Reformatting how categories and tags display on my posts / PHP help

[Foomandoonian]

I've recently been working on my own WP theme (based on Starkers HTML5). It's been pretty straightforward, and I've learned a lot about how WordPress themes work, but I'm stuck on one detail.

The theme displays tags per post like this:
Tagged: tag1, tag2, tag3

I've been attempting to rework this so the tags (and categories) are instead displayed in HTML unordered lists (with CSS classes attached to each UL). Eg:

<ul class="tags">
<li>tag1</li>
<li>tag2</li>
<li>tag3</li>
</ul>

As simple as this seems, I can't get my head around what the PHP in the theme is doing enough to rework it. Can anyone help?

You can see my (unfinished) site here.

Also, I'm happy to take any constructive feedback on the design of the blog. This is only phase 1, but it is nearly ready to launch. :)

Thanks in advance!

[chipbennett]

You need to use get_the_tags(), which returns an array of tag objects, rather than the_tags(), which only outputs the list of tags.

For example (untested):

 $my_post_tags = get_the_tags();
echo '<ul class="taglist">';
foreach ( $my_post_tags as $tag ) {
     $tagurl = home_url() . '/tag/' . $tag->slug;
     $tagname = $tag->name;
     $listitem = '';
     $listitem = '<li>';
     $listitem .= '<a href="' . $tagurl . '">' . $tagname . '</a>';
     $listitem .= '</li>';
     echo $listitem;
}
echo '</ul>'; 
  

[Foomandoonian]

Thanks Chip, that seems to have done the trick, for the tags that display on the main page anyway. Tags that appear on individual posts seem to be controlled from functions.php:

 if ( ! function_exists( 'starkers_posted_in' ) ) :
/**
 * Prints HTML with meta information for the current post (category, tags and permalink).
 *
 * @since Starkers HTML5 3.0
 */
function starkers_posted_in() {
    // Retrieves tag list of current post, separated by commas.
    $tag_list = get_the_tag_list( '', '<br />' );
    if ( $tag_list ) {
        $posted_in = __( 'This entry was posted1 in %1$s %2$s', 'starkers' );
    } elseif ( is_object_in_taxonomy( get_post_type(), 'category' ) ) {
        $posted_in = __( 'This entry was posted2 in %1$s.', 'starkers' );
    } else {
        $posted_in = __( 'Bookmark the <a href="%3$s" title="Permalink to %4$s" rel="bookmark">permalink</a>.', 'starkers' );    
        
    } 
  

I don't really understand what's going on here. Bear in mind, this is code I've already messed around with.

[chipbennett]

Thanks Chip, that seems to have done the trick, for the tags that display on the main page anyway. Tags that appear on individual posts seem to be controlled from functions.php:

 if ( ! function_exists( 'starkers_posted_in' ) ) :
/**
 * Prints HTML with meta information for the current post (category, tags and permalink).
 *
 * @since Starkers HTML5 3.0
 */
function starkers_posted_in() {
    // Retrieves tag list of current post, separated by commas.
    $tag_list = get_the_tag_list( '', '<br />' );
    if ( $tag_list ) {
        $posted_in = __( 'This entry was posted1 in %1$s %2$s', 'starkers' );
    } elseif ( is_object_in_taxonomy( get_post_type(), 'category' ) ) {
        $posted_in = __( 'This entry was posted2 in %1$s.', 'starkers' );
    } else {
        $posted_in = __( 'Bookmark the <a href="%3$s" title="Permalink to %4$s" rel="bookmark">permalink</a>.', 'starkers' );    
        
    } 
  

I don't really understand what's going on here. Bear in mind, this is code I've already messed around with.

Would it be advantageous maybe just to replace the call to starkers_posted_in() with get_the_tags(), in your loop.php, or single.php, or wherever?

[Foomandoonian]

In other words, that whole chunk I posted above? I tried replacing in, and components of it, with either limited success or outright server error.

I really have only the most basic grasp of what all the code there is doing, but it looks to me like my categories are also handled here. I'm striving to get my categories listed, followed by the tags. (I don't care if the edit button or bookmark permalink vanishes).

[chipbennett]

In other words, that whole chunk I posted above? I tried replacing in, and components of it, with either limited success or outright server error.

I really have only the most basic grasp of what all the code there is doing, but it looks to me like my categories are also handled here. I'm striving to get my categories listed, followed by the tags. (I don't care if the edit button or bookmark permalink vanishes).

The whole chunk you posted above is in functions.php, right?

Look for where it gets *called* in your template files, i.e. single.php, and replace with appropriate calls to core WordPress functions, like the_category() and the_tags().

[Foomandoonian]

Ah, lightbulb moment! I'll try that tomorrow, when it's not 1.30am.

Thanks again! :)