As we’ve discussed in previous posts, in a default installation, WordPress treats your site as a ‘blog’ and shows your latest published entries on the home page, unless you set a specific page as your front page.
In a separate tutorial, we also cover how to create a WordPress blog page to display your latest published posts.
Whether you choose to make blog post entries on your main page or your blog page, you can set a specific number of items to appear on these pages (i.e. ‘1’, ’6’, ’12’ etc.)
Your WordPress website will then display blog post entries on your blog page up to the maximum number of posts you have set, even if your WordPress website or blog contains more posts than the number of posts set to display …
The ability to specify the number of posts display on your web site has a number of uses.
For example, you can set your blog to display only the latest entry you have published. This is handy for example, if you promote a weekly special, a ‘deal of the day’ type of offer, publish the latest results of your sports team, post an upcoming event, set up a weekly corporate page for updates and announcements, etc.
You can also use this great feature to fill an empty space on your blog if your sidebar menu is too long …
Whatever the reason may be, With WordPress you have the flexibility to specify the number of posts that will show on main blog page.
In this tutorial, you are going to learn how to change the number of blog posts will display on your site’s blog page.
Specifying The Number Of Posts To Display On Your WordPress Blog Page
WordPress lets you specify how many published blog post entries you want listed on your site’s blog page.
How many blog posts you want displayed is entirely up to you. WordPress doesn’t limit this amount …
Note: Select a sensible setting that won’t slow down your page as the entries load on your site. You can always raise or lower the number of posts displayed on your blog page.
To set the number of published blog post entries you would like to display on the blog page of your WP web site, click on Settings > Reading from the WP dashboard menu …
Configure your options in the Reading Settings screen as per the screenshot below:
How To Modify The Number Of Posts Displayed On Your Main Page
If you are using your WP site as a blog (i.e. the default WordPress option), where the home page shows your newest post entries, then set your options as described below:
- Front page displays: Set this to Your latest posts
- Blog pages show at most: X posts (where ‘X’ is the number of post items you want displayed – e.g. ‘1’, ‘3’, ‘7’, ’12’ etc.)
- Click the ‘Save’ button when finished…
To Modify The Number Of Posts Showing On The Blog Page
If you are using your site as a website, where the front page is a fixed page and your latest blog posts display on a separate blog page, then edit your settings as shown below:
- Front page displays: Set this to A static page, then select Posts page: > your Blog Page from the drop down menu
- Blog pages show at most: X posts X posts (where ‘X’ is the number of entries that you want showing – i.e. ‘1’, ’5’, ‘7’, ’15’ etc.)
- Click the Save Changes button when done …
Now, when visitors come to your site, they will see your most recently published post entries showing either on your home page or blog page, as per the settings you have specified …
To learn how to change the length of your post excerpts, see the tutorial below:
Congratulations! Now you know how to change the number of blog post entries you would like to have showing on the blog page of your WP website.
Related Posts
If you are new to WordPress, you may also find the following related posts useful:
- How To Make Any Page Become The Website’s Home Page In WordPress
- How To Create A Blog In Your WP Site
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"If you're new to WordPress, this can stand on its own as a training course and will stay with you as you progress from beginner to advanced and even guru status." - Bruce (Columbus, Ohio)