<ul id="recent-posts">
<?php $posts = get_posts('numberposts=5&offset=1');
foreach ($posts as $post): ?>
<li><a href="<?php the_permalink(); ?>"><?php the_title(); ?></a></li>
<?php endforeach; ?>
</ul>

While this code does work, it can be problematic, the get_post() query overwrites the WordPress default variables. This means if you run any other loop specific code (i.e. the_title, the_content, the_date, etc.) they will all be affected and many not produce desired results. In my initial testing every page that used The Loop was getting it’s information from the get_posts() query as it overwrites WordPress’ default queries for pages, searches and archives. Thus they all displayed the same information.

After some searching I found a solution for the problem, creating a new WP_Query() object so that it doesn’t interfere with WordPress default functions. Here’s an updated example of the code presented above using this technique.

<ul id="recent-posts">
<?php $recent_posts = new WP_Query(); $recent_posts->Query('showposts=5@offset=1');
while ($recent_posts->have_posts()) : $recent_posts->the_post(); ?>
<li><a href="<?php the_permalink(); ?>"><?php the_title(); ?></a></li>
<?php endwhile; ?>
</ul>
If you want something a bit fancier, here’s how I created the recent posts section using the same technique.

<div id="recent_posts">
<h2>Recent Posts</h2>
<?php $recent_posts = new WP_Query(); $recent_posts->Query('showposts=5@offset=1');
while ($recent_posts->have_posts()) : $recent_posts->the_post(); ?>
<div class="recent_date"><?php the_time('m.d.Y') ?></div>
<div class="recent_post_title"><a href="<?php the_permalink(); ?>"><?php the_title(); ?></a></div>
<br />
<?php endwhile; ?>
</div>
A deeper discussion in how to do this is on the Weblogs Tools Collection (where I found the solution). The lesson here is, in order to avoid conflicts with WordPress default functions, plugin, and countless other issues, create a new WP_Query(); object.