Aurora ships with 13 archive layouts. Archives are the pages where readers browse your posts by category, tag, date, or author. As your blog grows, archives drive significant traffic. The layout you pick shapes whether those pages feel inviting or like a wall of titles.
The archive wrapper
All Aurora archives use the same wrapper class: .posts-card. The layout choice changes how cards inside the wrapper are styled and arranged.
The layouts
Default
Standard grid of post cards with featured images, titles, excerpts, dates, categories. Masonry-compatible.
The reliable choice for most blogs.
Cards
Variation of grid with more emphasis on the card aesthetic — strong borders or shadows, distinct card boundaries. Masonry-compatible.
Works well when each post should feel like a distinct unit.
Masonry (within other layouts)
Pinterest-style irregular grid where cards have variable heights. Triggered as an option on compatible layouts (Board, Cards, Default, Detailed, Minimal, Overlay).
Best for image-heavy blogs where featured images naturally vary in aspect ratio.
List
Vertical list of posts. Each post is a horizontal block with image and text side by side.
Compact. Shows more posts per scroll than grid layouts.
Best for: text-heavy blogs, essay archives, blogs where titles and excerpts matter more than visual hierarchy.
Magazine
Multi-row magazine-style layout. Featured posts get more space; smaller posts populate around them.
Best for: blogs that want editorial hierarchy in archives, not just chronological flow.
Board
Board-style layout, similar to Pinterest boards. Masonry-compatible.
Best for: visual / inspirational blogs.
Detailed
Card layout with more metadata visible per post (longer excerpts, more category info, dates, read time). Masonry-compatible.
Best for: content-rich blogs where readers benefit from seeing more about each post before clicking.
Minimal
Stripped-down archive with minimal styling. Often just title, date, brief excerpt. Masonry-compatible (though minimal style + masonry is uncommon).
Best for: text-focused, editorial blogs.
Overlay
Cards with text overlaid on the featured image. Image is the background; title and metadata sit on top. Masonry-compatible.
Best for: visual blogs (photography, design, food) where the image is the primary draw.
Swapped
Layout with hardcoded dark background block (#191919 with #f5f5f5 text) for the text section.
One of Aurora’s two hard-coded color exceptions.
Best for: bloggers who want a deliberate dark-text-block aesthetic.
Broad
Wide-format archive with larger post cards. Each card takes more horizontal space.
Has white text on a banner overlay (one of the rare hardcoded color elements).
Best for: featured-style archives where each post deserves more visual weight.
Other variants
The full set includes additional layouts that mix elements of the above. Browse them in the Customizer to see all options.
Masonry as a feature
Masonry mode creates an irregular grid where cards have variable heights based on content. Looks Pinterest-like.
Available on: Board, Cards, Default, Detailed, Minimal, Overlay.
Best for blogs where featured images vary in aspect ratio. Forced-square or uniform-height grids make varied images look awkward; masonry embraces variation.
Featured image fallback
Many Aurora archive layouts use --link-color as a fallback for posts without featured images. Empty image areas get a solid color block, not blank space.
Means: if some of your old posts lack featured images, the archive still looks intentional. The block uses your color settings rather than showing a gap.
Choosing based on what you publish
Text-heavy / essay blogs
List, Minimal, or Magazine. Surface titles and excerpts; images are secondary.
Image-driven blogs (food, photography, design, fashion)
Masonry mode on Board, Cards, or Overlay. Let images carry the archive.
News / current events
Magazine or Detailed. Multiple posts per row with metadata visible.
Tutorial / educational
Default or Cards. Clear titles and excerpts; not too image-heavy.
Portfolio-style blogs
Board, Overlay, or Broad. Image-forward and grid-based.
Configuring archive options
Customize → Posts → Archive Style. Pick the layout.
Within each layout, additional options often include:
- Posts per page.
- Show/hide excerpts.
- Show/hide dates.
- Show/hide categories on cards.
- Enable masonry (where applicable).
- Enable Ajax load-more.
Ajax load-more
Aurora supports Ajax load-more on archives — visitors click a button to load more posts inline, no page reload.
Pros: keeps readers on the archive page, better engagement signals.
Cons: a small JavaScript overhead.
Generally worth enabling for most blogs.
Pagination vs load-more vs infinite scroll
Aurora supports:
- Standard pagination: page 1, 2, 3 links at the bottom.
- Ajax load-more: click button to append more posts.
- Infinite scroll: automatic loading as you scroll (some layouts).
Recommendation: load-more. Better than infinite scroll for SEO (doesn’t trap readers indefinitely) and better than pagination for engagement.
Category vs tag vs date archives
The same archive layout applies to category, tag, date, author, and search-results archives by default.
Aurora doesn’t ship with separate layouts per archive type. If you want different layouts for, say, your photography portfolio category vs your blog category, you’d need custom code or a child theme.
Mobile experience
All archive layouts collapse to single-column on mobile. Multi-column grids stack. Masonry becomes single-column.
Test on mobile to verify the layout works in the constrained format. Some image-heavy layouts feel different on phones.
The honest summary
Aurora’s 13 archive layouts cover everything from minimal lists to image-heavy masonry. Default, Cards, and List are the safe starting points. Masonry mode (on compatible layouts) suits image-driven blogs. Magazine and Detailed suit content-rich blogs. Swapped and Broad have hardcoded color elements; everything else follows your color settings. Pick based on what you publish; switch anytime as your content evolves.
