As we’ve discussed in other posts, in a default installation, WordPress treats your website as a ‘blog’ and shows your newest blog posts on the main page, unless you set a fixed page as a front page.
In a separate post, we’ve also explained how to create a blog page to show your most recent blog post entries.
Whether you choose to have recently published content show up on your main page or your blog page, you can set a specific number of blog post entries to show on these pages (i.e. ‘1’, ’5’, ’12’ etc.)
Your WordPress website will then display posts on your blog page up to the maximum number of posts you have set, even if your WP web site contains more posts than the number of items set to display …
The ability to specify how many blog post items display on your WordPress site is useful.
For example, you can display only the latest single blog post you have published. This can be handy, if, for example, 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 monthly community page for updates and announcements, etc.
You can also use this 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 set the number of posts that will show on your blog page.
Let’s show you, then, how to easily change the number of blog post entries you want to display on your blog page.
How To Specify The Number Of Post Entries To Display On Your WordPress Blog Page
WordPress allows you to specify how many posts you would like to display on the blog page of your web site.
The number of posts you want to display is completely up to you. there is no limit to this number …
Note: Choose 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 items displayed on your blog page.
To set how many blog posts you would like to show on the blog page of your WordPress website, click on Settings > Reading from your WordPress navigation menu …
Configure your options in the Reading Settings section as shown in the screenshot below:
Specifying The Number Of Posts Displayed On Your Front Page
If you are using your site as a blog (i.e. the default installation option), where the main page shows your newest published blog post entries, then set your options 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 blog post entries that you want showing – e.g. ‘1’, ’5’, ’10’, ’15’ etc.)
- Click the ‘Save’ button when finished…
How To Modify The Number Of Posts Showing On Your Blog Page
If you are using your site as a website, where the front page shows a fixed page and your newest posts show up 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 blog post entries you want to display – e.g. ‘1’, ‘3’, ’10’, ’12’ etc.)
- Click on Save Changes when finished …
Now, when visitors land on 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 change the number 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 Display A Specific WordPress Page As Your Home Page
- How To Create A Blog Section In WordPress
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"Wow! I never knew there's so much to learn about WordPress! I bought one of the WordPress for Dummies three years ago, such authors need to be on this course!" - Rich Law, Create A Blog Now