[Resolved] How to change the look of the homepage of the free template?

[Caroline]

Hello,

I’m a premium user, but one of my websites is built with a free template. I like this template a lot and I don’t want to change it for the upgraded one, however, I would like to change the layout of the homepage. Is it possible to add the WP show posts there and make it look like the homepage of the template “Read”? At the moment I don’t have a separate page for a homepage (not sure why). Could you let me know if what I’m trying to do is viable? If so, how can I do it?

Thanks!

[Leo]

Hi there,

Any chance you can link us to the page in question?

You can use the private information field:
https://docs.generatepress.com/article/using-the-premium-support-forum/#private-information

Let me know 🙂

[Caroline]

Hey Leo, I’ve included the link in the private message. Thank you!

[Leo]

You would need to use a static home page instead of a posts page to replicate the home page of Read.

I would not recommend using WPSP either as it hasn’t been supported since the release of Query loop block:
https://docs.generateblocks.com/article/query-loop-overview/

[Caroline]

Hey Leo, I’ve changed the setup to the ‘static homepage’ but not sure what should I do next. I still don’t see a homepage as a page in the pages section where I could potentially implement some code (if I was to do it with the WPSP plugin). What would you suggest me doing next? Thanks for your help!

[Leo]

Did you select a page to be the static home page under the dropdown menu?
https://wordpress.org/documentation/article/settings-reading-screen/

You can create a new page called Home and select that page under the static page.

And I’ll mention again that WPSP should no longer be used unless it’s absolutely necessary.

[Caroline]

Hey Leo, thanks for that. I have other websites made with the template “Read” and “Wordsmith” and both of them use WPSP. That’s why I thought I could just download the plugin and recreate the same layout with it. How else I can create a layout similar to the one on the homepage “Read” without using WPSP? Thank you!

[Leo]

You would use the query loop block as mentioned here:
https://generatepress.com/forums/topic/how-to-change-the-look-of-the-homepage-on-the-free-theme/#post-2513339

We’ve already converted Read to use query loop so you can import it into a staging site and see exactly how it’s done 🙂

[Caroline]

Hey Leo, thank you, I understand! Now, to implement this query loop I need to use Generate Blocks. So far I have been using the “Classic Editor” plugin on this website. Is it fine that I just deactivate this “Classic Editor” plugin and activate Generate Blocks or am I running the risk of destroying my content by doing that?

[Leo]

Is it fine that I just deactivate this “Classic Editor” plugin and activate Generate Blocks or am I running the risk of destroying my content by doing that?

I don’t believe it would impact your current content but it’s never a bad idea to create backups 🙂

[Caroline]

Thank you for your support, Leo. All works.

[Leo]

No problem 🙂

[Author]

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