Adding, editing and deleting posts

What's a website without content? In the Posts section of Publii you can create articles using three different editors, each providing a different writing experience. Depending on the theme selected, your posts may appear on the homepage as a list or as individual preview cards. Here we'll look at how to add, remove and edit your posts.

HTML basics

Content displayed on a website uses HTML, which browsers read to build the page. HTML tags identify the different parts of your content. For example, a paragraph is enclosed in opening and closing paragraph tags:

<p>This is a normal sentence.</p>

There are many different tags, but whichever editor you choose in Publii will take care of generating the appropriate HTML from your content and formatting. You don't need to write HTML yourself, though understanding a few basics will help you organise your content:

If you want to insert a title for a section of text, use a heading instead of making ordinary text bold and increasing its font size. Heading tags identify the structure of your content, while your theme controls how they look. Each editor has its own method for inserting headings; details can be found in the editor's page in this guide.
There are six heading levels, from Heading 1 to Heading 6. As a general rule, use Heading 2 for the main sections within a post, Heading 3 for subsections within those sections, and Heading 4 for further subsections.
Your theme normally displays the post title as Heading 1, so you don't need to repeat it in the body of the post. Choose heading levels to reflect the relationship between sections, rather than their font size.

Choosing an editor

To begin creating posts, click on Posts in the left sidebar. If your site has no posts yet, you'll be presented with a choice of three editors: the WYSIWYG editor, Block editor and Markdown editor.

Publii's editor choices: WYSIWYG, Block and Markdown — Choose an editor to create your first post.

Each editor provides a different way to write and format your content. Your theme controls the final appearance of the published post. For a more complete breakdown, see the individual editor guides linked below:

The Block Editor - This editor separates each paragraph, image or other content element into its own block, which you can edit and move individually. This makes it easy to reorder content as you write.
The Markdown Editor - Markdown can be thought of as a form of HTML shorthand. It allows you to write content and add headings, links and images using plain-text notation, without handling opening and closing HTML tags. It works well for content that doesn't need much custom formatting, such as documentation.
The WYSIWYG Editor - This editor offers a familiar word-processor-style writing experience, with toolbar options for formatting text and inserting content. You can see formatting as you work, then use Preview to check how the post looks with your site's theme.

Creating your first post

Once you've decided which editor to use, click on its option to open a new post. While each editor has its own layout and tools, they all let you add text, images and links. Check the guide for your chosen editor for details on its features. Start by entering a title in the Add post title field at the top, then add your main content below. A title is required before you can save the post.

Alongside the editor's writing tools, all three editors share a set of post settings in the right sidebar. The sidebar is hidden by default; click the gear icon at the top right to show it. The settings are grouped under Status, Featured image, Tags, SEO and Other options. Some display options depend on your theme:

Post author - Select which author should be displayed as the creator of the post. When editing an existing post, click the author's name under Status to change it.
Set custom post date - Set the publication date and time for a new post. For an existing post, click the date under Published to change it. This controls the post's publication date; it does not schedule an upload to your server.
Mark as featured - Marks the post as featured. Your theme determines whether featured posts receive different styling or appear in a separate section.
Hide post - Removes the post from the standard post listings, such as author and tag pages. A published hidden post still has its own accessible URL, so this setting does not make it private.
Exclude from homepage - Removes the post from homepage listings while allowing it to appear in other post lists, such as author and tag pages, provided it is not also hidden.
Featured image - The featured image usually appears at the top of the post and may also be used in post previews. Its position and appearance depend on your theme. To add one, drag an image onto the upload area or click Choose file to select an image from your computer.
Alternative text - Available after adding a featured image. Enter a description that conveys the image's purpose or content to people using screen readers. Browsers may also display this text when the image cannot load.
Caption - Adds a caption for the featured image. Whether and where it appears depends on your theme.
Credits - Adds attribution for the featured image, such as the photographer's name or image source. Your theme controls how the credit is displayed.
Tags - Assign tags to organise your posts and help visitors browse related content. You can select existing tags or create a new tag by typing its name.
Main tag - This option appears when you assign more than one tag to a post. It lets you choose the tag used wherever your theme displays a single main tag. If you don't select one, Publii uses the first non-hidden tag alphabetically.
Post slug - The slug forms part of the post's URL. Publii generates it from the title when you create the post, so you can leave it unchanged if you're unsure what to enter. Editing the title of an existing post does not automatically change its slug, which keeps the URL stable. To regenerate the slug from the current title, click the circular arrows button beside the field, labelled Update slug. Changing the slug changes the post's URL.
Page title / Meta description - These fields let you customise the page title and description for the post. The page title is used in the browser tab, and search engines may use these values in search results, though they can choose different text. Leave the page title blank to use Publii's default title.
Meta robots index - Controls indexing instructions for search engines. Index allows the page to be indexed, while noindex tells search engines not to show it in search results. Follow allows links on the page to be followed, while nofollow tells crawlers not to follow them. The default is index, follow; allowing indexing does not guarantee that a search engine will include the page.
Canonical URL - Identifies the preferred URL when the same or very similar content is available at more than one address. Leave it blank to use the post's own URL. A custom canonical URL is a signal to search engines, not a guarantee that they will select that version. When you enter one, Publii ignores the post's Meta robots index setting.
Post template - Lets you choose an alternative post layout when your theme provides one. The available templates depend on the theme you are using.
Theme-specific display options - Settings such as Display share buttons or Display author bio let you control individual elements for this post. The available options and their defaults depend on your theme. Use these settings to adjust a single post without changing the corresponding options for the whole site in Theme Settings.

