diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 2e891b4..c50420d 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -46,10 +46,12 @@ public/assets/images/*
 
 !content/
 content/*
+!content/init
 !content/themes
 content/themes/*
 !content/themes/fipamo-default-v2
 !content/themes/fipamo-default-v2/*
 
+
 *.DS_Store
 *.codekit3
diff --git a/app/Services/SettingsService.php b/app/Services/SettingsService.php
index 0c6a23f..7a896cc 100644
--- a/app/Services/SettingsService.php
+++ b/app/Services/SettingsService.php
@@ -16,15 +16,33 @@ class SettingsService
 
     public function __construct(DocService $docService, ContentService $contentService)
     {
-        $this->folks    = json_decode(file_get_contents(env('FOLKS_PATH')), true);
-        $this->tags     = json_decode(file_get_contents(env('TAGS_PATH')), true);
-        $this->docs     = $docService;
-        $this->contents = $contentService;
+        //if config files aren't avaiable, load templates
+        if (file_exists(env('FOLKS_PATH'))) {
+            $this->folks = json_decode(file_get_contents(env('FOLKS_PATH')), true);
+        } else {
+            $this->folks = json_decode(file_get_contents('../content/init/folks-template.json'), true);
+        }
+
+        if (file_exists(env('TAGS_PATH'))) {
+            $this->tags = json_decode(file_get_contents(env('TAGS_PATH')), true);
+        } else {
+            $this->tags = [];
+        }
     }
 
     protected function loadSettings()
     {
-        return json_decode(file_get_contents(env('SETTINGS_PATH')), true);
+        $settings = [];
+        //if config files aren't avaiable, load templates
+        if (file_exists(env('SETTINGS_PATH'))) {
+            $settings = json_decode(file_get_contents(env('SETTINGS_PATH')), true);
+        } else {
+            $settings = json_decode(
+                file_get_contents('../content/init/settings-template.json'),
+                true
+            );
+        }
+        return $settings;
     }
 
     public function getSettings()
diff --git a/content/init/folks-template.json b/content/init/folks-template.json
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0933e36
--- /dev/null
+++ b/content/init/folks-template.json
@@ -0,0 +1,15 @@
+[
+  {
+    "id": "",
+    "handle": "",
+    "avi": "/assets/images/global/default-avi.png",
+    "email": "",
+    "password": "",
+    "key": "",
+    "secret": "",
+    "role": "",
+    "created": "",
+    "updated": "",
+    "deleted": null
+  }
+]
diff --git a/content/init/settings-template.json b/content/init/settings-template.json
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a9681d8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/content/init/settings-template.json
@@ -0,0 +1,31 @@
+{
+  "global": {
+    "base_url": "http://your.domain",
+    "title": "This is a Title",
+    "descriptions": "Because it should be easy.",
+    "background": "/assets/images/global/default-bg.jpg",
+    "private": "true",
+    "renderOnSave": "false",
+    "theme": "fipamo-default",
+    "display_limit": 5,
+    "last_backup": null,
+    "externalAPI": "false",
+    "dynamicRender": "false"
+  },
+  "library_stats": {
+    "current_index": 1
+  },
+  "email": {
+    "active": "none",
+    "smtp": {
+      "domain": "",
+      "email": "",
+      "password": ""
+    },
+    "mailgun": {
+      "domain": "",
+      "api-key": ""
+    }
+  },
+  "menu": []
+}
diff --git a/public/assets/css/dash/forms.css b/public/assets/css/dash/forms.css
index 733ed18..e228535 100644
--- a/public/assets/css/dash/forms.css
+++ b/public/assets/css/dash/forms.css
@@ -52,3 +52,25 @@ select {
   font: 25px var(--base-type);
   color: var(--black);
 }
+
+form input.inline {
+  width: auto;
+  border-radius: 0 5px 5px 0;
+}
+
+form label {
+  color: var(--secondary);
+}
+
+form label.inline {
+  background: var(--secondary);
+  display: inline-block;
+  height: 30px;
+  color: var(--primary);
+  padding: 5px;
+  border-radius: 5px 0 0 5px;
+  font-weight: bold;
+  width: 90px;
+  vertical-align: top;
+  margin-right: 1px;
+}
diff --git a/public/assets/css/dash/frame.css b/public/assets/css/dash/frame.css
index ecf001f..5671613 100644
--- a/public/assets/css/dash/frame.css
+++ b/public/assets/css/dash/frame.css
@@ -54,7 +54,7 @@ a.main-nav-secondary-highlight {
 }
 
