Posts vs. pages — what’s the difference?

You can create and publish both posts and pages on your blog. Posts are the meat of your site — the content you write and share with your visitors, and the awesome stuff that people come to your blog to read. Some people prefer to publish quick posts, like an update about their day or a single photo posted on the go from their mobile phone; others craft longer essays or publish photo collections with galleries and slideshows. It all depends on how you want to use your blog — you can create all kinds of content.

Your posts make up what you think of when you think of a blog. They’re dated, and they appear in reverse chronological order; as you publish new posts, older posts get pushed down the page. Posts can also be tagged — you assign the tags based on subject matter. Readers can then use the tags to sort through your blog and find the stuff they’re most interested in, and to find your posts in the Reader.

Pages are a little different — they’re kind of like the salt and pepper shakers of your site. (If you’re wondering about other food analogies, your header is like the amuse-bouche of your site, and your widgets are like a side of mashed potatoes.) Once you publish them, they stay put. They’re handy for timeless content, like an About or Contact Me section. This stuff probably isn’t going to change very often, and you want your visitors to be able to access it easily no matter where they are on your site. Your pages are displayed in a menu somewhere on your blog that’s always visible (usually up near your header or in a sidebar), so people can explore your site with ease.