lists or posts styled with alternating color backgrounds, for instance, can inprove the readability of blogs.

most themes and the standard wordpress installation are not offering this feature.
however, it is easy to implement, when you know how.

for example we could give alternating posts within the ‘wordpress loop’ a different extra class (‘odd’ or ‘even’) which can then be used with css.
to begin with, we introduce a counter ($c = 0;) before the loop, increment it inside the loop ($c++), and generate a class depending on the number of the counter by checking the modulus 2 of the number ($c % 2 – modulus is the remainder of the division):

<?php $c = 0 ; ?>
<?php if (have_posts()) : while (have_posts()) : the_post(); ?>
<?php $c++;
if( $c % 2 == 0 ) $extra_class = ' even';
else $extra_class = ' odd'; ?>
<div class="post <?php echo $extra_class; ?>">
<!--typical stuff in the loop-->
</div>
<?php endwhile; ?>
<?php else : endif; ?>


the class ‘odd’ or ‘even’ can be used in the style.css to create different background colors, alignments, margins, paddings, font-styles – no limits.

the most basic application of this method with a counter is how to style the first post in the loop different (only showing the logic part of the code):
<?php $c++;
if( $c == 1 ) $extra_class = ' first';
else $extra_class = ''; ?>

to make it more interesting, the next example is to create three different styles and a special style for the last post on the page.
we can get the number of the last post with $wp_query->post_count .
The structure is the same, the main difference is in the ‘if, elseif, else’ logic:
<?php $c++;
if( $c == $wp_query->post_count ) $extra_class = ' last';
elseif( $c % 3 == 0 ) $extra_class = ' three';
elseif( $c % 3 == 2 ) $extra_class = ' two';
elseif( $c % 3 == 1 ) $extra_class = ' one';
?>

you can extend this method to create any number of cyclic classes.

and you can use it in any situation in your wordpress templates, where you loop through some output – lists, foreach, for, while, posts, comments, …

special thanks to @esmi who dared venturing into the realm of more than two alternating styles, and who inspired me to post this article.

This holds true also for an open source program such as wordpress.

I will put it this way: the wordpress software, ie. the core program, is the subconsciousness. We know it is there, but generally we are not aware of it and don’t understand how it works. And, unless something goes wrong, we don’t really want to know.

And in a way, you could see that all the programmers and organizers of wordpress.org  as an open source software  are a kind of  ’creator’ who is well above all and who has put all this out for us to work with. This is not unlike some interpretation of G.O.D. (greater organized design) who made us but also gave us the freedom and intelligence to change the program.

Now, there a many many thousands of blogs out there, using wordpress.org software to program there own way of expression.

What every blog software does, is to take a lot of input in (the posts, pages, articles, pictures and so) and arrange and present them in a way that is personal and special for the individual (programmer).

In wordpress, these are the php-files, such as index.php, single.php, functions.php, comments.php, and so on.

This is analogue to the conscious mind which does exactly the same – gathering input (through our senses), storing it (memory),  sorting it, and creating specific output, based on a hidden program.

The ‘sorting program’ is build upon past experiences, ways we accepted from our parents, teachers, the society, religion, and so forth.

Think of the primary output as the HTML code that is generated by the wordpress php files. If you look at that on a screen, it seems pretty ‘bland’, uniform, not very interesting.

This is where the themes of wordpress come in: they individualize the output in a way that is again personal to the individual designing them. They add the CSS styles, and make the output colorful, creative, enjoyable (or not, if you don’t like the theme).

(Look up CSS Zen Garden if you are not familiar with css.)

Again, i like to compare this to the human mind. The ego will use its ‘css style sheet’ and ‘color’ any message it receives from the mind, and will give it an individual meaning.

Just present a piece of information to a group of people and watch how they react – you can be sure to get a whole range of different reactions.

The good thing with this model is, that we have the power and opportunity to change the programs, the php files, the themes, the css at any time.

As a programmer – and we all are our own programmers ! (even if we don’t like the programming results) – you can adapt the wordpress files, change your theme, and tweak the style sheets at any time.

This is the fantastic opportunity when you host your own wordpress blog (ie. when you are an individual in control of your life), it gives you control over ‘consciousness, mind, and ego’, to stay within the model.

Those who run the free blogs on wordpress.com, on the contrary, have not this level of control. They have to use what they get offered by somebody else (ie. the makers of wordpress.com, the filter programs that filter all the html input in the posts, the providers of the free themes you can choose from, and so on). They have a limited choice of  ‘conscious decisions’, ‘ways of expression’, ‘influence’.

Sounds very familiar with real life, where the expression of the ‘masses’ are pre-programmed and limited by a small elite (tv and media, politicians, church, tradition, teachers, …).

Coming back to the beginning of this post, where I compared the wordpress software with the subconsciousness, I hold the vision that when enough conscious people (programmers) join and work together, they can change the very core programming of the consciousness, the subconsciousness of mankind – also known as ‘common consciousness’.