diff --git a/appview/pages/funcmap.go b/appview/pages/funcmap.go
index 38f1b359..3b1f9e4b 100644
--- a/appview/pages/funcmap.go
+++ b/appview/pages/funcmap.go
@@ -526,14 +526,16 @@ func (p *Pages) AvatarUrl(actor, size string) string {
 	signature := hex.EncodeToString(h.Sum(nil))
 
 	// Get avatar CID for cache busting
-	profile, err := db.GetProfile(p.db, did)
 	version := ""
-	if err == nil && profile != nil && profile.Avatar != "" {
-		// Use first 8 chars of avatar CID as version
-		if len(profile.Avatar) > 8 {
-			version = profile.Avatar[:8]
-		} else {
-			version = profile.Avatar
+	if p.db != nil {
+		profile, err := db.GetProfile(p.db, did)
+		if err == nil && profile != nil && profile.Avatar != "" {
+			// Use first 8 chars of avatar CID as version
+			if len(profile.Avatar) > 8 {
+				version = profile.Avatar[:8]
+			} else {
+				version = profile.Avatar
+			}
 		}
 	}
 
diff --git a/appview/pages/pages.go b/appview/pages/pages.go
index 775bd212..731f81c3 100644
--- a/appview/pages/pages.go
+++ b/appview/pages/pages.go
@@ -88,6 +88,65 @@ func (p *Pages) nameToPath(s string) string {
 	return "templates/" + s + ".html"
 }
 
+// FuncMap returns the template function map for use by external template consumers.
+func (p *Pages) FuncMap() template.FuncMap {
+	return p.funcMap()
+}
+
+// FragmentPaths returns all fragment template paths from the embedded FS.
+func (p *Pages) FragmentPaths() ([]string, error) {
+	return p.fragmentPaths()
+}
+
+// EmbedFS returns the embedded filesystem containing templates and static assets.
+func (p *Pages) EmbedFS() fs.FS {
+	return p.embedFS
+}
+
+// ParseWith parses the base layout together with all appview fragments and
+// an additional template from extraFS identified by extraPath (relative to
+// extraFS root). The returned template is ready to ExecuteTemplate with
+// "layouts/base" -- primarily for use with the blog.
+func (p *Pages) ParseWith(extraFS fs.FS, extraPath string) (*template.Template, error) {
+	fragmentPaths, err := p.fragmentPaths()
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, err
+	}
+
+	funcs := p.funcMap()
+	tpl, err := template.New("layouts/base").
+		Funcs(funcs).
+		ParseFS(p.embedFS, append(fragmentPaths, p.nameToPath("layouts/base"))...)
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, err
+	}
+
+	err = fs.WalkDir(extraFS, ".", func(path string, d fs.DirEntry, err error) error {
+		if err != nil {
+			return err
+		}
+		if d.IsDir() || !strings.HasSuffix(path, ".html") {
+			return nil
+		}
+		if path != extraPath && !strings.Contains(path, "fragments/") {
+			return nil
+		}
+		data, err := fs.ReadFile(extraFS, path)
+		if err != nil {
+			return err
+		}
+		if _, err = tpl.New(path).Parse(string(data)); err != nil {
+			return err
+		}
+		return nil
+	})
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, err
+	}
+
+	return tpl, nil
+}
+
 func (p *Pages) fragmentPaths() ([]string, error) {
 	var fragmentPaths []string
 	err := fs.WalkDir(p.embedFS, "templates", func(path string, d fs.DirEntry, err error) error {