With the release of WordPress Version 2.1, the option to set your own front page can be accomplished via your Administration > Settings > Reading panel. However unlike the old explanation that follows, you must NOT name your home page template file “home.php”. If you do, this will cause a conflict with the WordPress 2.1 system.

I personally find that there are some weird behaviours when I use the recommended way of setting a page as my WordPress home page. I noticed that WordPress does not really recognise the home page as a page when I use the is_page() function.

I like to display my blog posts in the “/blog/” folder but I do not wish to install WordPress in the “/blog/” folder. There is a document on WordPress.org on how to make your blog appear in a non-root folder. I find it too much of a hassle to implement it that way.

That is why I still prefer to use the Filosofo Home-Page Control plugin to manage my home page and blog directory.

I don’t have to edit any reading settings.

This is where the magic begins. Simply select the page you wish to display as your home page and and enter a name for your blog directory. I also ignore my permalink settings and leave it as it is. That’s how I store my blog posts in a “virtual blog folder” and have all other posts and pages in the root folder. A working example is the web site you’re looking at!