How to restrict the front page to one blog post?

Do you just want to display the one most recent post on the homepage, or do you want a static front page?

If it’s the former, you may be able to get away with something like <?php if(is_page('home') && !is_paged()) { query_posts('limit=1'); } ?> just before the start of your loop.

If it’s the latter, Options -> Reading, and select the page you’d like to use as your static homepage.

~ Teli

You’ll have to forgive me, I’m not a coder…

It’s the former I wish to do (display the one most recent post on the front page)… into which PHP and in what position should I copy & paste that bit?

Thanks, this is the last hurdle before I take the site live — ??

I’ve tried dropping that code snippet into my index.php in a few places and it doesn’t work… any help here would be much appreciated!

Put if(is_page('home') && !is_paged()) { query_posts('limit=1'); } only on one spot, right before if (have_posts()) : while (have_posts()) :.

You could get the MaxBlogPress diff’t post per page. You have to sign up for a newsletter and endure some blog pimping but I love the plugin. It allows you to set the number of posts you want for each category, archive, search result, etc.

So set the blog posts to 1 and then use the plugin to set the category pages to show 5 or however many you like. No php coding necessary.

Correction to above code: Use this:
query_posts($query_string.'limit=1');

Otherwise, pagination won’t work.

Thanks for the help guys, here’s what I’ve tried:

<?php if(is_page('home') && !is_paged()) { query_posts($query_string.'limit=1'); } if (have_posts()) : ?><?php while (have_posts()) : the_post();?>
… didn’t work

if(is_page('home') && !is_paged()) { query_posts($query_string.'limit=1'); }
<?php if (have_posts()) : ?><?php while (have_posts()) : the_post();?>

… didn’t work

<?php if(is_page('home') && !is_paged()) { query_posts($query_string.'limit=1'); } ?>
<?php if (have_posts()) : ?><?php while (have_posts()) : the_post();?>

… didn’t work

Think I’ll take a look at that plugin. I’m not meant to code LOL

JaneLitte, two minutes later, my blog is perfect. Thanks a million!

— Dave

I would like to reopen this discussion for the same purposes as originally intended. I have a programming background, so I thought I could grasp the PHP modifications recommended above.

I can see how the entries above did not work, as the continuation terminator “?>” was excluded from each one (except the example where placed directly within the same PHP segment as the “if (have_posts…”). However, I believe I am inserting this code correctly into the proper index.php file, and it is still not limiting the number of posts on the home page??

I am using WordPress 2.6.3. I found The Loop in the file /wp-content/themes/default/index.php. It is broken up into two PHP segments as follows:

<?php if (have_posts()) : ?>

    <?php while (have_posts()) : the_post(); ?>

I inserted the following segment directly above the top entry:

<!-- Limit the home page to display only one (the latest) post -->
<?php if(is_page('home') && !is_paged()) { query_posts($query_string.'limit=1'); } ?>

However, this is not limiting the number of blog posts to one as previously stated. Could someone please identify where I may be inserting this code incorrectly?

Thank you in advance for your assistance.

Wynne