# Blog posts template
{% hint style="danger" %} Theme retirement Ira is no longer available on the Shopify theme store. **Theme support and updates for current users will end after May 18, 2024**. [Learn more here](https://help.fluorescent.co/ira/readme/theme-retirement).
{% endhint %}
The **Blog Post template** provides the design and layout of your blog post articles. Publish **Blog posts** to share store announcements, updates, and featured content, and help increase organic traffic to your site.
This guide explains how to set up the blog posts page template using theme sections, and includes tips and recommendations to get you started.
## **Quick setup**
For the blog posts template, you first need to **add blog posts in your Shopify admin**. Then, in the theme editor, you can **customize the posts template**.
> **Tip |** Check out Shopify's guide on [How to start a blog and grow your audience](https://www.shopify.com/blog/how-to-start-a-blog).
### **Add blog posts in Shopify admin**
Before editing the **Blog post template**, you need to add at least one blog post in your Shopify admin.
The blog posts template will use your blog post's **Featured image**, **Title**, **Content**, **Tags**, **Published date** and **Author**.
{% hint style="success" %} **Shopify** | Blog posts are a Shopify feature. See Shopify's guides to [create a blog](https://help.shopify.com/en/manual/online-store/blogs/adding-a-blog) and add [blog posts](https://help.shopify.com/en/manual/online-store/blogs/writing-blogs).
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### **Edit blog posts template**
The **Blogs post template** includes a default layout to get you started. You can customize the **Content width** and the **Featured image**. The blocks for **Title**, **Content**, and **Pagination** are used to display information from your Shopify admin and do not have additional settings.
STEPS
In your theme editor (**Customize**):
1. Use the **Templates selector** to open **Blog posts > Default blog posts**.
2. Click **Change** in the "PREVIEW" section to select which blog post to preview while making edits.
3. In the **Featured image** section, click **Add image** to upload an image file.
> There are no required dimensions. We recommend using the same shape and size for all blog images with a minimum width of **`2048px`** for optimal quality across all devices.
4. In the **Excerpt** section, add a summary of your post.
> If left blank, Ira will automatically display the first few sentences of the post.
5. Add social share buttons so customers can quickly share posts to their social media accounts:
6. Click **Save**
### **Edit featured image**
The blog posts template display the **featured image** added in your Shopify admin. Go to your Shopify admin to upload images for your blog posts.
STEPS
In your theme editor (**Customize**):
1. Click the **Featured image** block to open the settings.
> To hide blog post featured images, click the **Eye icon** to hide the block or **Remove block** in the block settings.
2. Use the **Max width of image** slider to increase or decrease the width in pixels.
3. Select an **Image aspect ratio** to crop your image to **Square**, **Landscape**, or **Portrait**.
> The default **Natural** setting will display the original orientation of your image.
4. Click **Save**.
### **Enable post comments**
In the Shopify admin, you can choose to enable comments. Ira displays a simple comment form with fields for Name, Email, and Message.
{% hint style="success" %} **Shopify** | Blog posts comments are a Shopify feature. See Shopify's guides for [Managing comments on blog posts](https://help.shopify.com/en/manual/online-store/blogs/managing-comments).
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> **Related links**
>
> [Templates](https://github.com/fluorescent/kb-ira/blob/main/page-templates/templates/templates/README.md)