As we’ve discussed in previous posts, in a default installation, WordPress treats your site as a ‘blog’ and displays your latest published entries on the home page, unless you set a specific page as a static main page.
In a previous post, we also address how to create a blog page to display your latest published content.
Regardless of your choice to make present your most recent published articles on your main page or your blog page, WordPress lets you set a specific number of published blog post entries to display on these pages (i.e. ‘1’, ’6’, ‘9’ etc.)
Your site will then display posts on your blog page up to the maximum number of items you have set, even if your WP web site contains more blog posts than the number of posts set to display …
Having the ability to set how many blog posts will display on your blog page has a number of uses.
For example, you can display only the most recent blog post you have published. This can be handy, if, for example, you are promoting a different limited-time offer each month, 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 social page for announcements, etc.
You can also use this feature to fill an empty space on your blog page if your sidebar menu is too long …
Whatever the reason may be, WordPress gives you the flexibility to specify the number of blog posts that you want to display on main blog page.
Let’s show you, then, how easy it is to specify the number of blog post entries you want to show on your WordPress blog.
How To Change The Number Of Posts Displayed On Your WordPress Blog
WordPress allows you to specify how many published blog posts you would like listed on your blog page.
How many entries you would like to display is entirely up to you. there is no limit to this number …
Note: We suggest selecting a sensible setting that won’t slow down your page as the content loads on your site. You can always raise or lower the number of posts displayed.
To specify the number of published blog posts you would like to display on your blog page site, go to the WP admin menu and select Settings > Reading …
Configure the options in the Reading Settings panel as per the screenshot below:
Changing The Number Of Posts Showing On The Main Page
If you are using your site as a blog (i.e. the default installation option), where the home page displays your most recent 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 post items that you want showing – e.g. ‘1’, ’5’, ’10’, ’15’ etc.)
- Click on Save Changes when done…
How To Specify The Number Of Posts On Your Blog Page
If you are using your site as a website, where the main page is a fixed page and your latest blog posts display on a separate blog page, then edit your settings 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 entries you want to display – i.e. ‘1’, ‘3’, ‘7’, ’12’ etc.)
- Click on Save Changes when finished …
Now, when visitors come to your site, they will see blog posts 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 blog post entries you would like displayed on your WP website’s 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)