Add a Featured Image to a Single Post in Genesis

I’m writing this post out of necessity. I did numerous Google searches, and read through numerous tutorials, and was severely disappointed with the results.

There are options withing Genesis for displaying featured images on the blog/archive pages, but it doesn’t have any options for displaying featured images on individual posts. My search results only wielded plugins, out-dated tutorials, or blogs behind paywalls – nothing quick, and nothing easy.

So, naturally, I came up with my own solution, and it’s easy as pie. Simply plop the following code in your functions.php file:

function single_featured_image() {
    if ( is_single() ) {
        if ( has_post_thumbnail() ) {
            the_post_thumbnail('large', array('class'=>'alignleft post-image'));
        }
    }
} add_action( 'genesis_before_entry', 'single_featured_image');

And it will yield something like this:

Explaining the Code

If you’re inquisitive like me, you’re probably asking what exactly does that bit of code do?

• Creates a function.
• Checks whether or not the page is a single post, using if ( is_single () )
• Checks whether or not the post has a featured image, using if ( has_post_thumbnail() )
• If you’re on a single post, and it has a featured image, it gets the featured image, in the indicated size, large, and outputs it with the correct classes, alignleft and post-image, using the_post_thumbnail();
• Tells WordPress to run the function before the post title, using the hook genesis_before_entry.

Customizing the Code

While you can plop this code into any Genesis Child Theme and it will work, it may not look the way you want it to. If this is the case, you may want to tweak the snippet in order to match your vision, or current theme.

For instance, say you want the featured image to appear after the post title. To do this, simply go to the Visual Hook Guide, and find the hook you need (in this case, genesis_entry_header) and adjust the code accordingly:

function single_featured_image() {
    if ( is_single() ) {
        if ( has_post_thumbnail() ) {
            the_post_thumbnail('large', array('class'=>'alignleft post-image'));
        }
    }
} add_action( 'genesis_entry_header', 'single_featured_image');

And you get this:

You can also change the featured image size, class, and other attributes by editing the arguments for the_post_thumbnail();, as found in the Codex. By playing with different image attributes, classes, and hooks, you can ensure your featured image is displayed properly on your single posts.

Hopefully, this brief post will save a lot of headaches, frustration, and hours Googling. If you have any questions, feedback, or comments, feel free to leave a comment.