As it is out of the box WP will show everywhere the same number of posts: on index, in archives (monthly and category) etc.
If you want to control separately those, you have to use a plugin. Here are two that I know of:
http://mattread.com/archives/2005/03/custom-query-string-plugin/
http://rephrase.net/miscellany/05/perpage.phps
is it just me? i cannot find a download link for the custom query string plugin on that page. it looks like it would do the trick! i just can’t figure out where to download it.
No, it’s not only you:
http://mattread.com/archives/2005/11/my-plugins/
(I didn’t know about it)
i found a solution.
<?php query_posts(‘category_name=blog&showposts=4’); ?>
using query posts you can set how many to show.
i just set my main prefs for 9999 and that way i can choose per category this way!
When I see settings like “9999” I always get scared, LOL
Recently I helped to move a blog from blogger to WP and in the moment when we did the import it had about 7,850 posts! (Now they are already over 8,000…) Now imagine visiting that blog – and waiting for download – if they set it to show 9999 posts 😉
Good news, if you want to download the custom query string:
http://ww.wp.xz.cn/support/topic/49605