Title Card Guide · Pocket Hugo

Pocket Hugo Theme can turn a missing cover image into a generated title card.

What this feature is for

Use a title card when you want the article to look complete in lists and single pages, but you do not want to prepare a real image file for every post.

That is especially useful for:

notes and short essays
documentation pages
multilingual pages that should share a consistent visual rhythm
sections where text-first cards feel more natural than photo covers

Quick start

Zero config works too

If you do nothing, the theme can still generate a fallback title card automatically when the site-level cover settings are enabled.

In front matter, the simplest form is just one letter:

coverCard: "a"

Rules:

a to h: the 8 light presets
A to H: the 8 dark presets
any other value: falls back to an automatic random preset

If you set coverCard, the theme will use the generated title card and stop using image.

Hide the repeated list title

If you only want the title to appear inside the card on homepage, taxonomy, archive, and other list-style pages, add:

listTitle: false

That will hide the repeated title in list cards. On single pages, if the page is using a generated title card, it will also hide the separate title block there.

If you want to change this site-wide, use params.article.listTitle = false in hugo.toml. That site-level switch only affects generated gradient cards in list pages, not normal image covers.

Example front matter

title: "My Article"
date: 2026-02-09T08:30:00+08:00
slug: "my-article"
coverCard: "C"
listTitle: false

All 16 presets

The presets below follow the built-in order used by the theme.

Golden Summer Fields

a Golden Summer Fields

Golden Summer Fields Dark

A Golden Summer Fields Dark

Soft Pastel Shades

b Soft Pastel Shades

Soft Pastel Shades Dark

B Soft Pastel Shades Dark

Black Gold Elegance

c Black Gold Elegance

Black Gold Elegance Dark

C Black Gold Elegance Dark

Morandi Mist

d Morandi Mist

Morandi Mist Dark

D Morandi Mist Dark

Fresh Greens

e Fresh Greens

Fresh Greens Dark

E Fresh Greens Dark

Light Steel

f Light Steel

Light Steel Dark

F Light Steel Dark

Deep Sea Blue

g Deep Sea Blue

Deep Sea Blue Dark

G Deep Sea Blue Dark

Monochrome Core

h Monochrome Core

Monochrome Core Dark

H Monochrome Core Dark

When to use which preset

a / A: warm and editorial, good for essays and personal writing
b / B: softer and more friendly, useful for tutorials or documentation
c / C: stronger contrast, good for product or release notes
d / D: muted and calm, fits archive-like or reflective writing
e / E: lively and fresh, useful for tools, workflow, and updates
f / F: neutral and restrained, good for technical references
g / G: clearer and more digital, useful for software and platform topics
h / H: monochrome and minimal, good for terse notes or index pages

Default behavior

If the page does not define coverCard, the theme falls back to the site-level cover rules in hugo.toml.

That means a user can also do nothing at all and still get a generated title card by default. When the theme fallback is set to gradient mode, the card preset is assigned automatically.

That means you can combine both strategies:

use a global fallback mode for ordinary posts
set coverCard only on the pages where you want a specific preset

One practical recommendation

Start with the automatic fallback for the site, then manually assign letters only to pages that you want to feel more deliberate. That keeps authoring fast while still giving important pages a distinct look.

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