Have you ever come across a site that style their blog posts differently? Some sites have sticky posts highlighted with a custom background whereas others may have each category post styled with a unique look. If you ever wanted to learn how to style each WordPress posts differently, then you’re in the right place. In this article, we will show you how to style each WordPress post differently.
Note: This tutorial requires you to add custom CSS in WordPress. You will also need to be able to use the Inspect tool. Some basic CSS and HTML knowledge is required.
Styling Individual Posts in WordPress
WordPress adds default CSS classes to various elements on your website. A standard compliant WordPress theme must have the code required by WordPress to add CSS classes for body, posts, pages, widgets, menus, and more.
A core WordPress function called post_class() is used by themes to tell WordPress where to add those default CSS classes for posts.
If you visit your website and use the Inspect tool in your browser, then you will be able to see those classes added for each post.
Following are the CSS classes added by default based on what page a user is viewing.
- .post-id
- .post
- .attachment
- .sticky
- .hentry (hAtom microformat pages)
- .category-ID
- .category-name
- .tag-name
- .format-{format-name}
- .type-{post-type-name}
- .has-post-thumbnail
- .post-password-required
- .post-password-protected
An example output would look like this:
<article id="post-412" class="post-412 post type-post status-publish format-standard hentry category-news">
You can style each WordPress post differently using the respective CSS classes.
For example, if you wanted to style an individual post, then you can use the post-id class in your custom CSS.
.post-412 {
background-color: #FF0303;
color:#FFFFFF;
}
Don’t forget to change the post ID to match your own.
Let’s take a look at another example.
This time we will style all posts filed under a specific category called news.
We can do this by adding the following custom CSS to our theme”
.category-news {
font-size: 18px;
font-style: italic;
}
This CSS will affect all posts filed under news category.
The Post Class Function
Theme developers use the post_class function to tell WordPress where to add the post classes. Usually it is in the <article> tag.
The post class function not only loads the default WordPress generated CSS classes, it also allows you to add your own classes.
Depending on your theme, you’ll find the post_class function in your single.php file or in the content template files. Normally, the code will look something like this:
<article id="post-<?php the_ID(); ?>" <?php post_class(); ?>>
You can add your own custom CSS class with an attribute like this:
<article id="post-<?php the_ID(); ?>" <?php post_class('longform-article'); ?>>
The post_class will print out respective default CSS classes along with your custom CSS class.
If you want to add multiple CSS classes, then you can define them as an array and then call them in the post_class function.
<?php $custom_classes = array( 'longform-article', 'featured-story', 'interactive', ); ?> <article id="post-<?php the_ID(); ?>" <?php post_class( $custom_classes ); ?>>
Style Posts Differently Based on Authors
The default CSS classes generated by the_posts function does not include author name as a CSS class.
If you want to customize the style of each post based on author, then you will need to first add the author name as a CSS class.
You can do this by using the following snippet:
<?php $author = get_the_author_meta('user_nicename'); ?>
<article id="post-<?php the_ID(); ?>" <?php post_class( $author ); ?>>
This code will add the user’s nicename as a CSS class. Nicename is a URL friendly name used by WordPress. It does not have spaces, and all characters are in lowercase which makes it perfect to use as a CSS class.
The above code will give you an output like this:
<article id="post-412" class="peter post-412 post type-post status-publish format-standard hentry category-news">
Now you can use .peter in your custom CSS to style all posts by this particular author to look different.
.peter {
background-color:#EEE;
border:1px solid #CCC;
}
Style Posts Based on Popularity using Comment Count
You may have seen sites with popular posts widgets which are sometimes based on comment counts. In this example, we will show you how to style posts differently using the comment count.
First, we need to get the comment count and associate a class with it.
To get the comment count, you’ll need to add the following code in your theme files. This code goes inside the WordPress loop, so you can add it just before the <article> tag as well.
