Title: PHP If/Else issue destroys my CSS?
Last modified: August 18, 2016

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# PHP If/Else issue destroys my CSS?

 *  [hrtwrk](https://wordpress.org/support/users/hrtwrk/)
 * (@hrtwrk)
 * [20 years, 9 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/php-ifelse-issue-destroys-my-css/)
 * I’m trying to implement a remaindered link feature on my [personal site](http://www.joshuablankenship.com/)
   using [Matt’s Asides hack](http://photomatt.net/2004/05/19/asides/). The live
   version of the site right now isn’t using the hack, so please refer to the code
   at the end of this post.
 * I have the actual functionality working when I upload the index.php file with
   the hack in it, but the if/else statement is messing with my layout. Essentially
   from what I can tell, when you get past the “if” statement, the “else” is ignoring
   the CSS. (i.e. the header, “if” statement post, and footer are all behaiving 
   correctly, but the “else” statement posts (the majority of my blog) is just unstylized
   text sitting in between the header and footer).
 * Any help or thoughts would be greatly appreciated. I’m new to PHP and WP.
 * Here’s the index.php file:
 * `
    
   <?php get_header(); ?>
 * <?php //if (have_posts()) : while (have_posts()) : the_post();// ?>
 * <div class="narrowcolumn">
    <div id="content"> <div class="post">
 * <?php if ($posts) {
 * function stupid_hack($str) {
    return preg_replace('|<br/>s*&nbsp;|', '', $str);}//
   end function
 * ob_start('stupid_hack');
 * foreach($posts as $post) {
    start_wp(); ?>
 * <?php if ( in_category(21) && !$single) { ?>
 * <div id="link">
    <span class=text><?php echo wptexturize($post->post_excerpt);?
   ></span> <span class="perm"><a href="<?php the_permalink(); ?>" title="Permalink:
   <?php echo wptexturize(strip_tags(stripslashes($post->post_title), '')); ?>" 
   rel="bookmark">*</a></span><br/> <span class=text><?php echo wptexturize($post-
   >post_content); ?></span>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<span class=sub><?php edit_post_link('
   Edit'); ?></span> </div><!-- closes "link" -->
 * <?php 
    }  else  { ?>
 * <div class="datecolumn">
    <div id="date"> <?php $d = strtolower(get_the_time('
   D')); echo ("<img src='[http://www.joshuablankenship.com/wordpress/wp-content/themes/deckard/images/w_](http://www.joshuablankenship.com/wordpress/wp-content/themes/deckard/images/w_){
   $d}.gif'>"); ?> <?php $m = strtolower(get_the_time('M')); echo ("<img src='[http://www.joshuablankenship.com/wordpress/wp-content/themes/deckard/images/m_](http://www.joshuablankenship.com/wordpress/wp-content/themes/deckard/images/m_){
   $m}.gif'>"); ?> <?php $j = strtolower(get_the_time('j')); echo ("<img src='[http://www.joshuablankenship.com/wordpress/wp-content/themes/deckard/images/d_](http://www.joshuablankenship.com/wordpress/wp-content/themes/deckard/images/d_){
   $j}.gif'>"); ?> </div><!-- closes "date" --> </div><!-- closes "datecolumn" --
   >
 * <h2><a href="<?php the_permalink() ?>" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent Link to
   <?php the_title(); ?>"><?php the_title(); ?></a></h2>
 * <div class="entry"><?php the_content('Read the rest of this entry &raquo;'); ?
   >
    </div><!-- closes "entry" -->
 * <p class="postmetadata">Posted at <?php the_time('g:i A') ?> in <?php the_category(',')?
   > |
    <a href="<?php the_permalink() ?>" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent Link"
   >Permalink</a> | <?php edit_post_link('Edit','','<strong>|</strong>'); ?> <?php
   comments_popup_link('No Comments', '1 Comment', '% Comments'); ?></p> </div><!--
   closes "postmetadata" -->
 * <?php comments_template(); // Get wp-comments.php template ?>
    </div><!-- closes"
   post" -->
 *  <?php } // end else 
    } // end foreach loop --> posts } // end $post
 * else {
    echo '<p>Sorry no posts found.</p>'; } ?>
 * <?php posts_nav_link(' — ', __('&laquo; Previous Page'), __('Next Page &raquo;'));?
   >
 * </div><!-- closes "content" -->
    </div><!-- closes "narrowcolumn" --> <?php get_footer();?
   >

