How to change the Home page template

[Debra]

rename your current home.php to homeorg.php

then use this code for your homepage. This will allow you to still set up a separate blog if you choose down the road.

PHP Code:

<?php get_header(); ?>

<div id="content">

    <div id="contentleft">
    
        <div class="postarea">
                
            <!--The blog page template is currently set to show 5 posts.  Change showposts=5 to whatever number of posts you want to display.-->
            <!--Replace cat=1 with the Category ID you want to display in this section.-->
            
            <h5>Blog</h5>
                
            <?php $page = (get_query_var('paged')) ? get_query_var('paged') : 1; query_posts("showposts=5&paged=$page"); while ( have_posts() ) : the_post() ?>
            <h1><a href="<?php the_permalink() ?>" rel="bookmark"><?php the_title(); ?></a></h1>
                
            <div class="date">
                <p><?php the_time('F j, Y'); ?> by <?php the_author_posts_link(); ?> &middot; <a href="<?php the_permalink(); ?>#respond"><?php comments_number('Leave a Comment', '1 Comment', '% Comments'); ?></a>&nbsp;<?php edit_post_link('(Edit)', '', ''); ?></p>
            </div>
                
            <?php the_content(__('[Read more]'));?><div style="clear:both;"></div>
                
            <div class="postmeta2">
                Tagged: <?php the_tags('') ?>
            </div>
                            
            <?php endwhile; ?>
            
            <p><?php posts_nav_link(); ?></p>
        
        </div>
        
    </div>
    
<?php include(TEMPLATEPATH."/sidebar.php");?>
        
</div>

<!-- The main column ends  -->

<?php get_footer(); ?>