How to Add a New Post in WordPress (Block or Classic Editor)

Introduction

There is no denying that creating a new post in WordPress is an extremely easy task. However, many beginners have to spend a lot of time learning all the features and options to create a good post. At present, some people use the Classic editor, while others use the Gutenberg editor – the new default editor in WordPress. Therefore, in today’s tutorial, we will guide you through adding a new post in WordPress and using all the features in both of these editors. You can learn more about the differences between these two editors in our Gutenberg editor vs Classic editor comparison.

How to Add a New Post in WordPress and Use All the Features

Creating a new post in WordPress using the Classic Editor

Title and permalink

In the Classic Editor, WordPress gives you an area to write the title of your article. The title is a brief sentence to introduce your blog. From a user’s point of view, we advise you to write a good title that includes a keyword and attractive words, because the success of your post greatly depends on coming up with an excellent title.

Once you have typed the title and moved the cursor to the content box, Permalink Settings will appear below the title field. This Permalink will show the exact URL of your new post. You can copy this URL to send it to your friends, or paste it on social media.

If you want to customize the permalink, click on the Edit button, which enables you to change the last part of the permalink according to your purpose.

Content area

Below the title field, WordPress offers you a large content box where you can write your first WordPress post. In addition, there are some available elements on the page, including:

1. Visual and text editor: You can switch between the visual and text editors while writing a post. The visual editor displays the way your content appears after it is published. You can format your content by using a lot of options on the toolbar. In other words, the visual editor of WordPress is similar to Microsoft Word. Meanwhile, the text editor is a plain text editor where you can view the HTML.
2. Autosave status: this feature helps you automatically save your changes to a post, page, or custom post type. In addition, it helps save changes even if a user loses internet connectivity.
3. Word count: this feature allows you to check the number of words in your post/page.
4. Add media: clicking on this button opens a popup window where you can upload an image or other media that you want to insert into your WordPress post. Simply select your favorite image and click on the Insert into post button to insert. Moreover, it also allows you to create beautiful image galleries.

Publish options

1. Save Draft: As its name suggests, by clicking on this button, you can save a draft of the post or page manually.
2. Preview: This button allows you to view how your post/page looks after publishing.
3. Status: This option enables you to set a status for your post/page. WordPress will set the status for drafts or published posts automatically. If you are not using a plugin to add custom statuses, you can leave this option as is.
4. Visibility: by default, this option is set to Public. However, you can click on the Edit link next to this option to open three other options. The first option allows you to make sticky posts in WordPress. It means that this post will be pinned to the top of your blog page.
5. Password Protected: When you choose this option, you will need to provide a password to protect your post. Only people who have this password can access this post.
6. Private: This option is usually used when you want to make your site private. For example, when you only want to share this blog with particular family members or friends.
7. Publish: your post will be published immediately after you have clicked on the Publish button. However, when you click on the edit link, WordPress will show the time and date options. You can utilize this option to make a schedule for your post or create a backdated post in WordPress.
8. Move to the trash: this option allows you to delete this post; deleted posts are kept in the trash. You can restore all deleted posts within 30 days from the date of deletion.
9. Publish button: Once you click on this button, your post will be released to the public. However, if you have scheduled a post, it will appear on your site on the scheduled date and time.

Add categories and tags

In the right-hand column, you will see the categories and tags meta boxes here. You can group your posts into categories and tags. This feature not only helps users easily find the types of content they are looking for but also improves your website’s SEO.

Add featured image

The featured image is a special image that represents your posts or custom posts. It is usually displayed at the top of your blog to attract visitors’ attention. Click on the set featured image link, which will open a popup window where you can upload a new image from your computer or choose from available images in the library.

Screen options

Let’s take a look at the Screen Options button in the top right corner of the page. Click on this button to expand it. There are a lot of options displayed. You can choose which elements to show in the right column by ticking them. In addition, you can rearrange them by dragging their headings or clicking on the up and down arrows.

Excerpts

You will see an Excerpt box below the editing area where you can add a short summary or excerpt for your post. This feature can be used to attract the visitors’ attention to your content.

WordPress will automatically use the first 55 words of the blog post or article to generate the excerpt. However, if you want to customize it, you can create one of your own.

Send Trackbacks

The Send Trackbacks feature enables you to notify legacy blog systems that you have linked to them. If the other blog owner is using WordPress, you don’t have to send them trackbacks.

