Excluding category on Showcase template in twenty eleven theme

// SORT POSTS
function voodoo_sort(&$query) {
        if (is_front_page() ){
        $query->set('cat', '-33');
     }
}
add_action('pre_get_posts', 'voodoo_sort');

Are you running a child theme? If not, you need to be. Never edit the parent theme (twentyeleven) check https://vudu.me/child for more on that

Anyway, I think the above would exclude a category from the homepage (added to functions.php)

is_front_page may need to be swapped with is_home ….. not sure

And of course, where I have -33, you put your cat ID, keep the minus sign, that excludes cats

Thank you for your quick response.
Very much appreciated.

I would appreciate if there was a solution that didn’t involve any reference to dark magical powers. WordPress has such a function? That stuff is deadly dangerous! Yikes

Something like this, should work right?

function exclude_category($query) {
if ( $query->is_page('blog') ) {
$query->set('cat', '-22');
}
return $query;
}
add_filter('pre_get_posts', 'exclude_category');

===
No Child theme this time round. However I agree I could have used a child theme, as is probably better practice.

I have tried adding some similar functions, however it seems to be not working for some reason at all. Even targeting the right category id.

If you don’t use a child theme, your changes WILL be lost at some point. As twentyeleven is the core/default theme, if it gets upgraded, it will be overwritten on your install and your changes will be lost.

Also, twentyeleven is needed in an unaltered state as a fallback if something goes wrong on your site.

Also, the voodoo_ prefix I use on my functions is simply to avoid collisions. You can rename a function as you like.

There is a chance that WP iteself, or some plugin would use a name like exclude_category, however I doubt you’ll find voodoo_sort

Name it whatever, the idea is to name functions with some sort of prefix to avoid the possibility of a conflict

Gotcha, thanks for clearing that up.

Thanks for the help. I might go back to the drawing board!

Not necessarily re not using a child theme. I’d just rename it and use it as a starting point and then customise/ customize to the max ??

And likewise if you use a child theme based off twentyeleven, it may change at some point if you update wordpress. Which is why I generally don’t bother with them. Pros and Cons. However they are valid and that’s for another discussion!

Cheers

Function; customised. worked great. Cheers
This one is solved.

I’m using twenty eleven and a child theme. I’ve added this at the beginning of my functions page (in child) with cat -40 (which is the cat id i’m trying to exclude). The syntax ‘home_page’ broke my display on all pages. Using ‘front_page’ didn’t break site but didn’t work with current config. I’m using a static homepage but the post said it should work on post pages and it didn’t on my news page which uses a showcase (dynamic post) template.

// SORT POSTS
function voodoo_sort(&$query) {
        if (is_home_page() ){
        $query->set('cat', '-40');
     }
}
add_action('pre_get_posts', 'voodoo_sort');

//**started a new series of functions which work fine from here...

Also, am i to use the ‘voodoo_sort’ (or whatever we call it) function in some other file? e.g. page.php?? single.php?? etc.

delete this… added to prior comment.