 img.logo-medium {
-  width: 140px;
+  width: 130px;
 }
 
 sup {
diff --git a/public/assets/css/dash/init.css b/public/assets/css/dash/init.css
index f6471c3..ed910b8 100644
--- a/public/assets/css/dash/init.css
+++ b/public/assets/css/dash/init.css
@@ -21,7 +21,6 @@ section.restore-backup {
 }
 
 section.login form input {
-  width: 95%;
   height: 30px;
   padding: 5px;
   margin-bottom: 10px;
@@ -67,7 +66,6 @@ section.restore-fresh form button {
 }
 
 section.restore-fresh form input {
-  width: 95%;
   height: 30px;
   padding: 5px;
   margin-bottom: 10px;
@@ -79,7 +77,6 @@ section.restore-backup form button {
 }
 
 section.restore-backup form input {
-  width: 95%;
   height: 30px;
   padding: 5px;
   margin-bottom: 10px;
diff --git a/resources/views/forms/init-fresh.blade.php b/resources/views/forms/init-fresh.blade.php
index 6f614f3..e79e9b8 100644
--- a/resources/views/forms/init-fresh.blade.php
+++ b/resources/views/forms/init-fresh.blade.php
@@ -4,11 +4,11 @@
     </a>
 </div>
 <form id="init-form" method="POST" onsubmit="return false;">
-    <input type="text" name="new_member_handle" id="new_member_handle" placeholder="handle"/>
-    <input type="text" name="new_member_email" id="new_member_email" placeholder="email"/>
-    <input type="text" name="new_member_pass" id="new_member_pass" placeholder="password"/>
-    <input type="text" name="new_member_pass2" id="new_member_pass2" placeholder="password confirm"/>
-    <input type="text" name="new_member_title" id="new_member_title" placeholder="title"/>
+    <label class="inline">handle</label><input type="text" class="inline" name="new_member_handle" id="new_member_handle" placeholder="handle"/>
+    <label class="inline">email</label><input type="text" class="inline" name="new_member_email" id="new_member_email" placeholder="email"/>
+    <label class="inline">password</label><input type="password" class="inline" name="new_member_pass" id="new_member_pass" placeholder="password"/>
+    <label class="inline">confirm</label><input type="password" class="inline" name="new_member_pass2" id="new_member_pass2" placeholder="password confirm"/>
+    <label class="inline">site title</label><input type="text" class="inline" name="new_member_title" id="new_member_title" placeholder="title"/>
     <button id="init-blog" data-action='blog-init' type='submit'>SET UP YOUR SITE</button>
     <br/><br/>
     <button class="init-option" id="init-switch-restore">RESTORE FROM BACKUP</button>
diff --git a/resources/views/forms/init-restore.blade.php b/resources/views/forms/init-restore.blade.php
index 16df2f1..b8f93f1 100644
--- a/resources/views/forms/init-restore.blade.php
+++ b/resources/views/forms/init-restore.blade.php
@@ -4,9 +4,9 @@
     </a>
 </div>
 <form id="init-restore" method="POST">
-    <input type="text" name="restore_former_url" id="restore_former_url" placeholder="previous site url"/>
-    <input type="text" name="restore_member_handle" id="restore_member_handle" placeholder="handle"/>
-    <input type="password" name="restore_member_pass" id="restore_member_pass" placeholder="password"/>
+    <label class="inline">previous</label><input type="text" class="inline" name="restore_former_url" id="restore_former_url" placeholder="previous site url"/>
+    <label class="inline">handle</label><input type="text" class="inline" name="restore_member_handle" id="restore_member_handle" placeholder="handle"/>
+    <label class="inline">password</label><input type="password"class="inline"  name="restore_member_pass" id="restore_member_pass" placeholder="password"/>
     <div>
         <label>Grab your backup zip</label>
         <input id="backup-upload" type="file" name="backup-upload" placeholder="Backup Zip"/>
diff --git a/resources/views/forms/login.blade.php b/resources/views/forms/login.blade.php
index 052e51f..594a73f 100644
--- a/resources/views/forms/login.blade.php
+++ b/resources/views/forms/login.blade.php
@@ -4,15 +4,12 @@
     </div>
     <form action="/login" method="post" enctype="multipart/form-data">
         @csrf
-        <input type="text" name="handle" class="form-control" placeholder="Handle" required/>
-        <input type="password" name="password" class="form-control" placeholder="Password" required/>
+        <label class="inline">handle</label><input type="text" name="handle" class="inline" placeholder="Handle" required/>
+        <label class="inline">password</label><input type="password" name="password" class="inline" placeholder="Password" required/>
         @if($errors->any())
             <input type="submit" value="{{$errors->first()}}" name="submit_button">
         @else
             <input type="submit" value="Knock Knock" name="submit_button">
         @endif
-
-        <a href="/dashboard/reset-password">?</a>
-
     </form>
 </section>