<?php
$postid = get_the_ID();
$total_comment_count = wp_count_comments($postid);
$my_comment_count = $total_comment_count->approved;
if ($my_comment_count <10) {
$my_comment_count = 'new';
} elseif ($my_comment_count >= 10 && $my_comment_count <20) {
$my_comment_count = 'emerging';
} elseif ($my_comment_count >= 20) {
$my_comment_count = 'popular';
}
?>
This code checks comment count for the post being displayed and assigns them a value based on the count. For example, posts with less than 10 comments get a class called new, less than 20 are referred to as emerging, and anything over 20 comments is popular.
Next, you need to add the comment count CSS class to the post_class function.
<article id="post-<?php the_ID(); ?>" <?php post_class( $my_comment_count ); ?>>
This will add new, emerging, and popular CSS classes to all posts based on the number of comments each post has.
You can add custom CSS to style posts based on popularity:
.new {border: 1px solid #FFFF00;}
.emerging {border: 1px dashed #FF9933;}
.popular {border: 1px dashed #CC0000;}
We are just adding borders, you can add any CSS rules you want.
Style Posts Based on Custom Fields
Hardcoding CSS classes in your theme file limits you to only those specific CSS classes. What if you wanted to decide which CSS class to add to an article as you are writing it?
With custom fields, you can add CSS classes on the fly.
First you need to add a custom field to a post, so that you can test it out. Edit a post and scroll down to custom fields section.
Add post-class as the custom field name, and anything you want to use as CSS class in the value field.
Don’t forget to click on the ‘Add custom field’ button to store it and then save your post.
Next, edit your theme files to display your custom field as the post class.
<?php $custom_values = get_post_meta($post->ID, 'post-class'); ?> <article id="post-<?php the_ID(); ?>" <?php post_class( $custom_values ); ?>>
It will output the following HTML:
<article id="post-412" class="trending post-412 post type-post status-publish format-standard hentry category-uncategorized">
You can now add custom CSS for the post_class you added using custom field.
.trending{
background-color:##ff0000;
}
Custom fields can have multiple values, so you can add multiple CSS classes using the same name.
There are many more ways to style WordPress posts individually. As your skills grow, you’ll keep discovering new ways to style posts using different conditions.
We hope this article helped you learn how to style each WordPress post differently. You may also want to see our ultimate list of the most wanted WordPress tips, tricks, and hacks.
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Rafael says
Nice article. I guess I could use something like this to check the category of a post and place a custom CSS to change the style of part of the website according to the category, right?
I’m looking to set different colors only to the background of the Title of the Post for each Category in a Blog.
Kany says
Hi, great article. How to custom css style latest blog news? Just the latest one, any idea? Tnx.
WPBeginner Support says
Your theme would need to add something that can be targeted by CSS, at the moment we do not have a recommended method for adding that.
Admin
Les says
Great article. I wanted to set the default Font size per category and followed the instruction by adding the code to the Style.css file but when I added a new post the font was the old size. See code? What am I missing?
/* Begin Additional CSS Styles */
.art-blockheader .t, .art-vmenublockheader .t {white-space: nowrap;}
.desktop .art-nav-inner{width: 1200px!important;}
.category-firstg {
font-size: 18px;
font-style: bold;
}
/* End Additional CSS Styles */
William D says
Great article, thank you very much. Could the read more button color/text color also be changed in a similar manner? Something (I probably did) has changed my buttons in a very unpleasant way and I’m having a heck of a time trying to figure out how to make them pleasant again.
Thanks in advance for any help you might provide!
Matus says
Great tutorial. Simple and clear explanation.
Neon Emmanuel says
Hello, if i include this in single.php it echo back the current post title, but works fine in index.php, any suggestion to this?
MayMyatKhine says
Hello,Please send to me the new event to use the wordpress.
marisa says
This is a great article but I’m having trouble with placing
ID, ‘post-class’); ?>
Where exactly in the loop do I put it? I am using underscore.me with foundation 5 and my new class isn’t appearing.
Alberto Hartzet says
Perfect!, ty. What about the first and “the last” post? any ideas?
