SoundsGood

Even though Wordpress is pretty easy to use, I'm still learning...

One thing that I can't seem to grasp is Pages vs. Posts. I'm just not exactly sure when I should use Pages and when I should use Posts.

Can anyone here help?

Thanks...

Mark Brian

Pages are meant to be part of the blog's site-wide navigation. It's like a permanent "page" while posts are meant to be "forgotten" some time well not really forgotten but you get the point

SoundsGood

Hmmm.... okay, thanks.

Karen Blundell

think of WP posts like articles, daily news, etc...

WP pages are more for things like an about page, a contact page, a privacy policy page...etc.

mistyone

I sometimes create a page that I want as a landing page, see here: Phantom GPS and then in settings 'read' select 'static page' and in the drop down box select the page you have created or I might use a plugin called 'optin front page' where you give your posts the slug of blog, see here: Burn The Fat Review and any post you give the slug of blog to, they appear on the landing page and all others will be available either in the posts and pages widget if you activate them or in your side bar or where ever your theme has placed.

As Karen has said posts are usually your daily, weekly or however often you want to update your blog where as pages are for items that you want people to access on a permanent basis because they don't get buried in the bowls of your site

I hope that has helped you.

Cheers
Viv

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houdy

WordPress blogs have what is called the "Loop". The loop is the (usually) chronological order that the posts (not pages) are in. With the newest post appearing on top, as stated above the older posts eventually get buried and forgotten.

Pages are not part of the loop, and are usually used on a blog for information that isn't as time sensitive as posts like an "About" or "Contact" page. Pages are/were meant to be used sparingly if using WP as just a blog, but with the proper WP knowledge and theme tweaks you could use a WP site with many pages more like a, for lack of better term, regular website.

Jeff Houdyschell
WordPress Guides | WordPress Installation
Work At Home Business Blog | Proven Income Opportunities | Best Work At Home Jobs

SoundsGood

That's my goal. I'm using WP to create regular websites -- not blogs.

webdesigners

If you need any help in wordpress regarding design or to solve a problem than please let me know in future.

Minisite Nerd

There are lots of themes and plugins that will help with this.

I also use WP to create small websites that are NOT blogs, and I almost exclusively use pages....although there are ways to tweak WordPress to use Posts and not have them display in the usual "blog" style.

Many of the newer premium themes make this very easy.

Pages will not be part of the RSS feed, so that is something else you need to know.

phalgun

Pages go on navigation bar while posts go on front page.

webdesignservice

Yap that's what it is. Post is your content or article that goes in the front page, while the pages are the links in your navigation bars...such as "About ME", "Contact ME" page.

7strategy | Web Design Company - Web Developer - Web Development Company - Website Designer - Award Winning Interactive Agency

SoundsGood

Let's say you're using WordPress as a CMS, not as a blog. Now let's say you've got a lot of pages in your site. Is there a way to NOT list every page on the Nav bar?

pjCheviot

There are plugins available - or you can quite easily code your theme

How To Hide A Wordpress Page | Silly Blogger

shows you how . . .

SoundsGood

Well, thanks... but I don't want to "hide" the pages. I'd still like to list them in a sidebar, I just don't want them all to appear in the Navigation bar. Can this be done?

pjCheviot

That method doesn't "hide" a page as such. The page is still visible from a link (unlike making it private) - it will stop it from appearing on the navigation bar - or sidebar - or wherever.

Maybe "hide" is confusing in this sense! If you don't want the page to appear on the nav bar - change the code for the navigation bar. If you don't want it to appear in the sidebar - do the same for the code in the sidebar etc etc . .

Hope that clarifies a bit, sorry.

SoundsGood

I think this is what I need. I don't know how to do it, but I'll look into it.

Thanks!

pjCheviot

If you have any doubts - send me a PM and I can maybe explain ever further!

SoundsGood

Just found this.

pjCheviot

Yes - that is exactly the same thing.

louisekasemeier

This is the method that I use. I have some pages that only appear in the sidebar and some that don't appear in either (thanks and goodbye pages for my autoresponder for example). Excluding from the sidebar is easier, you can just list the page IDs in the settings for the Pages widget. An easy way to find the ID number for a page is to hover your mouse over the title of the page in the Page Edit list in WP admin. The url in the status bar will have page=xx on the end, where xx is a number. That number is the page id of the post.

How to Make Gold in WoW

houdy

Pages that show on the Nav bar are theme specific and most themes are coded to show all pages but you can choose to include or exclude certain pages. The code is usually in the header.php file and the code to look for is something like this:

<?php wp_list_pages(’title_li=&depth=2&sort_column=menu_ order’); ?>

To include only specific pages this example is showing only page number 67 and 68:

<?php wp_list_pages(’title_li=&depth=2&sort_column=menu_ order&include=67,68′); ?>

This is showing all pages but excluding pages 67 and 68:

<?php wp_list_pages(’title_li=&depth=2&sort_column=menu_ order&exclude=67,68′); ?>

More here:
Customize WordPress Header Navigation Bar

Jeff Houdyschell
WordPress Guides | WordPress Installation
Work At Home Business Blog | Proven Income Opportunities | Best Work At Home Jobs

Minisite Nerd

pageMash is the plugin I use.

But if you want a custom option and want certain pages to show up in different places, you can always custom code them like others have suggested.

SarahMcHarry

There's a plugin called Pagemash which I use quite a lot. It's very flexible and it lets you choose which pages you want to appear on your menu.

You can use WordPress very effectively as a CMS. Pages are usually static: they display information that doesn't change much. It's possible to construct a blog consisting entirely of pages.

Posts are more transient - they are used to record events that occur sequentially through time, or as a timed series of articles. For example, you can use posts to publish a course of 10 lessons on how to ... with one lesson appearing per day/week/month.

The best way to get a feel for this is to just do it. Don't get hung up on the technicalities - just start a WP blog and find your own way. If you do anything wrong you can always delete it.

Good luck!

Sarah

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kckaz

I like to create POSTS with a short headline and a description that then link to a PAGE. That way I have a permanent static page that can be used as a landing page AND a brief summary POST that gets picked up by RSS Feed.

Follow me on Twitter: twitter.com/KennyKurtz and I'll follow you back.

NetMan

There practically always is a plugin to accomplish very much of what one wants. And basically, one that masters wordpress well can do much of anything you want. So of course, it is good to keep learning and ask questions it's the way to go

There are plugins, that will do just that, manage what page you want to appear or not in the menu bar, and it can also be accomplished by hacking the header.php code.

When one wants to know if one can achieve X functions, a way to go is to go into your dashboard, then click on plugins, then on add new, you'll see a search form where you can type the keywords about what you're looking for, and then click on search and POOF... most likely you'll find something that'll help you enhanced your site the way you want. Be careful though and use this function with prudence, it is VERY addicticve

Regards,

Andre Foisy

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gariben

In terms of SEO perspective, is pages and post the same?


It seems like posts are getting more SEO value.

fthomas137

REally all depends on what SEO plugins you use. If you consider using 'All in One SEO', then yes, posts do get more SEO love. But if you use 'Platinum SEO' (my preference), then all pages are created equal. Including the front page, it you select a static page for this.

Frank

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blagoj

If you create about us then you create page. Otherwise post for some topic that will be updated.