Posts Per Page

[ses5909]

How many posts do you show per page? I can't stand it when I see just one!

[malique]

same here. i have about 5 post. i had 9 months back until my webhost told me its hogging resource. Can someone say wtf?

[BPartch]

I have 10 generally.

[rodaniel]

Mine may be a bit on the extreme, but I show 20 posts on the main page. Part of my reasoning for doing this is that I don't have any kid of "Previous Page" button, so the only way to move backwards thru the posts is to use the Archives dropdown menu, which doesn't seem to get much use.

I get a little annoyed when I see blogs that only offer 2-3 posts per page. That's a bit too skimpy and makes for too much paging.

[samwoodfin]

I think it's 10. Maybe.

[ses5909]

had 9 months back until my webhost told me its hogging resource. Can someone say wtf?

9 was hogging resources, that is crazy!

[SarahG]

5 or 10 depending on the length. On my main front page that pulls in from 3 blogs I display 20 but the default is in excerpt format (although you can switch this to full posts easily).

I remember reading about how those extra posts on the page can provide extra exposure in search engines as someone may search on a two word phrase and you have one word in post 1 and the second word in post 7 say, you'll then rank for wierd phrases at times and may draw in a few new visitors. I know I've seen this in my stats in the past.

[Jeremy]

I just recently moved to 5 (I think). Prior to that I had 8. When I switched themes, my content column shrunk in width a little bit and it was just getting too long at 8 with my typical post length. I made the change more for a usability issue than anything else. I figure that most readers aren't going to sit on a page and read 8 posts in their entirety. If they do, then all I'm doing is pulling them away from the rest of the useful content that is in the sidebar (RSS links, related posts, categories, archive, recent entries, and most important, ads).

[snookca]

My home page is all excerpts: 6 most recent plus 5 random. Everything clicks through to a full article. I try and liken my home page more to a magazine or newspaper layout (but without as much style).

[deronsizemore]

I like to show 5 but would be willing to go up to ten depending on what information is in the footer. I have the mybloglog stuff and the little "about me" blurb in my footer, so if I showed 10 posts, I would be afraid no one would make it below the fold. :)

[doorlight]

Randomly. Now, I show three posts. It depends on my sidebar actually.

[malique]

9 was hogging resources, that is crazy!



finally, thank u!!!xD

[shyflower]

Five on Older Space but I use the "more" feature on the old ones. I'm using five on Shyrhymes, too, but because my first page is static, they only show up on the category links. I think I'm liking that!

[Jelena]

10 currently. I actually went to count. http://ilovecode.com/smilies/yahoo_giggle.gif

[doorlight]

finally, thank u!!!xD

What does hogging resources really mean? :'"

[Dan Schulz]

I'm only going to have the latest post on mine, but that's because my site will be more about my work than blogging. Yeah, it'll have a "blog" but it won't be the focal point of the site, and that section will have about 4 or 5 posts on its index page.

[goldfries]

i wouldn't go by # of post, simply because

1. it depends on the post length
2. it depends on whether it's an excerpt of full post, or in my case, each post comes with a graphic banner.

it's not about how much content you have, it's about how much people have to scroll.

some posts (like mine) can be soooooo lengthy, it's actually more than 10 short posts combined.

so i would say in the end you have to look at your blogging style and decide how much you would like your readers to scroll. bear in mind the screen size, i usually use 1024x768 as a gauge.

[ses5909]

but with most blogging software you set the number of posts to display and it doesnt change based on how long your posts are.

[goldfries]

but with most blogging software you set the number of posts to display and it doesnt change based on how long your posts are.

yes. which is why you have to understand your blog patterns and set it accordingly.

here's how i think it should be done.

1. identify at your blogging style, whether are you a lengthy poster and whether you use excerpts (the READ MORE) thing.

2. after identifying the pattern of your post. set the # of post per page on the options to suit an average.

with this, sometimes it may be longer than usual and some times it may be shorter but on average - it'll be around the length of the page you deem suitable for your readers. :)

i'm sure if you have readers, they wouldn't mind scrolling a little bit longer. just make sure it's not too long. it's not nice to have to scroll through a bunch of text full just to find out last 5 topics.

[jlee]

I only show two because anything else just usually makes it too long. I'm thinking of going up to 3 but I think any more than that is really a waste.

[pbradish]

I have 3. My posts are generally pretty long, and I often incorporate images which takes up even more space. I know, I know - I need to learn how to text wrap :).