Static front and post pages were introduced in WordPress 2.1. For some reason I could not get this working at all and realised that the template directory most likely needed some fresh code. After a little “Googleing” I found out that WordPress by default are trying to pull home.php before index.php when entering your blog (WP installation). Therefore a “hack” should be implemented in this template file.

Creating the necessary code

Create a file called home.php and add the following code inside:

<?php
# Get the page ID's for the front and post pages
$intHome = get_option('page_on_front');
$intPage = get_option('page_for_posts');

# Get the current URI
$strWPPage = "http://".$_SERVER['SERVER_NAME'].$_SERVER['REQUEST_URI'];
# Get your blogs front page URI
$strWPHome = get_bloginfo(’wpurl’).”/”;

# Displays the static front page if set under options –> reading
if (is_home() && !empty($intHome) && $strWPPage == $strWPHome) :

	query_posts(’page_id=’.$intHome);
	include (TEMPLATEPATH . ‘/page.php’);

# Displays the static posts page if set under options –> reading
elseif (is_home() && !empty($intPage)) :

	query_posts(’page_id=’.$intPage);
	include (TEMPLATEPATH . ‘/index.php’);

else :

	include (TEMPLATEPATH . ‘/index.php’);

endif;
?>

Adding the new code

Simply upload the new file to your template directory using your favourite FTP client. Finalize the procedure by logging into your WP admin and click Options then Reading and adjust the Static pages options listed the way you want.

Hint: By adding a blank page called e.g. “Blog” you would get a very logical link to your static post listings page…

With this extension you get direct access to a wide variety of Digg pages with just one click. The fly-out menus generated by a single right-click are organized exactly like Digg’s site, so it’s easy to jump directly to a category or sub-category of posts, choosing the time period they were submitted and the sort order.

Normally, it would take four clicks to see the most-dugg Offbeat News of the past 24 hours. That would mean waiting for four different pages to load before finally getting to where you want to go; this extension cuts your navigation time to a fraction of what it was by getting you there in just one pageload!

It’s common among the “Diggaholics” to complain about the speed of the Digg.com. Even though it’s just a well-organized collection of links and text, Digg can be a painfully slow site, especially at peak times. With so many users and so many database queries, it’s not surprising that you often have to wait several seconds just to view a single page.

Read more | Digg story

An exhibition of human corpses is offering a new opportunity for life after death that’s as easy as filing in a simple form. Then you have to die, of course.

Body Worlds, a controversial yet wildly popular travelling exhibit of real human bodies and body parts, has been raising eyebrows since it was first displayed in 1996.

Even though it looks fascinating it’s definitely a bit creepy. I for one keep asking myself if these “guys” shouldn’t be buried somewhere and if remaining family and/or friends don’t miss a grave to go to…

This post is just to announce that I’ve decided to release the latest version of my very own Web Content Management System (WCMS). The somewhat strange numbering merely reflects that the WCMS has passed the beta stages and are running several production sites, BUT hasn’t been publicly released until now.

Anything related to the WCMS will be dealt with at its very own project page. I will also post more on the current and forthcoming features along with bug reports and general support. I would like to mention that since this is a Sole proprietorship I might not be able to answer all questions, and it does require some HTML/PHP skills to benefit the max. However, given it’s simple structure, I believe the WCMS could fit in as a very good system to build on for a variety of purposes.

Download(s) are available at the usual place.

Last week Google launched a new service called Google AJAX Feed API, an API which is supposed to make it easier to develop “mashup’s” in JavaScript. A “mashup” is a web page or web application that combines the content from one or several sources into one uniform solution.

With Google’s new solution developers are (should be) able to combine feeds through only a few lines of JavaScript. It supports both Atom and RSS feeds.

Google AJAX Feed API can be used free of charge, but does require signing up for a single Google API key.