It looks like this:

<meta name="generator" content="WordPress 2.9.0" />

To remove this meta tag, simply add the following line to your functions.php file in your theme:

remove_action('wp_head', 'wp_generator');

You have a couple of good options here:
1. create a new WP_Query object, or
2. use the get_posts() function.

Note: Using query_posts() is a bad option as it will upset your “main loop”

Both take pretty much the same arguments as query_posts() – see a list here.

Example usage of WP_Query:

$featured_category_id = 10;
$args = array('posts_per_page'=>3, 'cat'=>$featured_category_id);
$query = new WP_Query($args);
 
while ($query->have_posts()) : $query->the_post();
	the_title('<h3>', '</h3>');
endwhile;

Example usage of get_posts():

$featured_category_id = 10;
$args = array('numberposts'=>3, 'cat'=>$featured_category_id);
 
foreach (get_posts($args) as $post):
	the_title('<h3>', '</h3>');
endforeach;

in_category_extended() is designed to extend the functionality of in_category() in the following ways:

1. test if the current post is assigned to the specified category OR any descendant categories
2. return TRUE if you are viewing the specified category page OR any descendant category pages

Sure, you can do this a bunch of different ways, using multiple functions and code snippets, but I want a single boolean PHP function to use in my templates.

Example Usage

The main navigation consists of category tabs with on/off states.
If I’m viewing a post OR a category page which is related to the “development” category, then I want to apply a class="current" to the development tab element, which I can then style accordingly with CSS.

class="<?= in_category_extended('development') ? 'current' : '' ?>"

Function Definition

bool in_category_extended($category)

returns TRUE if the current webpage is related to the specified category

Function Parameters

$category
(mixed) (required) Category specified by ID (integer), or slug (string)

Function Code

This function has come in very handy for me – I hope you find it useful too!

function in_category_extended($category) {
 
	// easy out
	if (!(is_category() or is_single())) return false;
 
	// retrieve specified category (ID or slug)
	$obj_specified_category = is_numeric($category) ? get_category($category) : get_category_by_slug($category);
	if (empty($obj_specified_category->cat_ID)) return false;
 
	// we're viewing a category
	if (is_category()) {
		$current_category_ID = get_query_var('cat');
		return ($obj_specified_category->cat_ID == $current_category_ID or cat_is_ancestor_of($obj_specified_category->cat_ID,$current_category_ID));
	}
 
	// we're viewing a post
	else {
		global $wp_query;
		$obj_post = $wp_query->get_queried_object();
		if (empty($obj_post->ID)) return false; 
 
		if (in_category($obj_specified_category->cat_ID, $obj_post->ID)) return true;
		else return in_category(get_term_children($obj_specified_category->cat_ID, 'category'), $obj_post->ID);
	}
}