when unsure how to use WordPress functions, read the Codex:
http://codex.ww.wp.xz.cn/Function_Reference/get_header
Hey Ari, this is yourself responding to your own question. Congratulations on finally figured out this Son of a “better left unsaid.” So here is deal boys are girls and geeks of all ages. If you are “dumb” like I am and are trying to teach this stuff to yourself and only have this crazy mess of blogs through perhaps this will save you the 3 or so hours I have spent going insane.
When using the get_header function, wp catergorizes your custom headers in special way. Let’s say you want to create a header for your home page, a header for your blog page, and a header for your content pages. You could title them respectively:
header-homepage.php
header-blog.php
header-content.php.
When you are using the get_header function you would call the your custom headers like this:
get_header ( “homepage” ), get_header ( “blog” ). get_header ( “content”).
IN OTHER WORDS AND WHAT REALLY F-ED ME UP: YOU DON’T PUT THE HEADER PART AGAIN INSIDE THE ” “. YOU ONLY PUT THE NAME LIKE, “blog”, “content”, “homepage”, or whatever name you want. IN OTHER OTHER WORDS:
NAME OF PHP HEADER: header-customheader.php
HOW TO WRITE IT:
YES: get_header ( “customheader” )
NO: get_header ( “header-customheader” )
NO: get_header ( “header-customheader.php” )
NO: get_header ( “customheader.php” )
NO: anything else
THANK YOU arimdallas! That is what I needed to know. I’ve been trying all sorts of things because the Codex doesn’t give any useful examples as to how to really specify the alternate header.
It would be good if the Codex examples were actual how-to-code-it examples.