As we’ve discussed in previous posts, in a default installation, WordPress treats your website as a ‘blog’ and shows your newest post entries on the main page, unless you fix a page as a front page.
In a separate tutorial, we also show you how to create a blog page to show your most recent post.
Whether you choose to have blog post entries on your front page or your blog page, you can set a specific number of blog posts to appear on these pages (i.e. ‘1’, ’5’, ‘9’ etc.)
Your site will then display blog posts on your blog page up to the maximum number of items you have specified, even if your WordPress web site contains more blog posts than the number of posts set to display …
The ability to set the number of blog posts will display on your site has a number of uses.
For example, you can set your blog to display only the most recent post you have published. This is handy, if, for example, you promote a weekly special, a ’book of the month’ type of offer, publish the latest results of your sports team, post an upcoming event, set up a quarterly social page for updates and announcements, etc.
You can also use this great feature to fill an ugly space on your blog page if your sidebar menu runs too long …
Whatever the reason, WordPress gives you the flexibility to change the number of blog posts that will show on your blog page.
Let’s show you, then, how easy it is to set how many blog post entries will show on your blog.
Changing The Number Of Posts Displayed On Your Blog
Through its content management system (CMS), WordPress lets you choose how many published blog post entries you want to have displaying on your site’s blog page.
The number of blog posts you would like displayed 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 raise or lower the amount of items displayed.
To specify the number of published posts you want to show on your blog page site, click on Settings > Reading from the WordPress admin menu …
Configure your options in the Reading Settings section as per the screenshot below:
Modifying 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 main page shows your newest published blog 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 posts that you want to show – i.e. ‘1’, ‘3’, ‘7’, ’12’ etc.)
- Click the ‘Save’ button when finished…
Specifying The Number Of Posts Displayed On The Blog Page
If you are using your site as a website, where the front page is a fixed page and your most recent 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 post items you want to show – i.e. ‘1’, ‘3’, ’10’, ’12’ etc.)
- Click on Save Changes when finished to update your settings …
Now, when visitors land on your website, they will see recently published content displayed 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 amount of published posts you want to display on the blog page of your WordPress site.
Related Posts
If you are a WordPress newbie, you may also find the following related posts useful:
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