diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index d46a69b..bd7eb9b 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -172,8 +172,8 @@ public/
 
 The **root** of the zona **project** _must_ contain the configuration file,
 `config.yml`, and a directory called `content`. A directory called `templates`
-is optional, and prioritized if it exists. `public` is the built site output —
-it's recommended to add this path to your `.gitignore`.
+is optional, and merged with the defaults if it exists. `public` is the built
+site output — it's recommended to add this path to your `.gitignore`.
 
 The `content` directory is the **root of the website**. Think of it as the
 **content root**. For example, suppose your website is hosted at `example.com`.
@@ -191,9 +191,10 @@ site using the `post_list` template.
 ### Templates
 
 The `templates` directory may contain any `jinja2` template files. You may
-modify the existing templates or create your own. To apply a certain template to
-a page, set the `template` option in its [frontmatter](#frontmatter). The
-following public variables are made available to the template engine:
+modify the existing templates or create your own. Your templates are merged with
+the packaged defaults. To apply a certain template to a page, set the `template`
+option in its [frontmatter](#frontmatter). The following public variables are
+made available to the template engine:
 
 | Name       | Description                                            |
 | ---------- | ------------------------------------------------------ |
diff --git a/src/zona/builder.py b/src/zona/builder.py
index 446f07d..5c8af6b 100644
--- a/src/zona/builder.py
+++ b/src/zona/builder.py
@@ -30,6 +30,7 @@ class ZonaBuilder:
             self.config.build.include_drafts = True
         self.items: list[Item] = []
         self.item_map: dict[Path, Item] = {}
+        self.fresh: bool = True
 
     def _discover(self):
         layout = self.layout
@@ -48,7 +49,9 @@ class ZonaBuilder:
                     destination=destination,
                     url=str(destination.relative_to(layout.output)),
                 )
-                if path.name.endswith(".md") and not path.is_relative_to(
+                if path.name.endswith(
+                    ".md"
+                ) and not path.is_relative_to(
                     layout.root / "content" / "static"
                 ):
                     logger.debug(f"Parsing {path.name}.")
@@ -69,11 +72,13 @@ class ZonaBuilder:
                     item.copy = False
                     name = destination.stem
                     if name == "index":
-                        item.destination = item.destination.with_suffix(
-                            ".html"
+                        item.destination = (
+                            item.destination.with_suffix(".html")
                         )
                     else:
-                        relative = path.relative_to(base).with_suffix("")
+                        relative = path.relative_to(base).with_suffix(
+                            ""
+                        )
                         name = relative.stem
                         item.destination = (
                             layout.output
@@ -85,7 +90,9 @@ class ZonaBuilder:
                         layout.output
                     )
                     item.url = (
-                        "" if rel_url == Path(".") else rel_url.as_posix()
+                        ""
+                        if rel_url == Path(".")
+                        else rel_url.as_posix()
                     )
                 items.append(item)
         self.items = items
@@ -99,6 +106,13 @@ class ZonaBuilder:
             else date.min,
             reverse=True,
         )
+        posts = len(post_list)
+        for i, item in enumerate(post_list):
+            prev = post_list[i - 1] if i > 0 else None
+            next = post_list[i + 1] if i < posts - 2 else None
+            item.previous = prev
+            item.next = next
+
         templater = Templater(
             config=self.config,
             template_dir=self.layout.templates,
@@ -111,7 +125,9 @@ class ZonaBuilder:
         # write code highlighting stylesheet
         if self.config.markdown.syntax_highlighting.enabled:
             pygments_style = zmd.get_style_defs(self.config)
-            pygments_path = self.layout.output / "static" / "pygments.css"
+            pygments_path = (
+                self.layout.output / "static" / "pygments.css"
+            )
             util.ensure_parents(pygments_path)
             pygments_path.write_text(pygments_style)
         for item in self.item_map.values():
@@ -152,7 +168,10 @@ class ZonaBuilder:
                     child.unlink()
                 elif child.is_dir():
                     shutil.rmtree(child)
+        if not self.fresh:
+            self.layout = self.layout.refresh()
         logger.debug("Discovering...")
         self._discover()
         logger.debug("Building...")
         self._build()
+        self.fresh = False
diff --git a/src/zona/data/content/static/style.css b/src/zona/data/content/static/style.css
index d2cacf0..f02717e 100644
--- a/src/zona/data/content/static/style.css
+++ b/src/zona/data/content/static/style.css
@@ -31,6 +31,18 @@ header {
   text-transform: lowercase;
 }
 
