diff --git a/appview/pages/pages.go b/appview/pages/pages.go
index 5d8aafa7..8f83b14f 100644
--- a/appview/pages/pages.go
+++ b/appview/pages/pages.go
@@ -136,50 +136,6 @@ 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 {
diff --git a/blog/blog.go b/blog/blog.go
index 424a7149..aff04367 100644
--- a/blog/blog.go
+++ b/blog/blog.go
@@ -148,9 +148,53 @@ func AtomFeed(posts []Post, baseURL string) (string, error) {
 	return feed.ToAtom()
 }
 
+// parseLayout builds a template set from the appview's fragments together with
+// the blog's own layouts, fragments, and the given page template (relative to
+// templatesDir). The result is ready to ExecuteTemplate with "layouts/blogbase".
+func parseLayout(p *pages.Pages, templatesDir, page string) (*template.Template, error) {
+	fragmentPaths, err := p.FragmentPaths()
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, err
+	}
+
+	tpl, err := template.New("layouts/blogbase").
+		Funcs(p.FuncMap()).
+		ParseFS(p.EmbedFS(), fragmentPaths...)
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, err
+	}
+
+	extraFS := os.DirFS(templatesDir)
+	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
+		}
+		// only the requested page, plus shared layouts and fragments
+		if path != page && !strings.Contains(path, "fragments/") && !strings.Contains(path, "layouts/") {
+			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
+}
+
 // RenderIndex renders the blog index page to w.
 func RenderIndex(p *pages.Pages, templatesDir string, posts []Post, w io.Writer) error {
-	tpl, err := p.ParseWith(os.DirFS(templatesDir), "index.html")
+	tpl, err := parseLayout(p, templatesDir, "index.html")
 	if err != nil {
 		return err
 	}
@@ -163,14 +207,14 @@ func RenderIndex(p *pages.Pages, templatesDir string, posts []Post, w io.Writer)
 			}
 		}
 	}
-	return tpl.ExecuteTemplate(w, "layouts/base", indexParams{Posts: posts, Featured: featured})
+	return tpl.ExecuteTemplate(w, "layouts/blogbase", indexParams{Posts: posts, Featured: featured})
 }
 
 // RenderPost renders a single blog post page to w.
 func RenderPost(p *pages.Pages, templatesDir string, post Post, w io.Writer) error {
-	tpl, err := p.ParseWith(os.DirFS(templatesDir), "post.html")
+	tpl, err := parseLayout(p, templatesDir, "post.html")
 	if err != nil {
 		return err
 	}
-	return tpl.ExecuteTemplate(w, "layouts/base", postParams{Post: post})
+	return tpl.ExecuteTemplate(w, "layouts/blogbase", postParams{Post: post})
 }
diff --git a/blog/templates/layouts/blogbase.html b/blog/templates/layouts/blogbase.html
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..66629799
--- /dev/null
+++ b/blog/templates/layouts/blogbase.html
@@ -0,0 +1,77 @@
+{{ define "layouts/blogbase" }}
+    <!doctype html>
+    <html lang="en" class="dark:bg-gray-900">
+        <head>
+            <meta charset="UTF-8" />
+            <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0, viewport-fit=cover"/>
+            <meta name="description" content="The next-generation social coding platform."/>
+
+            <!-- Open Graph defaults -->
+            <meta property="og:site_name" content="Tangled" />
+            <meta property="og:type" content="website" />
+            <meta property="og:locale" content="en_US" />
+
+            <!-- Keywords -->
+            <meta name="keywords" content="git, code collaboration, AT Protocol, open source, version control, social coding, code hosting" />
+
+            <!-- Author and copyright -->
+            <meta name="author" content="Tangled" />
+            <meta name="robots" content="index, follow" />
+
+            <link rel="icon" href="/static/logos/dolly.ico" sizes="48x48"/>
+            <link rel="icon" href="/static/logos/dolly.svg" sizes="any" type="image/svg+xml"/>
+            <link rel="apple-touch-icon" href="/static/logos/dolly.png"/>
+
+            <!-- preconnect to image cdn -->
+            <link rel="preconnect" href="https://avatar.tangled.sh" />
+            <link rel="preconnect" href="https://camo.tangled.sh" />
+
+            <!-- preload main font -->
+            <link rel="preload" href="/static/fonts/InterVariable.woff2" as="font" type="font/woff2" crossorigin />
+
+            <link rel="stylesheet" href="/static/tw.css?{{ cssContentHash }}" type="text/css" />
+
+            <script>
+              document.addEventListener('DOMContentLoaded', () => {
+                const nodes = document.querySelectorAll('pre.mermaid');
+                if (!nodes.length) return;
+                const script = document.createElement('script');
+                script.src = '/static/mermaid.min.js';
+                script.onload = async () => {
+                  mermaid.initialize({
+                    startOnLoad: true,
+                    theme: window.matchMedia('(prefers-color-scheme: dark)').matches ? 'dark' : 'default',
+                  });
+                  await mermaid.run({ nodes });
+                };
+                document.head.appendChild(script);
+              });
+            </script>
+            <title>{{ block "title" . }}{{ end }}</title>
+            {{ block "extrameta" . }}{{ end }}
+        </head>
+        <body class="min-h-screen flex flex-col gap-4 bg-slate-100 dark:bg-gray-900 dark:text-white transition-colors duration-200 {{ block "bodyClasses" . }} {{ end }}">
+          {{ block "topbarLayout" . }}{{ end }}
+
+          {{ block "mainLayout" . }}
+            <div class="flex-grow">
+              <div class="max-w-screen-lg mx-auto flex flex-col gap-4">
+                {{ block "contentLayout" . }}
+                <main>
+                  {{ block "content" . }}{{ end }}
+                </main>
+                {{ end }}
+
+                {{ block "contentAfterLayout" . }}
+                <main>
+                  {{ block "contentAfter" . }}{{ end }}
+                </main>
+                {{ end }}
+              </div>
+            </div>
+          {{ end }}
+
+          {{ block "footerLayout" . }}{{ end }}
+        </body>
+    </html>
+{{ end }}