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!

Sometimes the “Page Template” field disappears when you are trying to update the page template of your WordPress pages. This usually happens after you have upgraded your WordPress to a newer version.

Here’s how you can fix the missing page template…

Step 1: Activate Another WordPress Theme

I am using my own custom WordPress theme so I activated the default WordPress theme as an example.

Step 2: Re-Activate Your WordPress Theme

Activate the WordPress theme you were using when this bug occurred.

Step 3: Reload Your Edit WordPress Page

You should see the “Page Template” field back in the “Advanced Options” when you edit your pages. I don’t know why this happens nor do I know how to permanently fix it. This is just what I do to fix it as and when it happens.