Today I would like to show you, how to assign CSS classes to custom post types for styling your website.

Basically we just extend the function body_class() of WordPress with our own post types, so that we can address them to style our design accordingly.

The same I had already explained in detail in another post where the title of a post has been incorporated into this function, so there you can find additional information.

// Adds classes for custom post types to body_class() and post_class()
function fb_add_body_class( $class ) {
	$post_type = 'my_example_post_type'; // the Post Type

	if ( get_query_var('post_type') === $post_type ) { // only, if post type is active
		$class[] = $post_type;
		$class[] = 'type-' . $post_type;
	}

	return $class;
}
add_filter( 'body_class', 'fb_add_body_class' );

Alternatively you can extend the function post_class() so you won’t have the class of the custom post type directly at the body tag. Therefore I use the same function and we just address the hook of the post class.

add_filter( 'post_class', 'fb_add_body_class' );

Both template tags are used in HTML tag, as it shown on the codex pages, we have mentioned above; and here is an example for the post class:

<div <?php post_class('class-name'); ?>>

Enjoy testing and using it, if you know any improvements or have any question, please feel free and leave a comment.

Update: A small example for the custom taxonomie inside this fucntions of WordPress

function fb_add_body_class( $class ) {
	
	if ( ! is_tax() )
		return $class;
	
	$tax   = get_query_var( 'taxonomy' );
	$term  = $tax . '-' . get_query_var( 'term' );
	$class = array_merge( $classes, array( 'taxonomy-archive', $tax, $term ) );
	
	return $class;
}
add_filter( 'body_class', 'fb_add_body_class' ); // or post_class as hook

Use or fork it and have an idea or small solution for your requirements.