+.post-nav {
+  font-family: monospace;
+}
+
+.post-nav .symbol {
+  color: var(--main-bullet-color);
+}
+
+.post-nav a {
+  margin: 0 2px;
+}
+
 .site-logo {
   color: inherit;
   font-weight: bold;
diff --git a/src/zona/data/templates/page.html b/src/zona/data/templates/page.html
index fd3cdb4..0c22f8b 100644
--- a/src/zona/data/templates/page.html
+++ b/src/zona/data/templates/page.html
@@ -1,18 +1,12 @@
-{% extends "base.html" %} {% block content %}
-
-{% if metadata.show_title %}
-{% include "title.html" %}
-{% if metadata.date %}
+{% extends "base.html" %} {% block content %} {% if metadata.show_title %} {%
+include "title.html" %} {% if metadata.date %}
 <center>
   <time class="post-date" datetime="{{ metadata.date | safe }}"
   >{{ metadata.date | safe}}</time>
 </center>
-{% endif %}
+{% endif %} {% endif %} {% if is_post %} {% include "post_nav.html" %} {% endif
+%}
 <hr>
-{% endif %}
 
 <article>{{ content | safe }}</article>
 {% endblock %}
-
-
-
diff --git a/src/zona/data/templates/post_nav.html b/src/zona/data/templates/post_nav.html
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..324f110
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/zona/data/templates/post_nav.html
@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+<div class="post-nav">
+  <center>
+    <span class="symbol">&lt;</span>{% if previous %}<a
+      href="{{ previous.url }}"
+    >prev</a>{% endif %}{% if previous and next %}<span class="symbol"
+    >|</span>{% endif %}{% if next %}<a href="{{ next.url }}">next</a>{% endif
+    %}<span class="symbol">&gt;</span>
+  </center>
+</div>
diff --git a/src/zona/layout.py b/src/zona/layout.py
index 3526c4e..3d8de3d 100644
--- a/src/zona/layout.py
+++ b/src/zona/layout.py
@@ -16,6 +16,22 @@ class Layout:
     content: Path
     templates: Path
     output: Path
+    shared_templates: util.TempDir | None
+    _validate: bool
+
+    def refresh(self):
+        logger.debug("Refreshing layout...")
+        if (
+            self.shared_templates
+            and not self.shared_templates.removed
+        ):
+            logger.debug("Removing stale templates tempdir...")
+            self.shared_templates.remove()
+        return self.__class__.from_input(
+            root=self.root,
+            output=self.output,
+            validate=self._validate,
+        )
 
     @classmethod
     def from_input(
@@ -31,6 +47,8 @@ class Layout:
             output=(root / "public").resolve()
             if not output
             else output,
+            shared_templates=None,
+            _validate=validate,
         )
         if validate:
             logger.debug("Validating site layout...")
@@ -39,10 +57,29 @@ class Layout:
                 raise FileNotFoundError(
                     "Missing required content directory!"
                 )
-            if not layout.templates.is_dir():
+            internal_templates = util.get_resource_dir("templates")
+            user_templates = layout.templates
+            if not user_templates.is_dir() or util.is_empty(
+                user_templates
+            ):
                 logger.debug("Using default template directory.")
                 # use the included defaults
-                layout.templates = util.get_resource_dir("templates")
+                layout.templates = internal_templates
+            else:
+                seen: set[str] = set()
+                temp = util.TempDir()
+                logger.debug(
+                    f"Creating shared template directory at {temp}"
+                )
+                for f in user_templates.iterdir():
+                    if f.is_file():
+                        util.copy_static_file(f, temp.path)
+                        seen.add(f.name)
+                for f in internal_templates.iterdir():
+                    if f.is_file() and f.name not in seen:
+                        util.copy_static_file(f, temp.path)
+                layout.shared_templates = temp
+                layout.templates = temp.path
 
