As we’ve discussed in previous posts, by default, WordPress treats your site as a ‘blog’ and shows your latest published entries on the main page, unless you set a specific page as your main page.
In a previous tutorial, we also explain how to create a WordPress blog page to show your latest published articles.
Whether you choose to have blog posts on your front page or your blog page, WordPress lets you set a specific number of blog posts to show on these pages (e.g. ’2’, ’4’, ’10’ etc.)
Your website will then display your most recent published articles on your blog page up to the maximum number of blog post entries you have set, even if your website or blog contains more blog posts than the number you have set to display …
Having the ability to set the number of blog post items will display on your web site is useful.
For example, you can display only the latest entry that you have published. This can be useful, if, for example, you want to promote 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 community page for updates and announcements, etc.
Or, you can use this great feature to fill an ugly space on your blog page if your sidebar menu is too long …
Whatever the reason, WordPress gives you the flexibility to set the number of blog posts that you want to display on main blog page.
Let’s show you, then, how easy it is to set how many blog post entries to show on your WordPress blog.
How To Specify The Number Of Blog Post Entries Displayed On Your WordPress Blog
Through its content management system (CMS), WordPress allows you to specify how many posts you would like to have showing on the blog page.
The number of blog posts you want to display is entirely up to you. WordPress doesn’t limit this amount …
Note: We suggest that you 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 posts displayed.
To set the number of posts you want to have displaying on your website’s blog page website, click on Settings > Reading from your WordPress navigation menu …
Configure your options in the Reading Settings screen as shown below:
How To Specify The Number Of Posts On The Home Page
If you are using your site as a blog (i.e. the default WordPress option), where the main page shows your most recent post entries, 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 post items you want displayed – i.e. ‘1’, ’5’, ’10’, ’12’ etc.)
- Click on Save Changes when finished…
Specifying The Number Of Posts On The Blog Page
If you are using your WP site as a website, where the main page shows a fixed page and your most recent published blog posts show up on a separate blog page, then set your options 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 entries you want to display – i.e. ‘1’, ’5’, ’10’, ’15’ etc.)
- Click the Save Changes button when done to update your settings …
Now, when visitors land on your website, they will see blog posts displayed either on your home 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 blog posts you want to display on your WordPress website’s blog page.
Related Posts
If you are learning how to use WordPress, you may also find the following posts useful:
***
"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