If you are trying to style the first post with different HTML and others with other HTML structures. Then this code may help.
<div class="dpe-flexible-posts row">
<?php
$firstQuery = new WP_Query('showposts=1');
if ( $firstQuery->have_posts() ) {
while ( $firstQuery->have_posts() ) {
$firstQuery->the_post();
?>
<div <?php post_class('col-8'); ?>>
<div class="dpe-flexible-posts-inner magB30">
<div class="post-thumbnail">
<a href="<?php echo the_permalink(); ?>">
<?php
if ( $thumbnail == true ) {
// If the post has a feature image, show it
if ( has_post_thumbnail() ) {
the_post_thumbnail( $thumbsize );
// Else if the post has a mime type that starts with "image/" then show the image directly.
} else { ?>
<div class="entry-image">
<a href="<?php the_permalink(); ?>" rel="bookmark">
<img src="<?php echo get_stylesheet_directory_uri() . '/inc/assets/img/default-image.png'; ?>" alt="<?php the_title(); ?>" />
</a>
</div>
<?php } ?>
<?php } ?>
</a>
</div>
<div class="dpe-posts-content">
<h3 class="h2"><a href="<?php echo the_permalink(); ?>" title="<?php the_title(); ?>"><?php the_title(); ?></a></h3>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<?php
}
}
$secondQuery = new WP_Query('offset=1');
if ( $secondQuery->have_posts() ) {
while ( $secondQuery->have_posts() ) {
$secondQuery->the_post();
?>
<div <?php post_class('col-4'); ?>>
<div class="dpe-flexible-posts-inner">
<div class="post-thumbnail">
<a href="<?php echo the_permalink(); ?>">
<?php
if ( $thumbnail == true ) {
// If the post has a feature image, show it
if ( has_post_thumbnail() ) {
the_post_thumbnail( $thumbsize );
// Else if the post has a mime type that starts with "image/" then show the image directly.
} else { ?>
<div class="entry-image">
<a href="<?php the_permalink(); ?>" rel="bookmark">
<img src="<?php echo get_stylesheet_directory_uri() . '/inc/assets/img/default-image.png'; ?>" alt="<?php the_title(); ?>" />
</a>
</div>
<?php } ?>
<?php } ?>
</a>
</div>
<div class="dpe-posts-content">
<h3 class="h5"><a href="<?php echo the_permalink(); ?>" title="<?php the_title(); ?>"><?php the_title(); ?></a></h3>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<?php
}
}