5+ Ways to Make a Recent Post on a WordPress Blog

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After creating a WordPress blog, you need to make sure that visitors can get as much relevant information as possible. You can do this by displaying recent posts

Recent post is a list that contains the latest posts on the blog. Thanks to this feature, you can invite visitors to read other articles. Thus, interaction and visiting time on the blog also increases.

Then, how do you make a recent post? Come on, see 5+ ways in this article!

5+ Ways to Make a Recent Post on a WordPress Blog

Here are 5+ ways to display recent posts which will be discussed in this article:

1. Using the Recent Posts Widget

One of the easiest ways to create recent posts is to use a WordPress widget. Usually, widgets are located in the sidebar or footer of your website page.

However, please note that each theme has a different widget location. So, choose a WordPress theme with the desired widget layout. If you want the recent post list to be in the sidebar, choose a theme that has this feature. Vice versa.

However, the way to display the widget anywhere is the same. Click Appearance > Widgets on the Dashboard to get started.

After adding widgets, you can also define their order. For example, you want to display a list of recent posts at the very top of the sidebar. For that, just slide the tab to the first order.

2. With Plugins

Apart from using a widget to display recent posts, you can also use a plugin.

First install the Recent Post Widget with Thumbnails plugin on your WordPress. On the Dashboard, click Plugins > Add New. Then, return to the Dashboard and click Appearance > Widgets.

Click the Recent Posts with Thumbnails tab and scroll to the list of active widgets.

Going through the settings page, you can see that this plugin offers a lot more customization options for recent posts in the sidebar.

3. With the Recent Posts Block in the Gutenberg Editor

Since the Gutenberg editor was introduced in WordPress, it’s easier to list recent posts in posts.

This feature is very useful if you want to encourage blog visitors to read other content.

The method is very simple. Open your post, then add the Latest Posts block. This block can be found in the Widgets tab.

4. By Adding Code in functions.php

These three methods are very easy. However, it may not be flexible enough as you can only display the list of recent posts in the sidebar, footer or posts.

If you want to determine the location yourself, you need to do some coding. This method and so on will explain the tips.

The first way is to add code in the functions.php file. This file basically contains settings for theme features. To access it, login to your cPanel account and open the file manager.

5. With Shortcodes

Like when editing the functions.php file, displaying recent posts using a shortcode requires you to do some coding as well. However, in a simpler way.

To display a list of recent posts using a shortcode, you need to install the Display Posts plugin

6. With WP_query

This method is actually similar to editing the functions.php file. The difference is, you are required to edit the theme template files, such as footer.php.

To use this method, of course, you also need to create a child theme.

Congratulations on Creating Your First Recent Post!

How? Creating recent posts in WordPress isn’t complicated, is it? In this article, you have learned 6 ways to make recent posts, namely:

– Using the recent posts widget
– Using plugins
– Using the recent posts block in the Gutenberg editor
– Using added code in functions.php
– Using shortcodes
– Using WP_query

We hope this article can help you to get creative further on your WordPress blog. If you have questions, don’t hesitate to leave comments in the column below this article.

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