One of the first thing beginners get stumped on is what is the difference between a WordPress page and a post. They seem very similar, and can even be used for the same things, but there are very distinct differences.
Posts
If you are using WordPress for your blog you are probably very familiar with a post already. Each post is published with a time and date and are typically displayed in reverse chronological order. They are meant to be timely, as older ones get buried deeper and deeper as new posts are added. You can also organize posts using categories and tags. They are great for information that is constantly changing.
Posts tend to have a comment or discussion function as well – encouraging conversation.
Posts are also shared using your websites RSS feed (if you have chosen to do so).
Pages
Pages are relatively static and great for information that does not change often. The about page is a good example – you have only one version of this page on your website, not one for each month or year. The information on this page rarely changes too – you might update some of the text, but for the most part your about page is your about page.
Most pages do not have comments enabled – why would you want comments on your Contact page anyway?
There are tons of WordPress plugins that add features to WordPress – Posts can easily take on some of the features of a Page, and vice versa. Bur in general, the following is true…
- Pages are static – Posts are timely
- Pages are meant to be informative – Posts are meant to be social –
- Pages follow a set hierarchy – Posts can be categorized, sorted and organized
- Pages are not included in an RSS feed – Posts are always included in an RSS feed
- Pages can use custom templates – Posts typically do not