Style Post Differently In Query

You can set an array for the class of the div, and then inser the value of that variable as a class in the div. And create those classes in your stylesheet.

In your code, the_thumbnail is inside the if($i==0), so it only prints when $i==0. Then the what’s outside the if prints just titles, I can’t see where you are incrementing $i , so $i is always equals to 0.

This should work.

$i = 0;
$class = array("first-post", "posts-below");
while ( $queryObject->have_posts() ) {
    $queryObject->the_post();
    if ( $i == 0 ) { ?>
        <div class=<?php echo $class[0]; ?>>
            <a href="https://wordpress.stackexchange.com/questions/206403/<?php the_permalink(); ?>" title="<?php printf(__( 'Read %s', 'wpbx' ),     wp_specialchars(get_the_title(), 1)) ?>">
                <?php the_post_thumbnail('sidethumbs'); ?>
            </a>
        </div>
    <?php 
         $i++;
     } else { ?>
        <div class=<?php echo $class[1]; ?>>
            <a href="https://wordpress.stackexchange.com/questions/206403/<?php the_permalink(); ?>" title="<?php printf(__( 'Read %s', 'wpbx' ),     wp_specialchars(get_the_title(), 1)) ?>">
                <?php the_post_thumbnail('sidethumbs'); ?>
                <?php the_title(); ?>    
            </a>
        </div>
    <?php $i++;
 } 


} ?>