As we’ve discussed in other posts, in a default installation, WordPress treats your site as a ‘blog’ and shows your newest posts on the main page, unless you fix a page as a main page.
In a previously published article, we have also shown you how to create a blog page to display your latest published content.
Whether you choose to have posts on your main page or your blog page, you can specify the number of blog post entries to show up on these pages (i.e. ’2’, ’4’, ‘9’ etc.)
Your WP site will then display your most recent published articles on your blog page up to the maximum number of items you have specified, even if your site contains more posts than the number set to display …
Being able to set the number of blog post items will display on your WordPress site has a number of practical applications.
For example, you can set your blog to display only the latest single entry you have published. This can be useful for example, if you promote a different limited-time offer each month, a ‘deal of the day’ type of offer, publish the latest results of a local sports competition, post upcoming events, set up a weekly community page for announcements, etc.
Or, you can use this great feature to fill an ugly space on your blog page if your sidebar menu runs too long …
Whatever the reason may be, WordPress gives you the flexibility to specify the number of posts that you want to display on main blog page.
Let’s show you, then, how easy it is to specify how many blog post entries you want to show up on your WordPress blog.
Specifying The Number Of Posts Displayed On Your Blog
WordPress allows you to choose how many posts you want to display on the blog page of your web site.
How many blog posts you would like to display is entirely up to you. there is no limit to this number …
Note: Pick a sensible setting that won’t overload your page as the entries load on your site. You can always increase or decrease the amount of posts displayed on your blog page.
To specify how many blog post entries you would like to show on the blog page of your website, click on Settings > Reading from your WordPress navigation menu …
Configure the options in the Reading Settings panel as shown below:
How To Modify The Number Of Posts Showing On The Front Page
If you are using your site as a blog (i.e. the default WordPress option), where the front page displays your most recent 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 blog posts you want displayed – i.e. ‘1’, ’5’, ’10’, ’15’ etc.)
- Click on Save Changes when done to update your settings…
Specifying The Number Of Posts On Your Blog Page
If you are using your WP site as a website, where the front page shows a fixed page and your newest published post entries show up on a separate blog page, then set your options as described 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 blog post entries that you want displayed – i.e. ‘1’, ’5’, ‘7’, ’12’ etc.)
- Click on Save Changes when finished …
Now, when visitors land on your site, they will see your latest blog posts showing either on your main page or blog page, up to the maximum number of posts you have specified …
To learn how to change the length of your post excerpts, see the tutorial below:
Congratulations! Now you know how to set the amount of published posts you want to show on the blog page.
Related Posts
If you are a WordPress newbie, you may also find the following posts useful:
- How To Create A Static Homepage In WordPress
- How To Create A Blog Page To Display Your Latest Blog Posts In WordPress
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