Posts and pages are both used to display content in WordPress websites, though operate very differently. Outlined here are the major differences between posts and pages.
Posts Are Timely While Pages Are Timeless
WordPress posts refer to content that are listed in reverse chronological order in your site’s home page. Due to the fact that they are in reverse chronological order, posts are meant to be published at particular times hence you will find posts archived on monthly or yearly basis. With this arrangement therefore, older posts will be deep down in the list while new posts will be displayed towards the top of the list. It is also important to note that due to the date and time consideration of posts, the more recent a post is, the more relevant it will be with regards to time it is.
Pages on the other hand are static pieces of content published in the website without any due consideration of date and time. They are essentially timeless entities whose contents may not change for months or even years to come. For example, the Privacy Policy or Disclaimer page of a website may not change for a very long time.
Posts Are Social While Pages Are Not
WordPress posts are created with the main aim of passing across a time sensitive piece of information which others can share in their websites as well as the social media platforms. Posts also have a commenting feature which can attract the readers to engage one another a discussion with regards to the content of the post.
Pages are not social and were never meant to be. This is why it is not possible to share a WordPress page with other users or probably on the social media sites. For instance, you wouldn’t want anybody sharing your Disclaimer or Privacy Policy Page in the social media. Again, pages do not allow for discussions hence readers cannot engage one another on the same page.
Pages Are Hierarchical While Posts Can Be Categorized
WordPress pages are hierarchical in the sense that you can have a parent page with sub pages beneath it. With this feature, you have the ability to organize relevant pages together and probably apply a different page template to them.
Unlike pages, posts are not hierarchical and the only level of organization you can use to group together various posts is by using categories. It is therefore not possible to have sub posts within another post.
Posts Are Included in Rss Feeds While Pages Are Not
Since posts are time sensitive, whenever new posts are made, they are usually syndicated through the RSS feeds. This is how readers will get to know about the various new posts published in various websites.
Pages on the other hand are never syndicated through the RSS feeds since they are included in the site’s RSS feed by default.
You Can Use Custom Templates on Pages and Not on Posts
WordPress gives you the ability to use custom templates while posts come with a default layout with no further room for customization. With this, you can decide to have a different template for each and every page while all the posts will have to adopt similar template throughout the entire website.
Leave a Reply