The Single.php Template

The Single.php Template

The single.php template displays a single blog post with its full content, author, date, categories, tags, and navigation to previous/next posts.

Creating single.php

<?php get_header(); ?>

<main id="main-content">
    <div class="container">
        <div class="content-wrapper">
            <div class="primary-content">
                <?php if (have_posts()) : 
                    while (have_posts()) : the_post(); ?>
                        <article class="single-post">
                            <h1 class="post-title"><?php the_title(); ?></h1>
                            
                            <div class="post-meta-full">
                                <span class="date">📅 <?php echo get_the_date(); ?></span>
                                <span class="author">✍️ <?php the_author(); ?></span>
                                <span class="category">📁 <?php the_category(', '); ?></span>
                            </div>
                            
                            <?php if (has_post_thumbnail()) : ?>
                                <div class="post-featured-img">
                                    <?php the_post_thumbnail('large'); ?>
                                </div>
                            <?php endif; ?>
                            
                            <div class="post-body">
                                <?php the_content(); ?>
                            </div>
                            
                            <div class="post-tags">
                                <?php the_tags('<span class="tag-label">Tags: </span>', ', '); ?>
                            </div>
                        </article>
                        
                        <!-- Post Navigation -->
                        <nav class="post-navigation">
                            <div class="nav-prev">
                                <?php previous_post_link('&laquo; %link'); ?>
                            </div>
                            <div class="nav-next">
                                <?php next_post_link('%link &raquo;'); ?>
                            </div>
                        </nav>
                        
                        <!-- Comments -->
                        <?php comments_template(); ?>
                        
                <?php endwhile;
                endif; ?>
            </div>
            <?php get_sidebar(); ?>
        </div>
    </div>
</main>

<?php get_footer(); ?>

Template Tags Used

Function	What It Outputs
the_title()	The post title
the_content()	The full post content
get_the_date()	The post date
the_author()	The post author's display name
the_category(', ')	Category links, comma-separated
the_tags()	Tag links with custom prefix
previous_post_link()	Link to the previous post
next_post_link()	Link to the next post
comments_template()	Loads the comments section

Styling the Single Post

.post-title {
    font-size: 34px;
    color: #2c3e50;
    margin-bottom: 12px;
    line-height: 1.3;
}

.post-meta-full {
    display: flex;
    gap: 20px;
    font-size: 14px;
    color: #888;
    margin-bottom: 24px;
    padding-bottom: 16px;
    border-bottom: 1px solid #eee;
}

.post-featured-img {
    margin-bottom: 24px;
    border-radius: 8px;
    overflow: hidden;
}

.post-featured-img img {
    width: 100%;
    height: auto;
}

.post-body {
    font-size: 16px;
    line-height: 1.9;
    color: #444;
}

.post-tags {
    margin-top: 30px;
    padding-top: 16px;
    border-top: 1px solid #eee;
    font-size: 14px;
}

.post-navigation {
    display: flex;
    justify-content: space-between;
    padding: 24px 0;
    margin-top: 30px;
    border-top: 1px solid #eee;
}

.post-navigation a {
    color: #3498db;
    font-weight: 600;
}

.post-navigation a:hover {
    color: #2c3e50;
}

Key Takeaways

• single.php displays full blog post content using the_content()
• Include post metadata (date, author, categories, tags) for context
• Use previous_post_link() and next_post_link() for sequential navigation
• comments_template() loads the built-in WordPress commenting system
• Featured images with the_post_thumbnail('large') provide visual impact