If you participate in online forums, then you are probably familiar with the concept of featured or “sticky” posts.
A sticky post is where an entry stays at the top of the screen while older threads get pushed lower down the page.
Like forums, WordPress also lets you ‘pin’ important posts to the top of your blog post page while your newer items display below the featured item and older posts get pushed down your page.
This step-by-step tutorial explains how to make posts in WordPress sticky.
Before completing the tutorial below, you should already be familiar with basic WordPress features like:
- The difference between Posts and Pages
- Creating blog posts in WordPress
- How to edit a post
- Using the WordPress inline editor (Quick Edit)
- Creating a post page in WordPress
- How to specify the number of posts to show on the blog post page
Contents
Make Posts In WordPress Sticky
In WordPress, blog posts are listed in reverse chronological order on your blog page with the newest posts shown at the top …
(Most recent posts get added to the top of the blog posts summary page and older items get pushed further down)
Depending on how many posts your site is set up to display on your blog page, when new posts get published, older posts will display down the blog page.
You can mark posts as Sticky if you want them to display above all other posts. Sticky posts will stay pinned at the top of your blog post page until you uncheck the ‘Sticky’ option on your Post Edit screen.
To make a post sticky, do this:
In the WordPress Dashboard menu, select Posts > All Posts …
(Posts Menu – All Posts)
This brings up the Posts screen, which displays all your WordPress posts …
(Posts Table)
Here you have a couple of ways of making WordPress posts sticky:
Sticky Posts Using The Quick Edit Function
Find the post you would like to edit, hover over the post title to view the options menu and click on Quick Edit …
(’Quick Edit’ feature)
The Quick Edit inline editor expands to display all your post editing options. Locate Make this post sticky …
(’Make post sticky’ option – Quick Edit screen)
Select the ’Make this post sticky’ checkbox …
(Quick Edit settings – ‘Make this post sticky’)
Click Update to save your new settings …
(Update your settings)
Featured WordPress Posts Using The Post Editor
If you are adding a new blog post or editing your post content, you can make your post sticky by clicking on Publish > Visibility: Public > Edit …
(Publish post box – Visibility > Edit)
Tick the checkbox next to ‘Stick this post to the front page’, click OK, and update your new settings when finished …
(Publishing box)
The blog post status will be marked as “Sticky” …
(Sticky post)
The post will be fixed to the top of your blog post page when new posts are added …
(Sticky posts are added to the top of your blog posts summary page while other regular posts get pushed further down the page)
Depending on your WordPress theme, your sticky posts could also display differently than your normal posts.
For example, your sticky post could have a distinctive label and highlight color …
(Featured posts can stand out from other posts)
Here’s the same sticky blog post with another theme installed …
(Sticky posts can stand out from other posts)
Your blog post will now remain sticky until you make a decision to “unstick” it.
Unsticking Your Post Entry
Unsticking posts is as simple as reversing the process.
To unstick a post, return to your Posts area and select the ‘Sticky’ link on the Posts menu to view all post entries listed as sticky …
(Posts screen – Display all sticky posts)
Hover over the item’s title to view the options menu and click on the ‘Quick Edit’ link …
(Click on ‘Quick Edit’)
Uncheck the ‘Make this post sticky’ box and click the ‘Update’ button to save your settings …
(Untick the box to unstick the post)
Alternatively, when editing an existing post, you can unstick your post by going to Publish > Visibility: Public > Edit …
(Publish post section – Visibility > Edit)
Deselect ‘Stick this post to the front page’ then click OK and remember to update your settings when finished …
(Publishing box)
Your post will no longer be sticky and will behave like every other post.
Congratulations, now you know how to make posts stick.
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