As we’ve discussed in other posts, in a default installation, WordPress treats your site as a ‘blog’ and shows your latest blog posts on the main page, unless you specify a page as a static main page.
In another article, we also cover how to create a blog page to show your most recent blog post entries.
Regardless of your choice to make your most recent published articles on your home page or your blog page, you can specify the number of posts to appear on these pages (i.e. ’2’, ’7’, ‘9’ etc.)
Your WordPress site will then display your most recently published posts on your blog page up to the maximum number of blog post entries you have specified, even if your website or blog contains more blog posts than the number set to display …
Having the ability to set the number of posts display on your site can be useful.
For example, you can set your blog to display only the most recent post you have published. This is useful for example, if you want to send your readers to a weekly special, a ‘deal of the day’ type of offer, publish the latest results of a local sports competition, post an upcoming event, set up a weekly corporate page for 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, WordPress gives you the flexibility to specify the number of blog posts that you want to show on your blog page.
In this step-by-step tutorial, you are going to learn how easy it is to set the number of blog post entries will show on your WordPress blog.
Specifying The Number Of Post Entries To Display On Your Blog
Through its content management system (CMS), WordPress allows you to specify how many blog posts you would like to have displaying on the blog page of your website.
How many posts you want to display is completely 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.
To set how many published blog posts you want displayed on your blog page web site, choose Settings > Reading from your WP dashboard menu …
Configure the settings in the Reading Settings screen as per the screenshot below:
How To Edit The Number Of Posts Displayed On The Main Page
If you are using your site as a blog (i.e. the default WordPress option), where the home page displays your newest posts, then edit your settings 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 entries you want showing – e.g. ‘1’, ‘3’, ‘7’, ’12’ etc.)
- Click on Save Changes when finished to update your settings…
How To Specify The Number Of Posts On The Blog Page
If you are using your site as a website, where the main page shows a fixed page and your latest post entries 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 post items you want to display – e.g. ‘1’, ‘3’, ‘7’, ’12’ etc.)
- Click on Save Changes when finished to update your settings …
Now, when visitors land on your site, they will see your most recently published articles displayed either on your front 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 number of published blog post entries you would like to have displaying on the blog page.
Related Posts
If you are a WordPress newbie, you may also find the following related posts useful:
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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)