Can you put Posts onto Pages in Blogger?

Ever since Google introduced "pages" into Blogger, people have complained that their posts all go onto the "home page", and asked how to put posts onto different pages in their blog.

The standard, but unsatisfactory, answer is

"Sorry, that's not how Blogger works.   So called "static" pages in Blogger are meant to be used for reference information that doesn't change often, which you don't want to be part of your regular post-feed, but which you do want users to have easy access to."

Luckily it's easy to set up your blog so that it looks like your posts are on different pages, even though you and I know that this isn't how Blogger works.

The only aspect that some people don't like is that their posts all show up on the "home page" was well as the topic pages, but even this can be worked around, at least sometimes.


Follow these steps:

1  Forget about using Blogger's static Pages.  Delete the Pages gadget if it's already on your blog.

2  Categorise your posts by add Labels to them.

3  Make the "pages look alike" menu bar:

Put the Labels gadget where you would put the Pages gadget if you wanted to make a horizontal menu bar with it.  To add the Labels gadget:
Post-Sept-2011-Blogger (aka the new interface)  Layout >Add a gadget > Labels
Pre-Sept-2011-Blogger (aka the new interface)  Design > Page Elements > Add a gadget > Labels

NB If your blog has some Labels that you don't want to have "pages" for, then set it to show only some of your Labels:

OR

Put a Linked-list gadget where you would put the Pages gadget if you wanted to make a horizontal menu bar with it.   Too add a Link-list gadget:
Post-Sept-2011-Blogger (aka the new interface)  (Layout  > Add a gadget > Link-list),
Pre-Sept-2011-Blogger (aka the new interface)  (Design > Page Elements > Add a gadget > Link-list),

Then - add a link to the list for each Label value that you want a "page" for. 

The HTML to use for each Label value is http://YOUR-BLOGS-URL/search/label/THE-LABEL-NAME

You can also add other items (eg individual Posts, or even Pages if you really must have them) - see the menu bar at the top of this site for an example of this.

4   If you don't want all posts to appear on the "home page" was well as the topic pages, set your home page to show zero posts, by setting  "Number of posts on main page:" = 0   on:

Post-Sept-2011-Blogger (aka the new interface)   Layout  > Blog Posts (edit),
Pre-Sept-2011-Blogger (aka the new interface)     Design > Page Elements > Blog Posts (edit)


Alternatively, you could use a technique similar to Showing a Gadget only on the Home Page  to not show the Blog Posts gadget on the home page.  the condition to use is !=  instead of ==)   If you do try this, then I strongly recommend that you consider the various options for giving your blog a home page, and make sure you accept the disadvantages of editing your template.


Job Done!

It really is that simple.  Your readers should no be able to click on the "pages" in your blog, and see a list of posts about the Page that they chose.   Even better, if some posts relate to more than one topic, they will appear on both of the relevant pages, not just one.

Don't forget to test your blog, to make sure that the menu bar is working how you expect it to and that it looks OK, in all the browsers that your readers are using.

I'm keen to hear if this approach works for you. 

• It is a "good enough" alternative to "real pages"?
• Are there any other side-effects of using Labels to "pretend" to be web-page titles?

Please leave your thoughts in the comments box below.