Tweak Me v2 - Configuring a Static Homepage
With WordPress you have two options for your homepage:
- Display a list of your blog posts (default).
- Choose a page (from the Pages menu) to show instead.
Option #2 is called a static homepage, which we'll be setting up here.
Step 1: Create a new page
Create a new page (Pages > Add New) called Home (or anything else you prefer).
On the right-hand side, find the Page Attributes box. Inside that box, find the label for Template. Click the dropdown and select Homepage from the list. Then save.
Then create a second page called Blog. Leave this page entirely blank and just publish it. This is the page we'll be using to display your blog posts.
Step 2: Set up the static homepage
Next, go to Settings > Reading. Find where it says "Font page displays" and select A static page. In the dropboxes below, set the Front Page to the "Home" page you just created. Then set Posts Page to the "Blog" page you just created.
Save Changes.
Step 3: Start building the widgets!
Now you have all the main stuff set up, so you can start populating your homepage.
Go to Appearance > Widgets. You should see a ton of new widget areas! Each widget area corresponds to a section from the "Layout" box in the settings panel. Remember that?
Simply add widgets to the different areas. You can go back to the settings panel and change the layout if you want to adjust the order.
Here's a graphic to help you better understand how the widget areas work:
