'post', 'posts_per_page' => $number_posts, 'ignore_sticky_posts' => 1, 'post_status' => 'publish', ); if ( ! empty( $category_id ) ) { $args['cat'] = $category_id; } $the_query = new WP_Query( $args ); while ( $the_query->have_posts() ) { $the_query->the_post(); ?>