limit number of post for achive page

Question

Im trying to limit the number of post for my archive page, in a specific category.

I've manage to display post from just the category I desire,

However, if i setup a loop to limit the number of post, it doest work but display post from all time, instead of the specific time . . .

here is my code . ..

<?php  
if (have_posts()) : while (have_posts()) : the_post(); ?>

<?php if (!in_category('8')) continue; ?>

i tried to limit the number of post different variant such as

<?php static $count = 2;
if ($count == "n") { break; }
else { ?>

but nothing to do ..

Hope anybody can highlight me, thank you for your time

---------EDIT-----------

I add the fullcode in case it helps better ... thank you

<?php get_header(); ?>



<div id="main-home">

    <div id="home-left">

        <?php $featured_main = get_option('mm_slider_tags'); if ($featured_main == "Select a tag:") { ?>

        <?php } else { ?>

        <div id="featured-container">

            <div class="flexslider">

                    <ul class="slides">

                    <?php $recent = new WP_Query(array( 'tag' => get_option('mm_slider_tags'), 'showposts' => get_option('mm_slider_num')  )); while($recent->have_posts()) : $recent->the_post();?>

                    <li>

                        <?php if (  (function_exists('has_post_thumbnail')) && (has_post_thumbnail())  ) { ?>

                        <a href="<?php the_permalink(); ?>" rel="bookmark" title="<?php the_title(); ?>"><?php the_post_thumbnail('slider-thumb'); ?></a>

                        <?php } else { ?>

                        <a href="<?php the_permalink(); ?>" rel="bookmark" title="<?php the_title(); ?>"><img src="<?php echo bloginfo('template_url'); ?>/images/noimg.jpg" /></a>

                        <?php } ?>

                        <div class="featured-box">

                            <?php if(get_post_meta($post->ID, "maxmag_featured_headline", true)): ?>

                            <h2><a href="<?php the_permalink() ?>"><?php echo get_post_meta($post->ID, "maxmag_featured_headline", true); ?></a></h2>

                            <?php else: ?>

                            <h2><a href="<?php the_permalink() ?>"><?php the_title(); ?></a></h2>

                            <?php endif; ?>

                            <p><?php echo excerpt(17); ?></p>

                        </div><!--featured-box-->

                    </li>

                    <?php endwhile; ?>

                </ul>

            </div><!--flexslider-->

        </div><!---featured-container-->

        <?php } ?>
<div class="home-widget">
<h3> IN SPORT</h3></div>
<div id="category2">

        <ul class="category2">




            <?php 
if (have_posts()) : while (have_posts()) : the_post(); ?>
<?php if (!in_category('8')) continue; ?>

            <li>
                <div class="archive2-image">
                    <?php if (  (function_exists('has_post_thumbnail')) && (has_post_thumbnail())  ) { ?>
                    <a href="<?php the_permalink(); ?>" rel="bookmark" title="<?php the_title(); ?>"><?php the_post_thumbnail('small-thumb'); ?></a>
                    <?php } ?>
                </div><!--archive2-image-->
                <div class="archive2-text">
                    <a href="<?php the_permalink() ?>" class="main-headline2"><?php the_title(); ?></a>
                    <p><?php echo excerpt(38); ?></p>
                    <div class="headlines-info">
                        <ul class="headlines2-info">
                            <li><?php the_time('F jS, Y'); ?></li>
                        </ul>
                    </div><!--headlines-info-->
                </div><!--archive-text-->
            </li>
            <?php endwhile; endif; ?>
        </ul>

    </div><!--post-area-->

    </div><!--home-left-->

</div><!--main-home-->



<div id="home-right">
<div id="middle-widget">
<div class="middle_align">
        <ul class="middle-widget">
<div class="middle-160">
            <div class="image-contain">
        <?php if (  (function_exists('has_post_thumbnail')) && (has_post_thumbnail())  ) { ?>

                        <a href="<?php the_permalink(); ?>" rel="bookmark" title="<?php the_title(); ?>"><?php the_post_thumbnail('slider-thumb'); ?></a>

                        <?php } else { ?>

                        <a href="<?php the_permalink(); ?>" rel="bookmark" title="<?php the_title(); ?>"><img src="<?php echo bloginfo('template_url'); ?>/images/noimg.jpg" /></a>

                        <?php } ?>

                        <div class="image-box">

                            <?php if(get_post_meta($post->ID, "maxmag_featured_headline", true)): ?>

                            <h2><a href="<?php the_permalink() ?>"><?php echo get_post_meta($post->ID, "maxmag_featured_headline", true); ?></a></h2>

                            <?php else: ?>

                            <h2><a href="<?php the_permalink() ?>"><?php the_title(); ?></a></h2>

                            <?php endif; ?>
        </div>  

</div>

      <div class="middle-widget">
<h3>Latest News</h3>
</div>   
            <?php 
if (have_posts()) : while (have_posts()) : the_post(); ?>

<?php if (!in_category('8')) continue; ?>
      <ul class="middle_new">  

            <li>

                    <a href="<?php the_permalink() ?>" class="main-headline"><?php the_title(); ?></a>
                    <p><?php echo excerpt(10); ?></p>
                    <div class="headlines-info">

                    </div><!--headlines-info-->
            </li>
</ul>           <?php endwhile; endif; ?>
        </ul>

    </div><!--post-area-->
    </div>


<div id="bottom-widget">

    <?php if (!function_exists('dynamic_sidebar') || !dynamic_sidebar('Homepage Bottom Widget Area')): endif; ?>

</div><!--bottom-widget-->



<?php get_footer(); ?>

Answer 1

You should use the pre_get_posts filter for this. For example, you could do this in your theme's functions.php file:

function limit_category_posts( $query ) {
    if ( $query->is_archive() ) {

        // Do not do this for the date or category archives.
        if ( $query->is_date() || $query->is_category() )
            return $query;

        if ( $query->query_vars['cat'] == 8 ) {
            $query->set( 'posts_per_page', 2 );
        }
    }
    return $query;
}
add_filter( 'pre_get_posts', 'limit_category_posts' );