How to Display Random Posts in WordPress without a Plugin

Ever though of displaying Random posts in WordPress ? Then this tutorial on how to display random posts in WordPress without a plugin is for you. using too many plugins may effect your blog loading time and it is recommended to go with code, wherever simple function is required.

This php code can be used inside text widget, read How to Execute php in WordPress Text Widget for more info.

Display Random Posts in WordPress

Use this code in any part of your theme to display random posts.

<div>
<h2>Random Posts</h2>
<ul>
<?php
$args = array( 'numberposts' => 5, 'orderby' => 'rand', 'post_status' => 'publish', 'offset' => 1);
$rand_posts = get_posts( $args );
foreach( $rand_posts as $post ) : ?>
<li><a href="<?php the_permalink(); ?>"><?php the_title(); ?></a></li>
<?php endforeach; ?>
</ul>
</div>

Functionality of this Code:

• It will simply display a list of random posts in your blog.
• Code used here displays 5 random posts and that value can be changed.
• Change the value of 'numberposts' => 5 to any positve integer.

Read This : How to Disable or Limit Post Revisions in WordPress

Display Random Posts with Excerpt in WordPress

Use this code in any part of your theme to display random posts.

<div>
<h2>Random Posts</h2>
<ul>
<?php
$args = array( 'numberposts' => 5, 'orderby' => 'rand', 'post_status' => 'publish', 'offset' => 1);
$rand_posts = get_posts( $args );
foreach( $rand_posts as $post ) : ?>
<li><a href="<?php the_permalink(); ?>"><?php the_title(); ?></a><p><?php the_excerpt(); ?></p></li>
<?php endforeach; ?>
</ul>
</div>

Functionality of this Code:

• It simply displays a list of random posts along with post-excerpts.
• Code used here displays 5 random posts and that value can be changed.
• Change the value of 'numberposts' => 5 to any positve integer.

Also Check : How to add 3 column footer to WordPress theme

Styling Random Posts in WordPress with CSS

After adding the random posts code, its time to style them. Add the below code to style.css file in your WordPress theme.

.random-posts {
margin: 10px 0;
}
.random-posts p{
font-size:13px;
}
.random-posts h2{
font-size: 16px;
font-weight: bold;
}
.random posts ul {
list-style: square;
margin: 10px 0;
}
.random posts ul li {
padding: 3px 0;
border-bottom: 1px dashed #ccc;
}
.random posts ul li a {
font-size: 14px;
text-decoration: none;
}

You have successfully added random posts in WordPress blog without a plugin, hope you like this tutorial and if you got any query on this, please do drop your valuable comments.