Content on on WordPress site is divided into two main types, Pages and Posts.
- Pages are individual pieces of static content. This is the WordPress equivalent of the traditional “web page.” Things like an About page, contact information, or officer directory are good Page candidates.
- Posts are pieces of content whose relevance changes over time. They usually are part of a series of articles displayed in a list. The most recent posts are usually displayed to a visitor first. News articles and blog posts are good examples of content that fits the Post role.
You manage both types of content in a similar fashion, using the Pages and Posts sections of the administration menu.
Pages
Page list
The pages work area lists all pages that have been created on your site. You can edit a page by clicking its title. Hovering over the page reveals a set of quick links for tasks associated with that page. To add a new page, the the Add New button at the top of the work area.
For quick changes like modifying the title or publishing status, the Quick Edit link allows you to make those edits right on the page list. Remember to click the Update button to save your work!
To remove a page, click the Trash link or use the bulk action tools to delete more than one page. Pages sent to the trash can be viewed by clicking the Trash link above the Bulk Actions drop down. From the trash screen, pages can be deleted permanently or restored to the active page list. Note that permanently deleted items cannot be recovered.
Nesting content
Pages can be given a hierarchical structure by “nesting” them underneath other pages. This relationship can be used to create structured site navigation menus and consistent page URLs. For example, if a page with a URL of /child is nested under a page with a URL of /parent, the the child page will have a new URL of /parent/child.
To nest a page underneath another, click the Quick Edit link and select the parent page from the “Parent” drop down menu.
Publishing status
Pages and posts exist in one of three states:
- Published: These pages or posts are visible to the public
- Pending review: These pages are not visible to the public and appear in the Pending section of the page list. Pending review can indicate that the content is past draft form and ready to be published
- Draft: Draft content is not visible to the public. It is content that is still in progress and not ready for publishing.
You can change the status from the quick edit menu or the edit screen.
Posts
Post list
The post management interface is very similar to the pages screen. The main difference is that Posts can have both categories and tags, which can be manipulated with the quick edit function.
Categories
Categories are used to separate posts into different types of content. For example, you might want to have both a blog and a news section for your site. Both of these needs can be filled by using posts, but you need a way to differentiate a blog post from a news article. By creating Blog and News categories, you can assign posts to the appropriate type.
The News Feed widget uses a category to determine which posts to display in the news article list.
To create a category open the Posts > Categories section of the administration menu. Create a new category by filling out the fields on the left.
- Name is the display name of the category. Ex: News
- Slug is the machine-readable category name. This will be used in URLs. Should only contain lowercase letters, numbers, dashes, and underscores. Ex: news
- Categories can be nested like pages. If you would like to next this category, select its parent category in the Parent field.
- Finally, enter a descriptive sentence for this category.
Click the Add New Category button to create the category. Created categories will be displayed in the list to the right and can be edited much like pages or posts.
Once you have created post categories, you can assign them to posts using either the quick edit form or the post edit page. You can view a list of all posts in a category by navigating to http://yoursite.com/category/slug
Tags
Tags provide a more dynamic way to describe your posts than categories. You can tag a post by entering tags in the free-form tags field. WordPress will search for tags you have used on other posts and suggest those to you as you type. Enter multiple tags at once by separating each tag with a comma.
When viewing a post, its tags will be listed on the page as clickable links. Clicking a tag will open a page listing other posts with the same tag.
Tags are great for grouping content around topics across categories or within a single category. For example, you could tag all News category posts that relate to Buckeye football with a “football” tag.