On Monday I finally found the sticky setting and on Wednesday I showed you how to add the post class to your template so that your sticky post would actually show up on the page.
Today I am going to show you how to style the sticky post. You might want it to look different from the rest of the posts, stand out in some way or not include the date.
Since we have already added the post class to our template, styling the sticky post only requires a little bit of CSS in the style sheet template.
Post class adds the class sticky. So to style the sticky post, add the following to your style sheet:
.sticky {
}
Of course, we need to add some more CSS to that for anything to look different with the sticky post.
On my elephant website, I have the following code:
.sticky {
background:#fff8dc;
border: 1px solid black;
margin-bottom: 7px;
}
This gives the sticky post a yellow background, a thin black border, and a margin at the bottom so the posts don’t bunch together. A regular post looks like this.
A sticky post looks like this.
If you are very observant, you will see that the sticky post does not have the date in it. This is done with conditional code within the loop. I know you’re excited, but that will have to be the topic of another article.
Haha. I like how you bait us on.
Did you make those articles on your Elephant site sticky just for the purposes of this tutorial?
As for the removing the date in sticky posts, that is very important. When I see posts in a seemingly random order, I get disoriented. (ie. FranklinBishop’s site, it appears that posts are randomly organized. I can’t even find the latest by looking at the feed! But he is doing some kind of implementation of sticky posts as well.)
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@Shirley – LOL – I didn’t mean to bait – I just thought it would be too much for one article ;-)
The elephant site used the sticky post plugin before I upgraded it to 2.7. I decided to learn how to use the built in sticky post feature and then used what I learned to write up this series. So, I guess the sticky came first then the tutorial.
I completely agree about the dates. Plus, visitors might not realize there is a more recent post below the sticky one.
ahhh this is what I was waiting for, you have explained in the simplest way possible!! thanks Kim!!
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Kim,
I just wanted to tell folks to nt be afraid of their CSS files. I was scared to death to do any mods, but after a bit of poking around I’ve been able to make some valuable changes (albeit minor) to my site.
If you’re really nervous about it, cut and paste the code you are going to change in notepad (NOT WORD). Then you will have the original in case you did goof something up.
Thanks Kim!
George
Tumblemoose´s last blog post – If writing content is king
Really nice trick for adding styles to Sticky posts.. Thanks for sharing!
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@Raju – Thanks! I’m glad it helps. Let me know if you use any sticky posts on your site.
@George – Very good point. I always copy the file I am working on and paste it into notepad++ That way if I happen to mess something up or get distracted, I can just paste the original code back in.
@Nicholas – Thank you for visiting and commenting. I’m glad the post helped you out.
Thank for this tip kim. Now, i can fully implement and make my sticky note live. I will do this in the weekend.
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Thanks for this 2.7 tips Kim… I guess, I now have a repository of tips from you to revamp my theme as and when I move to WP 2.7.
By the way, with a lot of difficulty I commented an elephant story on your other blog only to realize that I have to sign up for commenting :(
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Hi Kim – This is just what I need. I want to change my theme and need to know more about CSS. Your blog is a great resource for me. Thank you for sharing. You make this look so easy. Is it really THAT easy?
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@Nihar – I look forward to seeing how you use it.
@Ajith – Great!
I checked the settings on the elephant site and I don’t know why that happened – it isn’t set that way. I’ll test it more later today.
@Barbara – Some parts of CSS are easier than others, but, yes overall it’s not hard :-)
WordPress has made it even easier for users. Less and less fiddling with the code is required with each version. And this CSS editing is so easy anyone can do it. As mentioned, do not be afraid of your CSS adn any file for that matter. Just keep a backup :D
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@Stratos – Nice to see you! Backup and it won’t matter if you mess up.
This isn’t working with typebased theme.
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@Eric – Thank you for visiting and commenting. Did you read the first part of the article about adding the post class to the template?
http://www.kimwoodbridge.com/wordpress-post_class-template-tag-and-sticky-posts/
I’m not familiar with the code in TypeBased.
Hi Kim,
I really like this post series. I can’t really think of a way to use it on my site right now at this moment. But it will definitely be great to have your articles as a resource if/when I do.
Thanks.
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@Jim – I know. I couldn’t think of a use for one but then made one for the 15% off special. Just make sure you upgrade to 2.7 first ;-)
Hi Kim. This is brilliant! I like how you shared a little bit with each post, but didn’t make us wait too long :-) It’s nice to know how to style the sticky post. Thanks.
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@Davina – Thank you! I just thought one article would be too long.
I loved that way you have styled your sticky post. Lets see how much creative i can get while designing my own style.
Madhur Kapoor´s last blog post – January 09 Stats
Thanks – It’s kind of simple but was good for the tutorial. I have one on the home page of this site now too.
I ll implement it in my site.
also i can learn many new WP things from your site.
Its filled with plenty of infos here
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Hi Arun – Thank you. I hope it works out.
Sticky post is great for WP I use another plugin for popular posts and they both work great for me. thanks for sharing
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Hi Eugene – Which plugin do you use for popular posts?
Kim I was trying this on my site. But the code didn’t work. Please help me.
Hi – In order to assist you I need more information than “it didn’t work”. That isn’t enough to get me started with troubleshooting.
Very useful tip Kim, except… where in the style sheet does this code go, Kim? Cheers, Nic
It can go anywhere in the stylesheet. I frequently add something like this to the bottom of the file.