Template hierarchy in Wordpress - Interactive Code Practice

Practice - 5 Tasks

1fill in blank

easy

Complete the code to load the main template file in WordPress.

Wordpress

get_template_part('[1]');

Drag options to blanks, or click blank then click option'

Aheader

Bindex

Cfooter

Dsidebar

Attempts:

3 left

💡 Hint

Common Mistakes

Using 'header' or 'footer' instead of 'index' loads other template parts, not the main one.

Forgetting to pass the template name as a string.

The get_template_part('index') function loads the main template file named index.php in WordPress.

2fill in blank

medium

Complete the code to load the template for a single post in WordPress.

Wordpress

get_template_part('[1]');

Drag options to blanks, or click blank then click option'

Asingle

Bpage

Carchive

Dsearch

Attempts:

3 left

💡 Hint

Common Mistakes

Using 'page' loads the page template, not single posts.

Using 'archive' loads archive pages, not single posts.

The single.php template is used to display individual posts. Using get_template_part('single') loads this template part.

3fill in blank

hard

Fix the error in the code to load the category template correctly.

Wordpress

get_template_part('[1]');

Drag options to blanks, or click blank then click option'

Acategory

Bcategories

Ccat

Darchive-category

Attempts:

3 left

💡 Hint

Common Mistakes

Using 'categories' or 'cat' which do not match the template file name.

Using 'archive-category' which is not a standard template part.

The correct template part for category archives is category.php. So, get_template_part('category') loads it properly.

4fill in blank

hard

Fill both blanks to create a conditional that loads the author template only on author archive pages.

Wordpress

if (is_[1]()) {
  get_template_part('[2]');
}

Drag options to blanks, or click blank then click option'

Aauthor

Barchive

Dsingle

Attempts:

3 left

💡 Hint

Common Mistakes

Using is_archive() which is more general and not specific to authors.

Loading the wrong template part like 'single' instead of 'author'.

The function is_author() checks if the page is an author archive. The template part author.php is loaded with get_template_part('author').

5fill in blank

hard

Fill all three blanks to create a custom loop that loads the content template only for posts in the 'news' category.

Wordpress

if (have_posts()) {
  while (have_posts()) {
    the_post();
    if (in_category('[1]')) {
      get_template_part('[2]', '[3]');
    }
  }
}

Drag options to blanks, or click blank then click option'

Anews

Bcontent

Dsingle

Attempts:

3 left

💡 Hint

Common Mistakes

Using the wrong category slug or template part names.

Not passing the second argument to get_template_part for variations.

This code checks if posts belong to the 'news' category using in_category('news'). It then loads the content-single.php template part with get_template_part('content', 'single').

Practice

1. Which template file does WordPress use first when displaying a single blog post?

easy

A. archive.php

B. page.php

C. index.php

D. single-{post-type}.php

Solution

1. Step 1: Understand single post template priority

   WordPress first looks for single-{post-type}.php to display a single post of a custom or default post type.

2. Step 2: Recognize fallback templates

   If that file is missing, WordPress falls back to single.php or index.php, but the first choice is single-{post-type}.php.

3. Final Answer:

   single-{post-type}.php -> Option D

4. Quick Check:

   Single post uses single-{post-type}.php first [OK]

Hint: Single posts use single-{post-type}.php first [OK]

Common Mistakes:

• Confusing page.php with single post template
• Thinking archive.php is for single posts
• Assuming index.php is always used first

2. Which of the following is the correct template file name to display a category archive for category with slug 'news'?

easy

A. news.php

B. category-news.php

C. category.php

D. archive-news.php

Solution

1. Step 1: Identify category archive template naming

   WordPress uses category-{slug}.php to display a specific category archive page.

2. Step 2: Match slug to template

   For category slug 'news', the template file is category-news.php.

3. Final Answer:

   category-news.php -> Option B

4. Quick Check:

   Category archives use category-{slug}.php [OK]

Hint: Category archives use category-{slug}.php [OK]

Common Mistakes:

• Using archive-news.php which is invalid
• Confusing category.php as specific slug template
• Naming file as news.php which is not recognized

3. Given the following files in a theme: page-about.php, page.php, and index.php. Which template will WordPress use to display the About page?

medium

A. page-about.php

B. page.php

C. index.php

D. It will show a 404 error

Solution

1. Step 1: Check for page-specific template

   WordPress looks for page-{slug}.php first for pages, so page-about.php matches the About page slug.

2. Step 2: Understand fallback order

   If page-about.php exists, WordPress uses it before falling back to page.php or index.php.

3. Final Answer:

   page-about.php -> Option A

4. Quick Check:

   Page slug template overrides generic page.php [OK]

Hint: Page slug templates like page-about.php have priority [OK]

Common Mistakes:

• Choosing page.php ignoring slug-specific template
• Assuming index.php is used first
• Thinking About page shows 404 without template

4. You created a template file named single-post.php but WordPress still uses single.php to display posts. What is the likely problem?

medium

A. The file name should be single-post.php but WordPress uses single-{post-type}.php where {post-type} is the actual post type slug

B. The correct file name is single-post.php but it must be in a subfolder

C. The file should be named single.php for posts

D. WordPress does not support single-post.php templates

Solution

1. Step 1: Understand post type template naming

   WordPress uses single-{post-type}.php where {post-type} matches the post type slug exactly.

2. Step 2: Check post type slug for 'post'

   The default post type slug is 'post', so single-post.php is correct if the post type is 'post'. But if the post type is custom or named differently, the file name must match exactly.

3. Step 3: Identify common mistake

   If WordPress ignores single-post.php, it may be because the post type slug is not 'post' or the file is misplaced.

4. Final Answer:

   File name must match actual post type slug in single-{post-type}.php -> Option A

5. Quick Check:

   Template file must match post type slug exactly [OK]

Hint: Match single-{post-type}.php exactly to post type slug [OK]

Common Mistakes:

• Assuming single-post.php always works for posts
• Thinking file must be in a subfolder
• Believing WordPress ignores single-{post-type}.php files

5. You want to create a custom template for the tag archive page of the tag with slug 'featured'. Which template file name should you create to follow WordPress template hierarchy?

hard

A. archive-featured.php

B. tag.php

C. tag-featured.php

D. taxonomy-featured.php

Solution

1. Step 1: Identify tag archive template naming

   WordPress uses tag-{slug}.php for tag archive pages with specific slugs.

2. Step 2: Match slug to template file

   For the tag slug 'featured', the correct template file is tag-featured.php.

3. Step 3: Understand fallback templates

   If tag-featured.php is missing, WordPress falls back to tag.php or archive.php.

4. Final Answer:

   tag-featured.php -> Option C

5. Quick Check:

   Tag archives use tag-{slug}.php [OK]

Hint: Tag archives use tag-{slug}.php for custom tags [OK]

Common Mistakes:

• Using archive-featured.php which is invalid
• Confusing taxonomy-featured.php with tag template
• Assuming tag.php is always used for all tags