreset 01
Grid · Index
Grid
A card-and-tile index. Posts arranged as a responsive grid of cover cards, ideal for image-led or high-volume publications that want everything visible at a glance.
TilesVisual
GridPreset 02
Minimal · 042
Minimal
Stripped back to a single column. No sidebar, no chrome, no distraction — just the title, the date, and the words. The quietest way to read.
One columnCalm
MinimalPreset 03
Neutral · Default
Neutral
The restrained editorial default. A balanced, sensible reading layout that suits almost any publication out of the box — safe to ship, easy to live with.
DefaultEditorial
NeutralPreset 04
Wednesday · 11.04
Classic
The traditional blog. A reverse-chronological river of dated entries, one after another — the format the web was built to read.
Reverse-chronDated
ClassicPreset 05
Modern · Selected
Modern
Large type, generous whitespace, contemporary contrast. A bold, present-day look for publications that want to feel current and confident.
Large typeBold
ModernPreset 06

…and 14 more, including Feed, the Catalog single-column boxed-card list for company blogs, and the Verdict scored-roundup layout for Top-N buyer’s guides — all selectable from the admin panel with a safe fallback for legacy values.

Sixteen presets

Choose your surface.

Inkwell ships 16 colour Presets. Each is a single set of CSS variables — colour palette, type scale, spacing, and dark-mode adaptation — swappable at any time without touching a line of your content.

Sixteen palettes in all, from warm paper whites to near-black dark modes — ranging across light and dark, neutral and tinted, with a selection shown above. Every Preset pairs with any of the 20 Layouts, and dark mode is built into each one, so there is no separate toggle to maintain. Because a Preset is just a variable block, you can adopt one, edit one, or author your own without a rebuild or a database migration.

Need something bespoke?

Commission a Studio theme.

Maruti Software Solutions designs custom Layouts and Presets from scratch — typography, palette, templates, and all source files in your ownership. From $2,400, one-time.

See Studio service Build your own
  • Brand & typography consultation
  • Custom Layout (Razor partials & templates)
  • Custom Preset (palette, type, spacing)
  • Responsive across every breakpoint
  • Full source files — yours to keep
  • Dark mode included
Frequently asked

Questions about themes.

What is the difference between a Layout and a Preset in Inkwell?
A Layout defines the structure of a blog — how content is arranged, how navigation works, and how posts flow across the page. A Preset defines the surface — the color palette, typography scale, and spacing. The two are independent: you choose one Layout and one Preset per tenant, and you can swap either without rebuilding or migrating the database.
What Layouts does Inkwell include?
Inkwell ships 20 editorial Layouts, including Magazine, for multi-author publications with drop caps, bylines, and departments; Grid, a card-based index of posts; Minimal, a stripped-back single column; Neutral, a restrained editorial default; Classic, a traditional reverse-chronological blog; Modern, a large-type contemporary layout; Feed, a compact stream; Catalog, a single-column boxed-card list for company blogs; and Verdict, a scored-roundup format for Top-N buyer's guides. Any Layout is selectable from the admin panel with a safe fallback for legacy values.
What Presets does Inkwell include?
Inkwell ships 16 colour Presets. Each Preset is a set of CSS variables (colour palette, type scale, spacing, and a dark-mode adaptation) and can be swapped at any time without touching your content. Presets are independent of Layouts, so any Preset works with any Layout.
Can I mix any Layout with any Preset?
Yes. Every Layout is fully compatible with every Preset. With 20 Layouts and 16 Presets you have 320 out-of-the-box combinations, and you can assign a different combination to each tenant hosted on the same Inkwell instance. Switching is a single configuration change — no rebuild, no migration, no downtime.
Can I build a custom theme for Inkwell?
Yes. A custom Layout is a set of Razor partial views placed in /Views/Layouts/{Name}/ and a custom Preset is a CSS variable override block in /wwwroot/css/presets/{name}.css. Both are hot-reloaded in development. If you need a professionally designed bespoke theme, Maruti Software Solutions offers the Studio theme service from $2,400 — a custom Layout and Preset designed to match your masthead.
Ready?

Deploy Inkwell and pick your theme.

Free, MIT-licensed, and running on your own infrastructure in three commands.

Deploy your blog Read the docs