Posts
Posts are the core content type in RailsPress. Learn how to create, edit, publish, and organize blog posts.
What is a Post?
A post is a piece of content -- like a blog article, a news update, or an announcement. It is the primary way you publish written content on your site.
Every post has a title and a body that you write using a rich text editor. You can also attach a main image that appears at the top of the post and in listings. Posts can be organized with a category and one or more tags, and you can add metadata like search-engine titles and descriptions.
Each post gets its own URL based on its slug -- a URL-friendly version of the title (for example, "My First Post" becomes my-first-post). RailsPress also calculates an estimated reading time automatically based on the word count of your content.
Posts can be saved as drafts while you are still working on them, or published so they appear on your site for visitors to read. Published posts show up on your blog page and can appear in RSS feeds.
Creating a Post
Creating a new post takes just a few steps.
Open the Posts section
In the admin panel, click Posts in the sidebar to see your list of posts.
Click "New Post"
Click the New Post button to open a blank post form.
Enter a title
Type your post title. A URL slug is generated automatically from the title -- for example, "Getting Started with RailsPress" becomes getting-started-with-railspress. You can customize the slug later if you prefer a different URL.
Write your content
Use the rich text editor to write and format your post. You can add headings, bold and italic text, links, images, and more. If you prefer, switch to Markdown mode using the toggle button above the editor.
Save or publish
Use the Status dropdown to set the post to Draft or Published, then click the save button. Choose Draft to keep working on the post later, or Published to make it live on your site right away.
Save early and often. You can always come back to a draft post, refine it, and publish when you are ready.
Writing Content
RailsPress gives you a rich text editor that works much like a word processor. You can focus on writing while the editor handles the formatting behind the scenes.
The editor toolbar lets you apply formatting including:
- Bold and Italic: Emphasize words and phrases.
- Headings: Structure your post with section headings.
- Links: Link to other pages or external websites.
- Bullet and numbered lists: Organize information into easy-to-scan lists.
- Block quotes: Call out a quote or important passage.
- Code blocks: Display code or technical text in a monospaced font.
- Embedded images: Insert images directly into your content.
Prefer writing in Markdown? Use the toggle button above the editor to switch to Markdown mode. When you switch between modes, your content is converted automatically -- nothing is lost.
Publishing
Every post in RailsPress has a status: Draft or Published. This gives you full control over what visitors can see on your site.
- Draft: The post is only visible in the admin panel. Visitors to your site cannot see it. Use draft status while you are still writing or reviewing.
- Published: The post is live on your site. It appears on your blog page and in RSS feeds.
When you change a post's status to "Published" and save, RailsPress automatically sets the published date to the current date and time. You can also set the published date manually -- for example, to back-date an older article or to schedule a post for the future.
If you set a published date in the future, the post will show as "Scheduled" and will not appear on your site until that date and time arrives. This is a great way to prepare content ahead of time.
The published date also determines the order your posts appear in -- newest posts are shown first. If you need to take a post down temporarily, simply change its status back to "Draft" and save. The post will disappear from your site but remain safe in the admin for you to republish later.
Post Settings
In addition to the title and body, each post has several settings you can configure to control how it appears on your site and in search results.
- Slug: The URL-friendly version of your post title (for example, my-first-post). This is generated automatically when you enter a title, but you can edit it if you want a shorter or different URL. Each slug must be unique.
- Meta Title: An optional title that search engines display in their results pages. If you leave this blank, search engines will use the post title. Use this when you want the search result headline to differ from the on-page title.
- Meta Description: A short description that search engines show below the title in results. Writing a clear, descriptive meta description can help attract more visitors from search.
- Category: Assign the post to one category to organize it into a broad topic grouping -- for example, "News" or "Tutorials." You can only assign one category per post.
- Tags: Add one or more tags to label specific topics the post covers. Tags help readers find related content across categories. Type tag names separated by commas -- for example, "ruby, performance, tips." If a tag does not exist yet, it is created automatically.
- Main Image: An optional image displayed prominently at the top of your post and in post listings. You can upload a main image by dragging and dropping or clicking to browse. See the Images & Media guide for more details.
Take a moment to fill in the meta title and meta description for each post. These small details make a big difference for how your content appears in search results and social media previews.