Substack has launched website design tools with seven themes and controls for publishers to change their layouts, typography and colors. Released this week, the updated editor lets publishers customize several parts of their sites and check how the results will appear on different screens before saving. The changes apply to websites; the Substack app keeps its separate layout.
Publishers can reach the Mini-Editor from the lower-right corner of their publication’s homepage to try different fonts, layouts and color combinations. A dice button generates a random choice for an individual setting, while “Shuffle all” changes combinations across the options. Publishers who want to retain their existing look can make smaller adjustments, including resizing a wordmark, changing fonts or adding a header image.
The Full Editor provides controls across Post pages as well as the Home page and Welcome page, with adjustments for the footer, header and other page sections. Publishers can choose suggested palettes or select their own colors, and assign different typefaces to body text and titles. They can also upload and resize a logo or wordmark image, then preview the design for mobile web, desktop and tablet screens; saving makes the changes live.
Among publishers given early access, Narratively used the Cinematic theme for a redesign featuring large blocks of stories and pink lettering on a dark background. Its team also redesigned Narratively Academy, which provides education and a community for writers. Co-founder Noah Rosenberg said getting both sites’ new designs online took under 10 minutes.
FOUND took a different approach, retaining the Classic Substack theme and adding a header image while preserving separate colors and author profiles for its city editions. Arden Yum changed Ad Hoc’s design in an hour, according to her account of using the editor. Substack says additional improvements intended to expand publishers’ design control will follow over the coming months.
The website changes follow Substack’s October 29 introduction of lists, which let people curate publishers and give each collection a feed of their posts and Notes in chronological order. In its October 30 product update, Substack also introduced the ability to create multiple subscriber chat channels within one publication.