         return layout
 
diff --git a/src/zona/metadata.py b/src/zona/metadata.py
index 0cd6a8c..98b14cf 100644
--- a/src/zona/metadata.py
+++ b/src/zona/metadata.py
@@ -18,6 +18,8 @@ class Metadata:
     date: date
     description: str | None
     show_title: bool = True
+    show_date: bool = True
+    show_nav: bool = True
     style: str | None = "/static/style.css"
     header: bool = True
     footer: bool = True
diff --git a/src/zona/models.py b/src/zona/models.py
index 2e7721c..d009476 100644
--- a/src/zona/models.py
+++ b/src/zona/models.py
@@ -1,3 +1,5 @@
+from __future__ import annotations
+
 from dataclasses import dataclass
 from enum import Enum
 from pathlib import Path
@@ -21,6 +23,8 @@ class Item:
     type: ItemType | None = None
     copy: bool = True
     post: bool = False
+    next: Item | None = None
+    previous: Item | None = None
 
 
 # @dataclass
diff --git a/src/zona/server.py b/src/zona/server.py
index 82e6381..f8b0000 100644
--- a/src/zona/server.py
+++ b/src/zona/server.py
@@ -237,11 +237,13 @@ def serve(
         observer.schedule(
             event_handler, path=str(root / "content"), recursive=True
         )
-        observer.schedule(
-            event_handler,
-            path=str(root / "templates"),
-            recursive=True,
-        )
+        templates = root / "templates"
+        if templates.is_dir():
+            observer.schedule(
+                event_handler,
+                path=str(templates),
+                recursive=True,
+            )
         observer.start()
 
         # function to shut down gracefully
diff --git a/src/zona/templates.py b/src/zona/templates.py
index 872762c..d5e0f22 100644
--- a/src/zona/templates.py
+++ b/src/zona/templates.py
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@ from typing import Literal
 
 from jinja2 import Environment, FileSystemLoader, select_autoescape
 
+from zona import util
 from zona.config import ZonaConfig
 from zona.markdown import md_to_html
 from zona.models import Item
@@ -35,6 +36,7 @@ class Templater:
         template_dir: Path,
         post_list: list[Item],
     ):
+        # build temporary template dir
         self.env: Environment = Environment(
             loader=FileSystemLoader(template_dir),
             autoescape=select_autoescape(["html", "xml"]),
@@ -76,5 +78,12 @@ class Templater:
             metadata=meta,
             header=header,
             footer=footer,
+            is_post=item.post,
+            next=util.normalize_url(item.next.url)
+            if item.next
+            else None,
+            previous=util.normalize_url(item.previous.url)
+            if item.previous
+            else None,
             post_list=self.post_list,
         )
diff --git a/src/zona/util.py b/src/zona/util.py
index 9ccc2c6..5bf6f53 100644
--- a/src/zona/util.py
+++ b/src/zona/util.py
@@ -1,11 +1,36 @@
 import fnmatch
 import re
+import shutil
 import string
+import tempfile
+import weakref
 from importlib import resources
 from importlib.resources.abc import Traversable
 from pathlib import Path
 from shutil import copy2
-from typing import NamedTuple
+from typing import Any, NamedTuple, override
+
+
+class TempDir:
+    """Temporary directory that cleans up when it's garbage collected."""
+
+    def __init__(self):
+        self._tempdir: str = tempfile.mkdtemp()
+        self.path: Path = Path(self._tempdir)
+        self._finalizer: weakref.finalize[Any, Any] = (
+            weakref.finalize(self, shutil.rmtree, self._tempdir)
+        )
+
+    def remove(self):
+        self._finalizer()
+
+    @property
+    def removed(self):
+        return not self._finalizer.alive
+
+    @override
+    def __repr__(self) -> str:
+        return f"<TempDir {self.path}>"
 
 
 class ZonaResource(NamedTuple):
@@ -65,6 +90,15 @@ def copy_static_file(src: Path, dst: Path):
     copy2(src, dst)
 
 
+def is_empty(path: Path) -> bool:
+    """If given a file, check if it has any non-whitespace content.
+    If given a directory, check if it has any children."""
+    if path.is_file():
+        return path.read_text().strip() == ""
+    else:
+        return not any(path.iterdir())
+
+
 def filename_to_title(path: Path) -> str:
     name = path.stem
     words = name.replace("-", " ").replace("_", " ")