I followed instructions in a book, "Build Your Own Wicked WordPress Themes", and successfully got my homepage rearranged so that it displays a limited number of posts across a full-width page, with a thumbnail for the first post.
See it at: http://debraclopton.com/w/
I am a novice with php, and the book left me hanging on a few points. Here are the things I am having difficulty with. Any and all help would be appreciated:
1. I want the post for the first thumbnail to display the whole book-cover, but it is getting cropped.
2. I'd like to be able to post a custom excerpt for the homepage so that the styling is better, and more text is included, but can't work out where/how to filter that.
3. I'd like to display only one category on the homepage, but again, I'm stumped!
==============================================
Here's the code on my child-theme's function.php:
<?php
// Add support for thumbnails
add_theme_support('post-thumbnails');
set_post_thumbnail_size(300, 482, false);
add_image_size('homepage-thumbnail',300, 482, false);
// output a list of top-level pages
function authorsite_footer_pagelinks() {
echo '<ul id="simplepages">';
wp_list_pages('depth=1&sort_column=menu_order&title_li=');
echo '';
}
// Add Header Image
function thematic_logo_image() {
echo '<span id="header-image"></span>';
}
add_action('thematic_header','thematic_logo_image',6);
// custom homepage loop
function authorsite_indexloop() {
query_posts("posts_per_page=4");
$counter = 1;
if (have_posts()) : while (have_posts()) : the_post(); ?>
<div id="post-<?php the_ID() ?>" class="<?php thematic_post_class() ?>">
<?php thematic_postheader();
if ($counter == 1 && has_post_thumbnail() && !is_paged()) {
the_post_thumbnail('homepage-thumbnail');
} ?>
<div class="entry-content">
<?php the_excerpt(); ?>
" class="more"><?php echo more_text() ?>
<?php $counter++; ?>
</div>
</div><!-- .post -->
<?php endwhile; else: ?>
<h2>Oops!</h2>
<p>Something is not working quite right here. Please contact us and let us know using the contact link you'll find in the top menu. Thank you!</p>
<?php endif;
wp_reset_query();
}
?>
==============================================
and here's the home.php:
<?php
// calling the header.php
get_header();
// action hook for placing content above #container
thematic_abovecontainer();
?>
<div id="container">
<?php thematic_abovecontent(); ?>
<div id="content">
<?php
// create the navigation above the content
thematic_navigation_above();
// calling the widget area 'index-top'
get_sidebar('index-top');
// action hook for placing content above the index loop
thematic_above_indexloop();
// action hook creating the index loop
//thematic_indexloop();
// a custom homepage loop
authorsite_indexloop();
// action hook for placing content below the index loop
thematic_below_indexloop();
// calling the widget area 'index-bottom'
get_sidebar('index-bottom');
// create the navigation below the content
// thematic_navigation_below();
?>
</div><!-- #content -->
<?php thematic_belowcontent(); ?>
</div><!-- #container -->
<?php
// action hook for placing content below #container
thematic_belowcontainer();
// calling the standard sidebar
// thematic_sidebar();
// calling footer.php
get_footer('homepage');
?>
==============================================
and this is the homepage specific css from the stylesheet:
/* =Homepage specific styles
-------------------------------------------------------------- */
body.home #container {
float: none;
margin: 0;
width:960px;
}
body.home #content {
width:900px;
overflow:hidden;
margin: 0 0 0 10px;
}
body.home .hentry {
width: inherit;
}
body.home ul#simplepages {
width: 940px;
margin: 0 auto;
}
body.home ul#simplepages li {
list-style-type: none;
display: inline;
margin-right: 30px;
}
body.home div.p1 {
font-size: 120%;
height: 325px;
}
body.home div.p1 img {
float: left;
margin-right: 30px;
}
body.home div.p2 {
clear: left;
}
body.home div.p2,
body.home div.p3,
body.home div.p4 {
width: 270px;
float: left;
margin-top: 22px;
}
body.home div.p3 {
margin-left: 30px;
margin-right: 30px;
}