As we’ve discussed in previous posts, in a default installation, WordPress treats your site as a ‘blog’ and displays your newest published entries on the main page, unless you set a specific page as your front page.
In a separate article, we also discussed how to create a blog page to display your latest published articles.
Whether you choose to make posts on your front page or your blog page, With WordPress you can specify the number of published blog post entries to display on these pages (e.g. ’2’, ’6’, ’12’ etc.)
Your WordPress website will then display your newest blog posts on your blog page up to the maximum number of blog post entries you have set, even if your web site contains more blog posts than the number of items you have set to display …
Having the ability to set the number of entries can display on your WordPress site has a number of practical applications.
For example, you can set your blog to display only the most recent entry that you have published. This is handy for example, if you want to promote a different limited-time offer each month, a ’book of the month’ type of offer, publish the latest results of your sports team, post upcoming events, 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 if your sidebar menu is too long …
Whatever the reason, WordPress gives you the flexibility to change the number of posts that will display on main blog page.
Let’s show you, then, how to set how many posts will show on your blog.
How To Specify The Number Of Blog Post Entries Displayed On Your Blog Page
WordPress lets you choose how many published posts you would like to display on your site’s blog page.
How many blog posts you want to display is entirely up to you. WordPress doesn’t limit this amount …
Note: Pick a sensible setting that won’t overload your page as the content loads on your site. You can always raise or lower the number of posts displayed on your blog page.
To specify the number of published posts you would like to have showing on your website’s blog page site, go to your WordPress admin menu and select Settings > Reading …
Configure your settings in the Reading Settings section as shown below:
Specifying The Number Of Posts Showing On The Front Page
If you are using your site as a blog (i.e. the default WordPress option), where the front page shows your newest post 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 – e.g. ‘1’, ’5’, ‘7’, ’15’ etc.)
- Click the ‘Save’ button when finished…
Editing The Number Of Posts Showing On Your Blog Page
If you are using your site as a website, where the front page is a fixed page and your newest published items display 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 blog posts you want displayed – i.e. ‘1’, ‘3’, ‘7’, ’15’ etc.)
- Click on Save Changes when finished to update your settings …
Now, when visitors land on your website, they will see your most recently published articles showing 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 amount of published blog posts you want to have displaying on your website’s blog page.
Related Posts
If you are learning how to use WordPress, you may also find the following topic-related posts useful:
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