Multi blogging and themeing

[harrymkt]

Multiblog

Hello.

Can I have multiple blogs in a single Cobalt site?
For example, in config like this.

posts:
  title: Blog
  dir: blog
posts2:
  title: Useful articles
  dir: articles

And access with paginator, paginator2, etc.

Alternative option

It is more recommended to develop sections and pages without collection posts so it would be able to make multiple blogs with sections, like Zola.

Also, theme creation feature would be helpful.

The reason why I don't use Zola for now is because it has limited features like datafiles and the ability to add liquid syntax to even markdown files, as well as custom template extentions. I may use it later, but for now Cobalt is the best choice for me.

Thanks!

[matbrgz]

Hi @harrymkt and team,

This is a great request—supporting multiple blogs alongside theming would make Cobalt even more flexible. A few thoughts on how it could work:

1. Multi-blog support via named collections

   posts:
     title: "Main Blog"
     dir: "blog"
   posts2:
     title: "Useful Articles"
     dir: "articles"

   • Each collection gets its own paginator (e.g. paginator, paginator2).
   • Permalinks, tags, and layouts can be scoped per collection.

2. Per-collection theming

   • Extend _cobalt.yml to allow a theme field on each collection:

     posts:
       title: "Main Blog"
       dir: "blog"
       theme: "modern"
     posts2:
       title: "Useful Articles"
       dir: "articles"
       theme: "classic"

   • This would load layouts, includes, and assets from _theme/modern/… or _theme/classic/… depending on the collection.

3. Shared vs. collection-specific assets

   • A global theme (e.g. in _theme/default/) applies to pages without an explicit theme.
   • Collection themes could override only layouts or styles, falling back to the global theme where not defined.

4. Implementation sketch

   • During the build, read each collection’s theme and merge its _theme/<slug> folder into the Liquid include and layout search path.
   • Generate separate paginators and feed files per collection, honoring the selected theme.

By combining named collections with scoped theming, you get multiple, independently styled blogs in one site. Happy to help prototype or iterate on this design—let me know what you think!