How do i create a list-posts-page?

Question

I'm trying to create the actual "blog" page that lists all the posts. It seems like such a basic thing, but i can't find out how to do it.

Do i create a page and assign it a special template? If i do that, wouldn't the loop just grab the page content? I have a loop in a file called loop.php, which i want to use to display the posts.

I tried doing something like this:

• Create a page
• Assign "blog" template to page
• From the blog template, run get_posts(); which gets all posts.
• Right after that, run setup_postdata()
• Then just require('loop.php'); to list all posts.

Unfortunately, that just grabs the first post; not what i want.

Any suggestions?

EDIT

A dummy solution would be to do something like:

    $posts = get_posts();

    foreach($posts as $post) {
        setup_postdata($posts);
        require('loop.php');
    }
    wp_reset_postdata();

The only problem is adding pagination, which i will need.

Answer 1

Assuming you're only trying to display your blog posts index on a page other than the front page (i.e. because you've assigned a static page as your site front page), you shouldn't need to do anything special. Refer to the Codex for step-by-step instructions for creating a static front page and separate page for your blog posts index.

Some caveats:

• Initially, don't create any custom page templates or other custom template files. Ensure everything is working with the fallback template files (page.php and index.php, as per the Template Hierarchy).
• Note: if your current Theme includes a front-page.php template file, WordPress will use that specific template file to render the site front page.
• Note: if your current Theme includes a home.php template file, WordPress will use that specific template file to render the blog posts index.
• If you want to create a custom template file to render your blog posts index, use the home.php template file. Do not give this template file a Template: phpDoc header tag. You don't need to assign this template file to the static page assigned as page for posts. WordPress will use home.php automatically, if it exists.
• You should have no need whatsoever to create any custom queries or custom query loops, either via get_posts() or WP_Query(). WordPress will use the main query loop to render the blog posts index.