How to add a countdown timer to Ghost
Ghost is two surfaces at once — a website and a newsletter — and they do not accept the same code. An HTML card gives you the live iframe on the published post; the emailed version of that post needs the image form, because no email client renders an iframe. tikio covers both from one design.
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Design your countdown in tikio
Build the timer once in the editor — colors, fonts, labels and languages. The same published design serves your website and your email campaigns, so the page and the inbox never drift apart.
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Publish and copy the embed code
Hit Publish, switch the snippet type to the website embed and copy the iframe. The width and height come from your design, so the timer lands on the page at exactly the size you drew it.
<iframe src="https://tikio.io/e/a1b2.html?target=2026-08-01T20:00" title="Offer ends soon" width="480" height="140" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="border:0;"></iframe> -
Add an HTML card to the post or page
In the Ghost editor, type /html to insert an HTML card and paste the iframe. This is the version that appears on the published web post.
<iframe src="https://tikio.io/e/a1b2.html?target=2026-08-01T20:00" title="Offer ends soon" width="480" height="140" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="border:0;"></iframe> -
Use the image version for the newsletter
If the post also goes out as an email, use the .gif form instead — email clients drop iframes. The two URLs differ only by extension and share the same design and deadline.
<img src="https://tikio.io/e/a1b2.gif?target=2026-08-01T20:00" alt="Offer ends soon" style="border:0;" />
The same countdown in your emails
This is the clearest case for the email-and-web parity: one published design, one deadline in the URL, two renderings — a live iframe for the site and an animated image for the inbox.
<img src="https://tikio.io/e/a1b2.gif?target=2026-08-01T20:00" alt="Offer ends soon" style="border:0;" /> Setting up the campaign too? See the guide for your email platform.
FAQ
Why can’t I use the iframe in the newsletter?
No email client executes iframes — it is a limitation of email, not of Ghost. The image version is rendered by tikio at the moment the email is opened, so it still shows the correct remaining time.
Can I use email-only and web-only cards?
Yes. Ghost lets you mark content as email-only or web-only, which is the tidy way to serve the image version to subscribers and the live iframe to web readers from a single post.
Does it work on a self-hosted Ghost install?
Yes. The timer is loaded from tikio by URL, so nothing depends on where Ghost itself is hosted.
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