Pagination
Posts per page
Settings → Reading → Blog pages show at most. A core WordPress setting; the theme uses it as-is.
Ten is the default. What suits your site depends on the display mode:
| Display | A reasonable count |
|---|---|
| Stacked | 8 – 10 |
| List | 10 – 15 |
| Grid | a multiple of your column count — 9 for three columns, 12 for four |
A grid with a count that is not a multiple of the columns ends in a ragged final row on every page. It is a small thing that reads as carelessness.
What the pagination looks like
Numbered pages, with Newer posts and Older posts at either end, each with an arrow. Two page numbers are shown on each side of the current one, plus the first and last.
On a narrow screen the word posts is hidden, leaving Newer / Older, so the row fits.
The arrows flip direction on a right-to-left site — see RTL.
The pagination sits inside the content column, so it lines up under the posts rather than under the whole container when a sidebar is present.
Page numbers in the title
From page two onward, the number is appended to the archive title:
- On a category archive: Travel · Page 2
- On the blog home, which has no title of its own: Page 2
This is worth having for search engines and for anyone who lands on a deep page from a bookmark.
Long archives
Pagination is a poor way to reach a post from three years ago — nobody clicks to page 14. Give readers a real index instead:
- The Archives page template — every post you have published, on one screen, grouped by year.
- Category and tag archives, linked from the meta line on every post.
- A search form, in the header or the sidebar.
Single-post navigation
A single post carries its own previous/next links; on an attachment page, a link back to the post it was published in. Neither has a setting — they are always there.