wordpress remove page as featured

2 min read 03-10-2024

If you're using WordPress for your website, you may sometimes want to adjust which pages are featured on your site. This can include removing a page that is currently marked as featured. Below, I’ll guide you through the process of removing a page as featured, along with some code and practical examples.

Understanding the Problem

Let’s consider a scenario where you have set certain pages to be featured on your WordPress site but later decide that one of those pages no longer deserves that spotlight. The original problem might look something like this:

// Original code for setting a page as featured
$featured_pages = get_option('featured_pages'); // This fetches the currently featured pages
array_push($featured_pages, $new_page_id); // This adds a new page as featured
update_option('featured_pages', $featured_pages); // This saves the updated list

Problem Scenario

In the above code, we are fetching the currently featured pages from the database and adding a new page as featured. Now, to remove a page as featured, we will modify our approach.

Solution: Removing a Featured Page

To remove a page from the featured list in WordPress, you need to ensure that you properly identify which page you want to remove, and then you’ll update the list accordingly.

Here is how to do it:

// Corrected code to remove a page from featured
$featured_pages = get_option('featured_pages'); // Fetch the currently featured pages

// The ID of the page you want to remove
$page_id_to_remove = 123; // Replace 123 with your page ID

// Remove the page ID from the featured pages array
if (($key = array_search($page_id_to_remove, $featured_pages)) !== false) {
    unset($featured_pages[$key]); // Remove the page ID from the array
}

// Save the updated array back to the database
update_option('featured_pages', $featured_pages);

Analyzing the Code

Fetching Featured Pages: We first get the list of currently featured pages from the database using get_option().
Identifying the Page to Remove: You need to replace 123 with the actual ID of the page you want to remove.
Removing the Page ID: The array_search() function checks if the page ID exists in the array, and if it does, the unset() function is used to remove it.
Updating the Database: Finally, we save the updated array back to the options table with update_option().

Practical Examples

Let’s say you have a website with multiple pages, and you initially marked pages about your services, contact information, and blog as featured. After some time, you may find that the blog page should no longer be featured.

You would first get the ID of the blog page, and then apply the code provided above. This ensures that the blog page is removed from the featured section without affecting the other featured pages.

Conclusion

Managing featured pages in WordPress can greatly influence how visitors navigate your website. By understanding how to add and remove pages from your featured list, you can keep your website's content fresh and relevant.

For more detailed tutorials on WordPress customization, check out the following resources:

By following the steps outlined above, you can ensure your featured pages reflect the most important content of your site effectively.