How to style latest post AND recent posts differently?

Perhaps you can try using:

if ($wp_query->current_post < 1)

the above will match the first post on the index page.

so am i. ;o)

– you want to show 5 posts per page
– you want one class/style for the first (the most recent) post
– you want a different class/style for posts 2-5

– AND you want another different class/style for any other/older posts?

if that’s the case, you can simply change:

<?php if (is_paged()) : ?>
				<?php $postclass = ('other entries'); ?>
			<?php else : ?>
				<?php $postclass = ($post == $posts[0]) ? 'first entry' : 'other entries'; ?>
			<?php endif; ?>

to:

<?php if (is_paged()) : ?>
				<?php $postclass = ('class 3'); ?>
			<?php else : ?>
				<?php $postclass = ($post == $posts[0]) ? 'class 1' : 'class 2'; ?>
			<?php endif; ?>

in your css-file you need 3 classes. class 1 for the first post, class 2 for posts 2-5, class 3 for the older posts.

I was trying to do something similar and discovered something pretty simple. You may try the following:

<?php if (have_posts()) : ?>
 <?php query_posts("showposts=1"); // show one latest post only ?>
  <?php while (have_posts()) : the_post(); ?>
   <!-- the latest post here -->
  <?php endwhile; ?>
 <?php query_posts("showposts=4&offset=1"); // show 4 latests posts excluding the latest ?>
  <?php while (have_posts()) : the_post(); ?>
   <!-- the subsequent posts here -->
 <?php endwhile; ?>
<?php else: ?>
 <!-- Error message when no post published -->
<?php endif; ?>

Hope it helps. 🙂

poppacket, thank you very much, as chedonline said great solution.

<div id="rightcol">

    <?php

// this is where you enter the IDs of which categories you want to display

$display_categories = array(5,6,7);

foreach ($display_categories as $category) { ?>

    <div class="clearfloat">

      <?php query_posts("showposts=1&cat=$category");

	    $wp_query->is_category = false;

		$wp_query->is_archive = false;

		$wp_query->is_home = true;

		 ?>

      <h3><a href="<?php echo get_category_link($category);?>"><?php 

	// this is where the name of each category gets printed	  

	  single_cat_title(); ?></a></h3>

      <?php while (have_posts()) : the_post(); ?>

      <?php

// this grabs the image filename

	$values = get_post_custom_values("Image");

// this checks to see if an image file exists

	if (isset($values[0])) {						

?>

      <a href="<?php the_permalink() ?>" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent Link to <?php the_title(); ?>"><img src="<?php bloginfo('template_url'); ?>/images/<?php $values = get_post_custom_values("Image"); echo $values[0]; ?>" alt="" /></a>

      <?php } ?>

      <a href="<?php the_permalink() ?>" rel="bookmark" class="title"><?php 

// this is where title of the article gets printed	  

	  the_title(); ?>&raquo;</a>

      <?php the_excerpt(); ?>

      <?php endwhile; ?>

    </div>

    <?php } ?>

  </div><!--END RIGHTCOL-->

but i still have a problem. as i am not so into wp, i couldn’t port it to this code.

i know this will be too much but can you help?

thanks :$

edit:
I’m trying to solve this problem but getting a T_ELSE error on line 65 which is
<?php else: ?>

Here is the code i’m trying to replace the old right column with yours

<div id="rightcol">
<div class="clearfloat">
<?php query_posts("showposts=4&offset=1"); // show 4 latests posts excluding the latest ?>
      <h3><a href="<?php echo get_category_link($category);?>"><?php 

	// this is where the name of each category gets printed	  

	  single_cat_title(); ?></a></h3>
  <?php while (have_posts()) : the_post(); ?>
      <?php

// this grabs the image filename

	$values = get_post_custom_values("Image");

// this checks to see if an image file exists

	if (isset($values[0])) {						

?>

      <a href="<?php the_permalink() ?>" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent Link to <?php the_title(); ?>"><img src="<?php bloginfo('template_url'); ?>/images/<?php $values = get_post_custom_values("Image"); echo $values[0]; ?>" alt="" /></a>

      <?php } ?>

      <a href="<?php the_permalink() ?>" rel="bookmark" class="title"><?php 

// this is where title of the article gets printed	  

	  the_title(); ?>&raquo;</a>

      <?php the_excerpt(); ?>

 <?php endwhile; ?>
<?php else: ?>
 <!-- Error message when no post published -->
<?php endif; ?>
</div>
    <?php } ?>
</div>

I still couldn’t make it to show the category name and title.

Hi, I’m currently using poppacket’s code from this very thread above (http://wordpress.org/support/topic/153039?replies=11#post-686564).

But it’s overkill, and also, when you have many posts spread over several pages, the second page is displayed exactly as the first (eg. latest posts). This is because there is no if (!(is_paged()) { in the code. I’m not sure how to implement this if/else in php though.

Any ideas how I can simplify this code and have multiple pages work again?

Here’s my site btw: http://doodlebug.josephlavington.com