Nadeem says
Thanx alot bro..its very helpful
RW says
yet another bookmark! great post! thank you…
Payal says
Very informative, thank you. I’ve bookmarked this page.
I also have a question: What if I wanted to style the first (latest) post differently — so that the post displayed at the top of my index page shows up differently?
James says
Hey there, I’m struggling with this atm..
My post loop doesnt seem to have a post_class function so I cant figure out where to place the above code…
This is the loop I use for posts, where would I place the above code? Or how could I get custom fields to work using this?
Editorial Staff says
You have to add something like this on your post loop:
1-click Use in WordPress
Admin
Jon Fuller says
Hello, I am quite new to making WordPress themes and I am looking for a way to display each post in a box of its own which is seperated by a margin top and bottom. Please explain how this is possible.
Thanks
Editorial Staff says
By default each post is inside its own div element. You just have to use CSS to add margin-top and bottom.
Admin
Shaun says
Curious, how could this be applied to adding a CSS class to only posts posted that have the same “meta value” or “meta value number”?
Thanks for the great tutorial by the way!
Best
Editorial Staff says
We showed how to do it with custom fields, but that’s being done by key. But if you have the same key with multiple values, then you should get_post_custom_values function.
Admin
Em says
Just found this post and it is great, clear, succinct and spot on, many thanks
Jim says
I would like to do something where post one gets the class “1”, post two gets “2” post three gets “3”, and then it repeats this order, so post four gets “1” again.
Any tips? it’s just repeating three different classes every three posts.
Editorial Staff says
You would have to use the super loop option.
Admin
Brit says
What I’m trying to do specifically is just make it so when someone lands on my blog, that the thumbnail (which is just a circle with the post title) is a different color for ONLY the most recent post. I’m at a loss of how to make this happen. Everything I’ve found is category or order specific. Thoughts?
Editorial Staff says
Brit, you would have to use the last method “Super Loop”. That is probably the only way of doing it because all what you would do is on the first post, you add a unique class such as “first-post” , and then style that using your CSS file.
Admin
Jayaseelan Arumugam says
It is very Nice and useful post. Especially I like the way to Style Posts based on Custom Fields. Thanks.
Kathleen says
Thanks for this great article! It’s exactly what I searched for and so much helpful!
dina says
How do I add unique class to the 3rd, 6th, 9th, and 12nd posts in super loop. Thanks!
vajrasar says
Well, that is a very good piece. I got what you said, but can you shed some light on how am gonna implement this on my Genesis driven News Child theme, as I am supposed to do all this with function.php
I would like to style category specific posts differently. Thanks a lot for this piece. very informative.
Editorial Staff says
So if you are just using the post class method, then Genesis has the field under their Layout settings for each post. You can enter a custom class and style it that way. The rest can get pretty complicated depending on all the hooks and such. We don’t necessary do genesis specific articles here.
Admin
jim says
What do you mean index.php in the loop. which index.php. Mine has nothing like yours. This is the 10th post I’ve read where no one has explained this basic concept properly. And what about the CSS. Last 10 posts didn’t explain that either. Internet is getting worse and worse.
Editorial Staff says
Hey Jim,
Every WordPress theme does things differently. The concept of loop is pretty well explained in the WordPress Codex. It requires a simple google search: Loop WordPress which will take you to: http://codex.wordpress.org/The_Loop
Because every theme varies, some utilize a separate loop.php file others are child themes which don’t even have index.php files. It is really hard to explain all of those concepts. When we put tutorials in a theme category, we expect the users to have a fair knowledge of how WordPress themes work (even if you don’t know PHP).
Admin
Haider E Karrar says
I think you should be using filters instead in combination with the template tags here http://codex.wordpress.org/Conditional_Tags
For example
function my_post_css_filters($content) {
if(is_category(…))
return ” $content “;
else if (something else)
….
}
add_filter(‘the_content’, ‘my_post_css_filters’, 1) — (priority 1, not sure what else it may affect).
Hossein says
Hi..
