WordPress.org

I think I got it sorted !
What follows is a solution which seems to work.
I made a file called "intro.php."
by putting

<?php
/*
Template Name: Intro
*/
?>

at the top of your new template file it is registered as a usuable template - you create a "home" static page and you link it to the "intro" template. You then go to "read" in admin and set up your staic "home" page as your home page - this means that you can point a "go to my blog link" to index.php and you're on a conventional blogger's page.

The second part of my problem I solved by taking out the loop altogether in the template, and instead using "get_posts()", setting up a loop thus : (go to codex for variants)

<?php
 $postslist = get_posts('numberposts=3');
 foreach ($postslist as $post) :
    setup_postdata($post);
 ?>
...
<?php endforeach ?>

this gives the last 3 posts which allows you to make calls such as
"<?php the_title(); ?>" and "<?php the_excerpt(); ?>" which you embed in your HTML.

I do not know if this is a definitive solution and would appreciate comments an improvements. For the moment it works !

I thought there was an easy way to make a static home page now. Is this the only way to do it? Is this the way WordPress is designed to work if you want a static home page?

Go into Settings > Reading

From there you can select a static page to be the home page

The FAQ may help: How can I have a static front page and posts display on a page called Blog?

jonisolis hi !
It is easy, which is to say you can select any static page to be your "Home Page"

My solution is for a specific situation :

• A home page that bears no relationship to my "default" static pages - including a change in the header and
• Wanting to have a traditional "blog" section.

If you do want a different Home page structure, you have to make a template that reflects the structure you want and attach your static page to the template.

The point where there is a lot of confusion is about home.php and the template hierarchy. What I didn't realise, and what the author of my book did not make clear is that using home.php takes index.php (which gives you the traditional blog appearance) completely out of the loop.

If you do not want the traditional blog format anywhere on your site, and you only want people to navigate your posts through categories, tags, or whatever filter you want to use, then home.php is fine.

I just find there is a certain charm in a blog in the way posts blunder from topic to topic seemingly without order...