John O'nolan
Founder & CEO at Ghost
Dubai, Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Summary
🤩
Rockstar🎓
Top SchoolJohn O'nolan is the founder and CEO of Ghost, an independent, open-source publishing platform he bootstrapped into a profitable, mission-driven company serving publishers and creators worldwide. With 13 years of experience leading product, design, and engineering, he combines hands-on front-end development and UI craft with strategic leadership—his contributions span Ghost’s core platform, admin client, and multiple popular themes. He deliberately structured Ghost as a non-profit, IP-open organisation funded by a transparent SaaS model, rejecting venture-driven growth in favor of long-term independence. Earlier roles include Deputy Head of Design at WordPress where his work shipped to millions of users, and founding a digital agency serving major brands. Based in Dubai, he blends design sensibility and developer rigor, often personally refining CSS, templates and onboarding UX across Ghost’s codebase. That mix of principled entrepreneurship and pixel-level attention explains why Ghost is one of the world’s most popular open-source publishing products.
13 years of coding experience
Bachelor of Arts - BA Music, Bachelor of Arts - BA Music at BIMM University
German, Dutch, English
Stackoverflow
26reputation
139reached
3answers
0questions
Github Skills (18)
javascript10
handlebars10
css10
responsive-design10
microblogging10
ui-design10
ghost10
uid10
publish10
front-end-development10
ember10
html10
theme-development10
blogpost10
gatsby10
Programming languages (16)
Github contributions (5)
TryGhost/Casper
Jun 2013 - Jan 2022
The default theme for Ghost
Role in this project:
Front-end Developer
Front-end DeveloperContributions:4 releases, 2 reviews, 218 commits in 8 years 8 months
Contributions summary:John made several commits focused on refining the default Casper theme's styling. Their contributions primarily involved removing obsolete CSS rules, improving responsiveness, and implementing UI enhancements such as a new RSS subscription button and responsive header styles. The commits demonstrate a focus on improving the theme's visual appearance and user experience.
publishingstatic-siteghost-themenunjucksghost
TryGhost/Starter
Dec 2018 - Jan 2022
A development starter theme for Ghost
Role in this project:Full-stack Developer
Full-stack DeveloperContributions:116 commits, 5 PRs, 103 pushes in 3 years
Contributions summary:John contributed to the development of a Ghost theme, focusing on both frontend and backend aspects. Their work involved implementing features such as members support and updating dependencies. The user also refactored global styles and layout components, including a refactor of the header. Additionally, they improved error template syntax and improved code documentation.
publishingghost-themeghostbloggingstarter-theme
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