As we’ve discussed in previous posts, in a default installation, WordPress treats your website as a ‘blog’ and shows your most recent published content on the main page, unless you specify a page as a home page.
In another post, we also show you how to create a WordPress blog page to display your most recent blog posts.
Whether you choose to make posts on your front page or your blog page, WordPress lets you specify the number of blog posts to show up on these pages (e.g. ’2’, ’4’, ’12’ etc.)
Your WP site will then display recently published blog post entries on your blog page up to the maximum number of items you have specified, even if your WP site contains more blog posts than the number of posts you have set to display …
Having the ability to specify how many blog posts can display on your web site can be useful.
For example, you can display only the most recent blog post you have published. This can be handy for example, if you want to send your readers to a different limited-time offer each month, a ‘deal of the day’ type of offer, publish the latest results of your sports team, post an upcoming event, set up a quarterly community page for announcements, etc.
You can also use this feature to fill an ugly space on your blog page if your sidebar menu is too long …
Whatever the reason may be, With WordPress you have the flexibility to specify the number of blog posts to show on your blog page.
Let’s show you, then, how easy it is to set the number of blog posts will show up on your WordPress blog.
How To Change The Number Of Posts To Display On Your Blog
Through its content management system (CMS), WordPress lets you specify how many blog post entries you want to have showing on your site’s blog page.
The number of entries you want to display is entirely up to you. there is no limit to this amount …
Note: We recommend choosing a sensible setting that won’t slow down your page as the entries load on your site. You can always increase or decrease the number of items displayed.
To specify how many blog post entries you would like to have showing on your blog page site, go to the WP admin menu and select Settings > Reading …
Configure your settings in the Reading Settings section as shown in the screenshot below:
How To Specify The Number Of Posts On The Home Page
If you are using your WP site as a blog (i.e. the default installation option), where the home page displays your newest posts, then edit your settings as shown below:
- Front page displays: Set this to Your latest posts
- Blog pages show at most: X posts (where ‘X’ is the number of posts that you want to display – e.g. ‘1’, ‘3’, ’10’, ’15’ etc.)
- Click on Save Changes when done to update your settings…
Modifying The Number Of Posts Displayed On Your Blog Page
If you are using your site as a website, where the front page is a fixed page and your newest post entries display 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 you want to show – i.e. ‘1’, ‘3’, ‘7’, ’12’ etc.)
- Click on Save Changes when finished …
Now, when visitors come to your website, they will see blog posts 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 set the amount of blog post entries you would like listed on your WordPress site’s blog page.
Related Posts
If you are a new WordPress user, you may also find the following posts useful:
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