Samuel Coskey

This is another simple plugin to show a list of posts from your blog. 
Use the <code>[postlist]</code> shortcode on any post or page.
The shortcode supports several options:
<ul>
<li>
category: If defined, show posts only from this category. 
Specify the category using its slug identifier. If you provide 
multiple comma-seperated category slugs then they will all be 
included.
</li>
<li>
tag: If defined, show posts only from this tag. Specify the tag 
using its slug identifier. If you provide multiple comma-seperated 
tag slugs then they will all be included.
</li>
<li>
style: One of list (default) or post. If it 
is list, then the list style is indented and bulleted. If it is post 
then the title is promoted to <code><h2 class="upcoming-entry-title"></code> and 
the list style is plain.
</li>
<li>
text: One of none (default), excerpt, excerpt-formatted, 
or normal. If it is excerpt, then the post excerpt is shown, similar 
to search results. If it is normal then the full post (up to 
the <code>[more]</code> tag) is shown.
</li>
<li>
more_text: Specify the text to append onto truncated excerpts. 
Defaults to <code>...</code>.
</li>
<li>
null_text: If no results are returned, shows this text. 
Defaults to <code>(none)</code>.
</li>
<li>
class_name: If defined, adds this class name to the generated <code><ul></code> 
element. Useful for custom styling.
</li>
<li>
show_date: If defined, the post date will precede the post title.
</li>
<li>
date_format: If showing the date, this php date format will be 
used. The default is the Date Format value from the General Settings 
page. I recommend <code>"F j, Y"</code>, which displays as “May 12, 2012”.
</li>
<li>
q: Arbitrary &-separated arguments to add to the query. See the 
<a href="https://codex.wordpress.org/Class_Reference/WP_Query/#Parameters" rel="nofollow ugc">WP_Query</a> 
page for available syntax. For example, to show only three posts and 
you want to show them in ascending instead of descending order, you would 
write <code>[postlist q="posts_per_page=3&order=ASC"]</code>.
</li>
</ul>
The output can then be further formatted using CSS. We recommend the 
plugin <a href="https://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/imporved-simpler-css/" rel="ugc">Improved Simpler 
CSS</a> for 
quickly styling your post list (and your site)!
This plugin can also be easily made into a widget by placing the shortcode 
into a text widget, and activating the <a href="https://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/shortcodes-in-sidebar/" rel="ugc">Shortcodes in 
sidebar</a> 
plugin.
Report bugs, give feedback, or fork this plugin on 
<a href="http://github.com/scoskey/Simple-post-listing-wordpress-plugin" rel="nofollow ugc">GitHub</a>.

Simple post listing

Use the [postlist] shortcode to show a list of posts.

Paul Schreiber

This plugin adds the ability to put a shortcode tag in any static page or post and have it display an excerpt from your latest blog post.
There are no settings or options.
It generates markup like this, which you can style as desired:
<pre><code><div class='latest-post'>
<a href='http://www.mysite.ca/blog/post'>Look ma, no hands!</a>
Today I rode a bicycle &hellip;<a href="http://www.mysite.ca/blog/post">Continue reading &rarr;</a>
</div>
</code></pre>

Get Latest Post

Adds a shortcode tag [get_latest_post] to display an excerpt from your latest blog post.

Simple post listing vs Get Latest Post