How i can wrap every 4 posts in a div ?
gashface says
Nevermind got that working, but NOW it doesn’t style each post differently, it just styles them all according to the first post author it finds?
gashface says
Is there a way to specificy a tag like H2 is styled by author I am trying .username h2{} for example but it won’t work?
gashface says
This doesn’t show the author with me just a blank space, pasted your exact code, any ideas? posts made by admin and are private, does that make a difference?
wpbeginner says
@gashface not it doesn’t make a difference whether the post is private or public… If it is returning a white page, then you are pasting the code in a wrong place.
gashface says
I realised it was because I was putting the code before the call to the loop, I thought you meant before the if have posts etc.. when it needs to go after that, thanks for the heads up
KimeeDoherty says
This was a little helpful, but I am still lost
Not sure how to include the loop file in order to override the template. You started the <div> tag but not ended them, what’s inside the div? I’m lost 
kristelvdakker says
Thank you so much for this post! It has been very helpful.
Stuart says
Hi, thanks for the ideas – especially the super loop – pleased to have got it working on my site.
But I wonder, complete php beginner here, so is there a way to adapt the code so each subsequent page of posts doesn’t get the styling that posts 1, 2, 3, & 4 get on the first page.
In other words, I only want the first four posts on the first page to look any different to the rest.
Cheers,
Stu
Editorial Staff says
Yes. You can use is_paged() conditional tag, so it only shows up on the first page, but not the others. You can also use is_home() … so only on the homepage.
Admin
Stuart says
Cool – thank you. Looks like is_paged() is the one for me – but unfortunately, my novice abilities mean I’m struggling to work out how to integrate it in to the code.
Stuart says
Got there in the end…
Michael says
If you wanted to use this approach to separate posts visually based on their published date. How would you go about it? For example: style the 5 posts published on the 1st with a black background, and then style the posts published on the 2nd with a red background? Thanks in advance!
Editorial Staff says
The best way to do this is using the superloop method. Where you use the counter variable to set the post class values.
Admin
Dale says
I am trying to style each authors name a different colour on our wordpress website and I have followed your code as below:
Whilst this code is kind of working on my wordpress theme it is putting end quotation marks after class-2 but before the authors name so the class is being closed without the name in it. I only found this out by putting that php inside the body where you can see the full string.
Does anyone have any ideas why this is happening?
Dale says
Sorry it stripped out the php I posted but here is the class output of styling my posts by the authors name. The author here is called admin, and as you can see the closing tag is before the author name admin.
“post-395 post type-post hentry category-uncategorized class-1 class-2″admin
Bec says
Great post! That info is awesome for adding those extra special custom features to your design.
Adam W. Warner says
Indeed a great post, hats off! However, I couldn’t help but keep thinking about when it’s time to upgrade the theme you’re making all these custom edits to. I try to use the functions file whenever possible to avoid overwrites.
I would think it would be better to roll these loop edits into a function. I know that with Parent Themes like Thematic, Hybrid, Genesis, etc…that it’s possible (and advisable) to filter the loop and thus add these changes.
@Ken – Maybe your plugin would negate the need for any functions altogether?
Anyway, just my two cents and congrats Syed and the team on your continuing excellence on this site!
Azad Shaikh says
Very useful post indeed. Why don’t you publish some wordpress themes with your awesome ideas and functionality. I would be great success.
Thanks!
Ken says
Your article has giving me a few ideas on how to improve my plugin, thanks for that!
I just wrote a plugin (Scripts n Styles) for adding CSS directly to the head element from the post/page editing screen. (Only admin users can do this though.) It’s not as robust (or rather, doesn’t address the same thing) as your solution because the CSS only appears on the single view, not in the lists (archives).
I’m considering adding the functionality to include a class name into post_class, but via a meta box on the admin screen. Then, the admin would only have to add the css to his theme. (Or, perhaps a setting screen to facilitate this?)
Anyway, the Super Loop seems useful for theming in general, I’ll have to include that in my next one!
Connor Crosby says
Wow, that is a great post! Perfect timing since I am making a new WordPress theme