Create a Post in WordPress (Classic Editor)

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Summary: This guide will help you to create posts in WordPress using the classic editor.

If you are a beginner, one of the first things you’ll need to learn is how to create a WordPress post and adding content to your website is done by publishing posts in WordPress.

Posting engaging content allows you to distinguish your brand and grab your visitors’ attention. In other words, WordPress posts are the substance of the customer experience on your website, even if you are not selling goods.

This tutorial will explain what a WordPress post is and the difference between WordPress pages vs. posts, plus how to post or manage your posts in WordPress.

What is a Post in WordPress?

A post in WordPress is a piece of blog content that you add to your site, like articles posted on a page. Posts are part of your site’s dynamic content, and WordPress usually lists them in reverse chronological order.

You can organize your posts in WordPress with categories and tags, date them, or pin them to a page on your website.

WordPress posts on your pages are a big part of your Content Marketing strategy and aid in defining a unique brand viewpoint. Providing quality and in-depth content consistently keeps your customers engaged.

WordPress Post vs Page

There is a fundamental difference between pages and posts on WordPress.

In essence, WordPress pages are static content, as they form the foundation of your website. Usually, they hold generic content like your Home page, About us, Contact us page, or pages containing your Terms of Service and Privacy policies.

The content types are presented with the so-called Post types in WordPress. There are default WordPress post types, and developers can create custom post types as well. The default WordPress post types are as follows:

Post – WordPress posts are dynamic and time-sensitive content that informs the reader on a particular topic. WordPress displays them in reverse chronological order, meaning the last post is shown first on your blog page. They can be sorted with categories and tags, archived, and streamed in a feed. Post comments are enabled by default.
Page – Pages in WordPress are generally the static part of your website. You may create promotional pages available only upon a marketing or advertising campaign. Still, they shouldn’t be dated as it wouldn’t be appropriate. WordPress pages can’t be categorized but can be organized in a hierarchy (parent/child) structure.
Attachments – These are usually images, media content, or file linking in your content; they have names and descriptions. Image attachments include metadata like file size, location, thumbnails, etc.
Revision – WordPress post revisions are the temporary auto-saved versions of your posts, which you can restore if you want to undo a recent change. Post revisions are saved every 60 seconds, so if anything happens, you can revert back to the last saved revision. Additionally, every time you save, update or publish a post, a permanent revision is stored in your WordPress database.
Navigation menu – Navigational menus are customisable menus you add to your theme. You can add posts, pages, categories, and URLs to your navigation.
Block templates – The Gutenberg block editor allows you to create reusable blocks of content you can use again in other posts or pages. They are useful for keeping your content’s design consistent.
Template parts – Templates in WordPress are block types used for creating a structure for your website – like header, footer, etc. You can find the template parts in the block inserter while in template editing mode.

Apart from the default post types in WordPress, you can also create Custom post types. The recommendation is to use a plugin for crafting custom post types. For example, one of the most popular plugins for creating custom post types is WooCommerce. It allows you to add ‘product’ post types to your e-commerce.

Now that we examined the different WordPress post types, we can proceed with the practical part of creating a WordPress post.

How to Post on WordPress

Initially, the intent behind WordPress was to publish blog posts, but eventually, it evolved into a robust CMS. Still, posting is one of the key strategies for attracting visitors to your WordPress content.

To start creating your first post in WordPress, you should login to your Dashboard and navigate to Posts > Add new

Depending on your WordPress version or preference, you can craft posts in WordPress using the Gutenberg Block Editor (from version 5.0 and up) or the Classic editor (all versions up to 5.0).

Create a WordPress Post with the Classic Editor

The Classic Editor is the legacy default editor preceding Gutenberg. You can still use it if you are accustomed to it or if your WordPress version is older than 5.0. WordPress continues to support the Classic Editor plugin, as there are over 5 million active installations worldwide.

The word goes that the support for this evergreen plugin will end in 2022, although with these usage margins, it may continue longer.

Classic editor is a simple text editor; most content is in a single block. It is a bit slower to work with than Gutenberg, and HTML competency is a must for SEO and editing. This legacy editor needs additional plugins for extra features. Thus, creating high-end posts can be a complex task.

Following the steps in this section, you’ll be able to create a competitive WordPress post with the Classic editor.

Title & Content Boxes

When you start creating your WordPress post with the Classic editor, you can create and format the text in a single block.

Further down the page, you’ll see the content boxes you can add to your post.

You can add your title in the first field at the top of the page, and clicking away will save it as your post headline.

Below the content editor, you can see the additional features you can add to your post.

Add Media

With the Classic editor, you can add multimedia, like images and videos, directly into the content box.

Click on the Add Media button on top of the content box, select an image from your Media Library, or upload a new one.

Alternatively, you can drag and drop image files from your computer into the content box.

Publishing Options

You can find the publishing options on the top right-hand side of the screen and as you can see, there you can find the buttons to save your draft or preview it.

From there, you can also select who can see your post (Visibility) and when to publish it.

Categories & Tags

Under the publishing options, you can see the drop-down menus from which you can assign a category to your post or tag it.

Post Thumbnails

Post Thumbnails are practically the featured images you’d add to your WordPress post.

With the Classic editor, you can add a featured image from the right-hand side of the post-editing screen.

Click on the Set featured image link, select an item from your Media Library, or upload a new one.

Screen Options

On the top right corner of the editing area, you will find the Screen Options menu.

You can use it to select which elements can be shown or hidden from your editing options.

Additionally, from the same menu, you can select whether the post layout will be decided in one or two columns or enable full screen.

Additional Post Editing Options

Just below the content box, you can select from a drop-down to edit a specific option.

Post Excerpts menu to add an excerpt for your WordPress post. These are short summaries wrapping up the content of your post to display on your WordPress page.
Send Trackbacks – Select whether you want to send trackbacks to sources you are referencing on your post, and scroll down the respective menu.
Custom fields – Next, you can create custom fields for your WordPress post by expanding the corresponding menu. There you can add custom information to your post, like additional metadata.
Discussion – Expand this section to enable or disable commenting on your posts. Enabling comments for your WordPress post will allow your readers to interact with your content.
Slug – We recommend changing your post’s slug when your headline is rather long. You can edit it from the respective menu, as shown below.
Author – Finally, share the post author’s name to make things a bit more personal with your readers. WordPress automatically assigns you as the post’s author; still, you may wish to change it with another registered user. To do that, load the Author menu from the button of the area below your content block.

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