What Are The Differences Between Pages And Posts?

Occasionally, we see a naive question about pages (static pages), and posts (dynamic pages), requesting a value comparison.

What are the advantages of using a page, instead of a post?

That question, worded in that vague way, cannot be answered. The various differences between pages and posts can provide advantages, or disadvantages. To evaluate a page or a post as an advantage, one must know the specific needs of the blog in question.

Long ago, Blogger blogs consisted simply of posts, displayed using the static Classic template. The "home" page of each blog was merely the most recently published post. Each post was published with an optional index, "Previous Posts", which listed merely the 10 posts previous to the post displayed. There was no

• Archives gadget (Date sequenced post index).
• Labels gadget (Topic sequenced post index).
• Main page display (Date sequenced aggregated post display).

Other posts could be located, only one post at a time, by following the top link in "Previous Posts", from post to post - or directly, from any links in the posts.

With blogs published to Classic templates, important posts were directly accessed using in post links, intentionally added as the posts were composed.

In 2007, Blogger added the dynamic Layouts templates.

Instead of displaying the most recent post as the blog home page, they gave us the main page display, to display a sequential array of recent posts. Instead of the "10 Previous Posts" index, they gave us a true "Previous Posts" index, renamed "Archives", which indexed all posts in the blog.

All posts could be accessed, using either the Archives index - or by following the main page display links ("Newer Posts" / "Older Posts"), located at the bottom of each main page display segment.

Some blog owners, enjoying their blogs with the new Layouts templates and the Archives index, demanded special blog posts that were not indexed in the Archives gadget, and could be "hidden" from their readers.

Remember that all posts, using the Classic templates, were "hidden" - excepting important posts, directly accessed using in post links. To satisfy this new requirement, Blogger later added "pages", special posts that are accessed only when linked - never in archives, label searches, or main page displays.

Some time after adding the "pages" feature, Blogger added the "Pages" gadget, to provide an easy to setup index for important pages and posts. The term "pages" became used by many blog owners, to refer to both "ordinary" posts (aka "dynamic" pages), and "special" posts (aka "static" pages) - since both classes of "posts" could be accessed using the Pages gadget

The confusion between "pages" and "posts" is further aided because the edit wizards for each feature have a common overall display layout. Those blog owners not knowleagable about "pages" design may confuse the "page editor" and the "post editor", and continue to refer to everything as either "pages" or "posts".


This post, composed in the Page Editor.
Pages ("Static" Pages)

• Are created using the page editor, accessed from the dashboard Pages wizard.
• Are edited using the page editor, accessed using the dashboard Pages wizard, or the QuickEdit icon on the blog face.
• Are not relevant to the date when published.
• Cannot be scheduled, to publish in the future.
• Cannot be properly created with a blank title - though malfunctioning Blogger code has occasionally allowed pages with blank titles, a mistake which has caused other problems with pages.
• Cannot be created with a custom URL. A Page URL is rigidly based on page title, when published. URL Duplication prevention for pages is not understood.
• Cannot use "Jump Break" in a summarised index (main page display).
• Are limited per blog. Each blog can have a maximum of 20 pages - and deleted pages do not allow creation of additional pages.
• Will host one single post.
• Do not appear in archive indexes, label searches, and main page displays.
• Do not appear in blog newsfeeds.
• Do not have labels.

This post, composed in the Post Editor.
Posts ("Dynamic" Pages)

• Are created using the post editor, accessed from the "New Post" button, located in the Navbar, or in the dashboard Posts List display.
• Are edited using the post editor, accessed from the dashboard Posts List display, or the QuickEdit icon on the blog face.
• Are relevant to the date when published. The URL of each post will always include the current year and month when published.
• Can be scheduled, to publish in the future.
• Can be properly created with a blank title - though problems occasionally make the post editor malfunction when publishing posts with blank title.
• Can be created with a custom URL, when originally published. URL Duplication prevention for posts, especially considering "custom" URLs and post scheduling, is complicated - and has caused other problems with posts, and with their URLs.
• Can use "Jump Break" in a summarised index (main page display).
• Are unlimited per blog.
• Can host multiple posts, using label searches. A label search can also be used as a dynamic page.
• Appear in archive indexes, label searches, and main page displays.
• Appear in blog newsfeeds.
• Have labels.

In general, use of a page or a post, in any given scenario, is chosen based on the latter 6 details. When incorrectly chosen, we frequently see questions.

How do I publish a page with multiple posts?

or

How do I publish more than 20 pages in my blog?

This post is being published as a "dynamic" page. Click here, to see this post published as a "static" page - and click here, to see this post published as a portion of a label search "dynamic" page (with "Jump Break").

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Label Management In The New GUI

With more people starting to use the New Blogger GUI, we're starting to see more questions about some non obvious and obscure details. Recently, people are starting to use the New GUI for routine blog maintenance, and are trying to manage their labels.

How do I add labels to my posts, using the Posts (previously the "Edit Posts") menu?

The answer is right there in front of our eyes - but we need sharp eyes.

With the Classic GUI "Edit Posts" menu, we had a pulldown menu labeled "Label Actions". Opening the menu, we would see three sections.

• "Apply Label" - with an inventory of all current labels.
• At the bottom of the "Apply Label" list, subtly placed "New Label...".
• "Remove Label" - with an inventory of all labels in all currently selected posts.

The New GUI Posts menu has none of these. Now, we have a stylised "label" logo, with a pulldown arrow. Opening the menu, we see two sections.

• "New label...".
• An inventory of all current labels.

It's not complicated, to use the new menu.

1. Select one or more posts, in the posts list.
2. To add a label to the posts selected, open the label menu, and click on a label.
3. To remove a label from the posts selected, open the label menu, and click on a label.
4. Basically, the labels menu is a toggle.
   • If you click on a label that's not part of the selected posts already (or, add a "New label"), the label gets added to the posts selected.
   • If you click on a label that's part of the selected posts already, the label gets removed from the posts selected.
   It is that simple - really.

It's just not obvious, at first glance.

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