How to set a default category

modify your /wp-content/themes/{themename}/index.php template file
add this

<?php if (is_front_page()) { query_posts("cat=6"); } ?>

before the WP loop, which generally starts with

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

change cat=6 to the cat ID of the cat you want the site to open to. You find the cat ID by going to the cat maint screen – point at the name of the cat – look n the lower left corner of browser window on status line – you will see a URL – that cat ID is at the end of the URL

That should do it

As an example, using the WordPress Default theme, you would edit the wp-content/themes/default/index.php file and change this:

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

to this:

<?php
if (is_home()) {
$mycat = 7; //put your category id in place of the 7
query_posts($query_string . '&cat=' . $mycat);
}
?>
<?php if (have_posts()) : ?>

oops see stvwlf got there first ??

We can add a line of code that qualifies the post before displaying it. Open up the page at wp-content/themes/THEME_NAME/index.php. If we want category 3 to be our default, change

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

to

<?php if ( have_posts() ) : while ( have_posts() ) : the_post(); ?>
<?php if (in_category('3') && is_home() ) continue; ?>

If the category for each post to be displayed is not 3, it will break to the next post. Have fun.

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