Saving your post

When your post is ready to save, use the save button at the top right of the editor. Click the arrow beside it to view the available actions. Publii remembers whether you last used Save or Save and close, so the main button's label may vary.

For a new post that hasn't been saved yet, or an existing published post, the menu contains the following options:

Saving options for a new or published post. Saved drafts have a different set of actions.

Save and close - Saves the post with published status and returns you to the post list.
Save - Saves the post with published status and keeps the editor open so you can continue working.
Save as draft - Saves the post as a draft, excluding it from the website generated for synchronisation.

When you open a saved draft, the menu instead offers:

Save draft and close - Saves your changes, keeps the post as a draft and returns you to the post list.
Save draft - Saves your changes and keeps both the draft status and the editor open.
Publish post or Publish and close - Changes the draft to published status so it can be included in the next synchronisation. The label and whether the editor closes depend on your application settings.

Note: Saving or publishing a post in Publii does not upload it to your server. Synchronise your website when you're ready to make the changes live. If you change a previously published post back to a draft, the version already online remains there until you synchronise.

Adding a post and switching editors

After creating and saving your first post, clicking on Posts in the sidebar will take you to the post list. To add another post, click the Add new post button at the top right. This opens the editor currently selected in the button's dropdown menu; Publii remembers that selection.

If you want to try a different editor, click the arrow beside Add new post and choose Use WYSIWYG editor, Use Block editor or Use Markdown editor. Your choice applies to the new post and does not change the editor used by existing posts.

Use the arrow beside Add new post to choose an editor for your next post.

Editing a post

You can make changes to a post at any time, even after publishing. Click its title on the Posts screen to open it in the editor, where you can make and save changes just as you would when creating a new post. Synchronise your website to update the version online.

Note: When a post is opened for editing, Publii automatically uses the editor that was used to create it.

Deleting a post

On the Posts screen, select the checkbox to the left of the post you want to remove, then click Move to trash above the list. You can select several posts to move them together. Trashed posts remain in Publii so you can restore them or delete them permanently later.

Selected posts with the Move to trash action highlighted — Select one or more posts, then click Move to trash.

Moving a post to the trash excludes it from the generated website. If it is already online, synchronise your site to remove the published version.

Restoring or permanently deleting a post

When a post is moved to the trash, it is not immediately removed from the Publii app. To view trashed posts, click the Trashed filter near the top of the Posts screen. This filter appears when there are posts in the trash.

Trashed posts selected with Delete and Restore actions available — Use the Trashed filter to restore posts or delete them permanently.

Select the checkbox beside a post to show the Delete and Restore actions. Restore returns it to the post list with its previous status, such as published or draft. Delete asks you to confirm permanent deletion. Once deleted permanently, the post can no longer be recovered using Restore.

If you restore a published post that was removed from the live site, synchronise again to put it back online.

Duplicating a post

If you want to reuse a post's content, layout or settings, you can create a copy. On the Posts screen, select the checkbox beside the post or posts you want to duplicate, then click Duplicate above the list. A post named My post, for example, will be copied as My post (copy).

Selected posts with the Duplicate action highlighted — Click Duplicate to create draft copies of the selected posts.

The copy is saved as a draft with a separate slug. It includes the original post's content, images, tags and settings. Open the copy and update its title, content and SEO settings before publishing it.

Editing the post publication date

By default, Publii sets the publication date and time when you first save the post in the app, including when you save it as a draft. It does not use the time when you later synchronise the website. If you prepare posts in advance, you may want to change their publication dates before putting them online.

Open the post settings with the gear icon, expand Status, then click the date and time under Published. For a new post, click Set custom post date instead. Enter the date and time in the popup, click OK, then save the post.

Note: Setting a future publication date does not schedule publication or synchronisation. A post with published status is included in the next sync even if its date is still in the future. To keep it off the live site until you're ready, save it as a draft, then publish and synchronise it at the required time.