When people first figure out that WordPress is a great CMS and not just a blogging tool, they look for ways to use it to build “websites”. By that I mean that they’d like to use WordPress to build traditional looking websites, as opposed to websites that look like blogs. Well, one of the first obstacles that one runs into (myself included) was how to use a static page for your website’s front or home page?

A simple thought would have the WordPress installed in a subdirectory and have the front page in the root. The problem that arises here is the customization of your front page, so that it’s similar to your chosen theme.

Another option involves coding changes to the WordPress core files. This isn’t a good solution IMO, as you’d have difficulties maintaining your site whenver there’s a WordPress update. One of the best reasons people use WordPress is its ease of use. Therefore, the solution should also be simple.

There are two WordPress plugins that I’ve tested and am using to manage the front page:

1) The Static Front Page Plugin from Denis de Bernardy of Semiologic.com

Excerpt from author site:

The static front page plugin sticks the static page with a slug of ‘home’ to your blog’s front page.

This plugin will be useful to anyone who is willing to use WordPress to run a conventional web site.

2) The Filosofo Home Page Control Plugin from Ilfilosofo.com

Excerpt from the author site:

Filosofo Home-Page Control is a WordPress plugin that lets you:

put pages on the same Permalink level (or higher) as the blog’s directory and
set which page you want to be the “home” page.

Both plugins work very well and easily gives you more control of what is shown on your front page. Both plugins are also very easy to install and configure.

If you’re using a different solution, kindly give me a heads up by commenting below or sending me an e-mail.

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