diff --git a/sigal/gallery.py b/sigal/gallery.py
index 324e67f..2b48d86 100644
--- a/sigal/gallery.py
+++ b/sigal/gallery.py
@@ -48,7 +48,7 @@ from .utils import (Devnull, copy, check_or_create_dir, url_from_path,
                     read_markdown, cached_property, is_valid_html5_video,
                     get_mime)
 from .video import process_video
-from .writer import Writer
+from .writer import AlbumPageWriter, LandingPageWriter
 
 
 class Media:
@@ -702,13 +702,18 @@ class Gallery(object):
             self.remove_files(failed_files)
 
         if self.settings['write_html']:
-            writer = Writer(self.settings, index_title=self.title)
+            album_writer = AlbumPageWriter(self.settings, index_title=self.title)
+            landing_page_writer = LandingPageWriter(self.settings, index_title=self.title)
             with progressbar(self.albums.values(),
                              label="%16s" % "Writing files",
                              item_show_func=log_func, show_eta=False,
                              file=self.progressbar_target) as albums:
                 for album in albums:
-                    writer.write(album)
+                    if album.path == ".":
+                        # The special album for the top-level directory
+                        landing_page_writer.write(album)
+                    else:
+                        album_writer.write(album)
         print('')
 
         signals.gallery_build.send(self)
diff --git a/sigal/plugins/media_page.py b/sigal/plugins/media_page.py
index a5a332d..12202f4 100644
--- a/sigal/plugins/media_page.py
+++ b/sigal/plugins/media_page.py
@@ -32,15 +32,17 @@ previous/next :class:`~sigal.gallery.Media` objects.
 import os
 
 from sigal import signals
-from sigal.writer import Writer
+from sigal.writer import AbstractWriter
 from sigal.utils import url_from_path
 from sigal.pkgmeta import __url__ as sigal_link
 
 
-class PageWriter(Writer):
+class PageWriter(AbstractWriter):
     '''A writer for writing media pages, based on writer'''
 
-    template_file = "media.html"
+    @property
+    def template_file(self):
+        return "media.html"
 
     def write(self, album, media_group):
         ''' Generate the media page and save it '''
diff --git a/sigal/themes/colorbox/templates/album.html b/sigal/themes/colorbox/templates/album.html
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6cf317b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/sigal/themes/colorbox/templates/album.html
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+<!-- generated from album -->
+{% extends "landing.html" %}
diff --git a/sigal/themes/colorbox/templates/index.html b/sigal/themes/colorbox/templates/landing.html
similarity index 100%
rename from sigal/themes/colorbox/templates/index.html
rename to sigal/themes/colorbox/templates/landing.html
diff --git a/sigal/themes/galleria/templates/album.html b/sigal/themes/galleria/templates/album.html
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..04035b6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/sigal/themes/galleria/templates/album.html
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+{% extends "landing.html" %}
diff --git a/sigal/themes/galleria/templates/index.html b/sigal/themes/galleria/templates/landing.html
similarity index 100%
rename from sigal/themes/galleria/templates/index.html
rename to sigal/themes/galleria/templates/landing.html
diff --git a/sigal/themes/photoswipe/templates/album.html b/sigal/themes/photoswipe/templates/album.html
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6cf317b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/sigal/themes/photoswipe/templates/album.html
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+<!-- generated from album -->
+{% extends "landing.html" %}
diff --git a/sigal/themes/photoswipe/templates/index.html b/sigal/themes/photoswipe/templates/landing.html
similarity index 100%
rename from sigal/themes/photoswipe/templates/index.html
rename to sigal/themes/photoswipe/templates/landing.html
diff --git a/sigal/writer.py b/sigal/writer.py
index 1424287..98d8847 100644
--- a/sigal/writer.py
+++ b/sigal/writer.py
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 # Copyright (c) 2009-2018 - Simon Conseil
 # Copyright (c)      2013 - Christophe-Marie Duquesne
+# Copyright (c) 2018      - Edwin Steele
 
 # Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy
 # of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to
@@ -19,6 +20,7 @@
 # FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS
 # IN THE SOFTWARE.
 
+import abc
 import jinja2
 import logging
 import imp
@@ -37,10 +39,8 @@ THEMES_PATH = os.path.normpath(os.path.join(
     os.path.abspath(os.path.dirname(__file__)), 'themes'))
 
 
-class Writer(object):
-    """Generate html pages for each directory of images."""
-
-    template_file = 'index.html'
+class AbstractWriter(object):
+    __metaclass__ = abc.ABCMeta
 
     def __init__(self, settings, index_title=''):
         self.settings = settings
@@ -110,6 +110,10 @@ class Writer(object):
                                                            album.dst_path))},
         }
 
+    @abc.abstractproperty
+    def template_file(self):
+        return None
+
     def write(self, album):
         """Generate the HTML page and save it."""
 
@@ -118,3 +122,19 @@ class Writer(object):
 
         with open(output_file, 'w', encoding='utf-8') as f:
             f.write(page)
+
+
+class LandingPageWriter(AbstractWriter):
+    """Generate an html page for the top level directory"""
+
+    @property
+    def template_file(self):
+        return "landing.html"
+
+
+class AlbumPageWriter(AbstractWriter):
+    """Generate html pages for each directory of images."""
+
+    @property
+    def template_file(self):
+        return "album.html"