Custom fields

This option is displayed below the Excerpts option. You can utilize it to enter custom information in your posts manually.

Discussion

This option allows you to turn comments on or off for your post. You can enable this feature to engage your audience as well as increase interactivity. If your website receives comment spam, you can use some extra plugins to help you resolve this problem instead of disabling the comments feature.

Author

By default, WordPress will automatically assign you as the post author when you create a new post. Nevertheless, you can enable the author checkbox to show another user as the author of your blog.

Options added by WordPress plugins

Furthermore, you can install more WordPress Plugins to enhance the functionality of your posts. We recommend using Yoast SEO which allows you to add keywords and meta descriptions. This tool will help you optimize your post for SEO.

Creating a new post in WordPress using the Block editor

Add title and content blocks

Visit All posts > Add New. This brings you to the editing area of the Gutenberg editor. There is a given area where you can write the title of your blog post.

One of the biggest differences between the Classic editor and the Block editor is that the Block editor allows you to create rich content via a lot of blocks. In order to add blocks, you can click on one of the two “+ ” symbols, as shown in the screenshot below.

There is a wide range of blocks for you to choose from. You can find any block by searching for it in the search bar. In addition, you can also add some extra WordPress plugins to enhance features such as contact forms, SEO, and much more.

Add images, video, and other media

If you want to add images, just select the image block and then upload your favorite media from your computer.

In addition, if you want to display both image and text in a single block, you can choose the Media & Text block. This block helps you wrap text around the image.

You can also create a beautiful gallery in various grid layouts by using the gallery block. However, this block also has some limitations. You can use WordPress Gutenberg Gallery Plugins to get more features and customization options such as albums, image sorting, and much more.

Moreover, the Gutenberg editor also provides a lot of embed blocks that allow you to embed video directly in WordPress posts from plenty of social media platforms such as YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and much more.

Add categories and tags

The Gutenberg editor allows you to add categories and tags. They are just displayed in a different interface. The categories and tags meta boxes are showcased in the right-hand column. These taxonomies help you organize your content better.

Add featured image

The featured image option is displayed in the right-hand column below the post settings. You should set a featured image as a representative image for your posts, pages, custom posts, etc. In addition, it is easy for you to style them, choose thumbnail sizes, and much more.

Change URL Slug or Permalink

The permalink is located in the second tab below the post settings. WordPress will automatically use your post title as the permalink. You can easily click on this tab and change the permalink as you want.

Publish options

1. Save draft: this option helps you automatically save your changes. You can click on this button to save changes manually.
2. Preview: By clicking on this button, you can view how your posts look after publishing.
3. Visibility: by default, the visibility of your post is set to Public. However, when clicking on this button, it will open a popup window where you can choose other options such as making your post private or protecting it with a password.
4. Publish Similarly, if you click on the Immediately option, it will open a popup where you can schedule your post to publish later.
5. Stick to the top of the blog: This option allows you to pin this post to the top of the blog
6. Pending review: This feature lets you save your post temporarily without publishing it.
7. Move to trash: By clicking on this button, your post will be deleted immediately. You can restore this post within 30 days from the trash folder.
8. Publish button: Click on this button when you have finished your post.

Add excerpt and enable comments

Both the Excerpt and Discussion tabs are located in the Post settings. You can easily write a summary of a blog post by typing a meaningful or catchy sentence.

In the discussion tab, you can click on the Allows comments option to allow everybody to leave a comment on your post. In addition, you will see the Allow pingbacks and trackbacks option below. This option enables you and other blogs to inform each other when they link to an article.

Other post edit screen options

There are several options on the post-edit screen. You can click on the three-dot menu at the top right corner of the screen and then enable or disable a lot of available options according to your preference.

In addition, you will see options to move the block toolbar to the top, spotlight mode, fullscreen mode. You can also switch between the visual editor and the code editor, manage reusable blocks and see all keyboard shortcuts.

Now, in the top left corner of the screen, you can see other options.

1. The first option lists all the blocks that you are using and you can quickly jump to any block you want.
2. The second option allows you to view the number of characters, words, blocks, headings, and paragraphs in your post.
3. The undo and redo buttons allow you to undo changes that you made to your post.

Wrap up

In a nutshell, we have just shared how to use all the features and customization options in WordPress. We hope that you can create a successful post without effort. If you have any queries, feel free to leave a comment below. We will support you as soon as possible.

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