WordPress Static Front Page vs Blog Posts

Static Front Page vs Blog Posts

By default, WordPress will display blogs as the main (front/home) page for your site.  The latest, most recent blog post will be at the top.  So what do you do if you want to have a static front page (sometimes called Splash page) as the main front page and how do you then get to your (formerly default) reverse chronological blog posts?

That is where we have to know difference between Static Front Page vs Blog Posts.

I have been getting muddled doing some Googling on WP (WordPress) front-page, home page, index page, etc.  Obviously there seems to be more than one way to do this.  My example below is the simplest I can work out.  And it works for me.

Static Front Page vs Blog Posts

Aim: to have a static splash page as main front page when someone types in my domain name.  To have a link that will take user to the (formerly default) reverse chronological list of blog posts.

I am using my site ClearlyHelena.com as an example.  Before the changes, I have the default reverse chronological blog posts as the main/home page.  This is what (a portion of) it looked like:

New Front Page

I will be creating a static page (not post) that I want to use as the main front page.  (To be clear, I am using the term “front page” here to mean the page you will land on when you type in my domain name.  (In the example here, it is www.ClearlyHelena.com).

At this time of writing, I have not created a proper (static) front page so I will just quickly make one now just for demonstration purposes.
Create a static page.  For this illustration, I have just named it “My Static Landing Page”.  (Sorry, I should have named this “My Static Front Page” .. but too late now! duh!)

 

New Page for Blog

Now I need to create a new page (not post) which, when linked, will point to the former default home page (with list of blog posts).

I shall name this page “My Blog”.  It won’t matter what I put on it.  (In fact, I just left it blank.)

So now, we have 2 new pages.

• “My Static Landing Page” – which is what I first want users to see as soon as they type in my domain name.
• “My Blog” – which I will link and when users click, they will be taken to the list of my blog posts.  It should look exactly like what it formerly was for the home page, viz.
  

  Blog Posts as default landing page originally before changes.

So the next question is: how do I configure WordPress so that it will achieve my aim, namely:

Aim: to have a static splash page as the main front page when someone types in my domain name.  To have a link that will link to the (formerly default) reverse chronological list of blog posts.

 

Steps to Set Up Static Front Page vs Blog Posts

Save settings.

Now when I type in my domain name into the address bar of the browser, it will bring up “My Static Landing Page” as the front page.

Of course you will want to have something specific or flashy as your main front page.  (I will do some slideshows or something later for www.ClearlyHelena.com.)  But for now, this is just an illustration so you get the idea of the how-to.

Now the question is, how do I get back to my list of blogs posts?

You will need to provide a link to your new “My Blog” page which you have also set as your Posts Page in the settings:

I am going to my link to “My Blog” into my top navigation bar (under Appearance > Menus)

Now when that is clicked, I will get a page what shows my former home page (listing of all blog posts summary in reverse chronological order).

Now we have a new home (front) page and still be able to easily access our list of blog posts.  Aim achieved!

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Reference

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