Different header for each category

Question

I'm working on a project where each category should have a custom header page. Any suggestions? I'm just looking for some direction on how to accomplish this.

Answer 1

Use the is_category() condtional statement

if(is_category('category-a-slug')){
    get_header('a');
}elseif(is_category('category-b-slug')){
    get_header('b');
}

Answer 2

Install the plugin Taxonomy Images. In your header.php check if you are in a category archive and if an image exists for that category. Then use that instead of the default image.

Answer 3

You can use custom templates for different categories. When displaying a category archive, WordPress will check for these files in order:

1. category-{slug}.php
2. category-{id}.php
3. category.php
4. archive.php
5. index.php

Read more at the WordPress Codex

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If you prefer to use the one category.php template, we can load custom header.php files based on the category's ID. Replace the call to get_header() in category.php with the following code:

global $wp_query;
get_header( 'category-' . get_query_var('cat') );

WordPress will then look for header-category-{category_id}.php and load that file if found. Otherwise, header.php will be loaded as normal.