Viewing 7 replies - 1 through 7 (of 7 total)

 *  [masquerade](https://wordpress.org/support/users/masquerade/)
 * (@masquerade)
 * [20 years, 9 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/php-ifelse-issue-destroys-my-css/#post-243226)
 * Matt’s asides hack is WP1.2
 * Try [http://codex.wordpress.org/Adding_Asides](http://codex.wordpress.org/Adding_Asides)
 *  [Beel](https://wordpress.org/support/users/beel/)
 * (@beel)
 * [20 years, 9 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/php-ifelse-issue-destroys-my-css/#post-243232)
 * I’d take out the hack, get my page to validate and then add it back in. Right
   now you have, according to the validator, 159 errors in your xhtml
 *  Thread Starter [hrtwrk](https://wordpress.org/support/users/hrtwrk/)
 * (@hrtwrk)
 * [20 years, 9 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/php-ifelse-issue-destroys-my-css/#post-243241)
 * @ Masquerade – so you’re saying this hack won’t work in the version of WP i’m
   running?
 * @ Beel – I know it’s not trendy to say this, but validating a page isn’t on my
   to-do, so long as it works cross-browser. I’m no web designer.
 *  Moderator [James Huff](https://wordpress.org/support/users/macmanx/)
 * (@macmanx)
 * [20 years, 9 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/php-ifelse-issue-destroys-my-css/#post-243244)
 * > @ Masquerade – so you’re saying this hack won’t work in the version of WP i’m
   > running?
 * Yes, he is. Refer to the Codex article that he linked to for instructions on 
   how to do Asides in v1.5. There are also two plugins available for doing Asides
   under v1.5:
 * [http://doocy.net/mini-posts/](http://doocy.net/mini-posts/)
    [http://russ.innereyes.com/wordpress-plugins/](http://russ.innereyes.com/wordpress-plugins/)
 *  [Beel](https://wordpress.org/support/users/beel/)
 * (@beel)
 * [20 years, 9 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/php-ifelse-issue-destroys-my-css/#post-243247)
 * I don’t care about the “trendy” either, but validation includes closing open 
   divs, opening closed spans, etc. which obviously impacts the layout. You say 
   asides “messes” with your css, which it wouldn’t – but you would if you have 
   done something incorrectly – hence my suggestion to check the validator.
 *  Thread Starter [hrtwrk](https://wordpress.org/support/users/hrtwrk/)
 * (@hrtwrk)
 * [20 years, 9 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/php-ifelse-issue-destroys-my-css/#post-243258)
 * Thanks everyone. I’ll look into these plugins.
 * @ Beel – And by “messes” I simply mean that after the PHP else tag, it no longer
   reads the CSS (or at least doesn’t include it). The site is live and works minus
   the hack, hence why I didn’t bother (and usually don’t nother) with looking at
   validation. I assumed that the issue was with the hack, not divs or spans, since
   the site works fine without those lines of code. Thank you for the suggestion.
 *  Thread Starter [hrtwrk](https://wordpress.org/support/users/hrtwrk/)
 * (@hrtwrk)
 * [20 years, 9 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/php-ifelse-issue-destroys-my-css/#post-243261)
 * Hm… using the instructions from the Codex article gives me an error message everytime:
 * Parse error: parse error, unexpected '!' ... on line 20
 * And i’m confused by the articles statement that part of the code goes after <?
   php the_date(); ?> since I don’t have a tag of that variety anywhere.
 * I’m at a loss here. It seems like this should be much simpler than i’m making
   it.

Viewing 7 replies - 1 through 7 (of 7 total)

The topic ‘PHP If/Else issue destroys my CSS?’ is closed to new replies.

## Tags

 * [asides](https://wordpress.org/support/topic-tag/asides/)

 * In: [Fixing WordPress](https://wordpress.org/support/forum/how-to-and-troubleshooting/)
 * 7 replies
 * 4 participants
 * Last reply from: [hrtwrk](https://wordpress.org/support/users/hrtwrk/)
 * Last activity: [20 years, 9 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/php-ifelse-issue-destroys-my-css/#post-243261)
 * Status: not resolved

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