[wp-trac] [WordPress Trac] #23669: Allow front page template to fall back to home template when site displays blog posts index on front page

[WordPress Trac]

#23669: Allow front page template to fall back to home template when site displays
blog posts index on front page
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 Reporter:  chipbennett              |       Owner:
     Type:  enhancement              |      Status:  new
 Priority:  normal                   |   Milestone:  Awaiting Review
Component:  Template                 |     Version:  3.5.1
 Severity:  normal                   |  Resolution:
 Keywords:  has-patch needs-testing  |
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Comment (by philiparthurmoore):

 > Typically (and almost exclusively), `front-page.php` is coded only to
 display static front page content, and does not account for the need to
 display the blog posts index

 Do you have anything to back this up? I've
 [http://codex.wordpress.org/File:Template_Hierarchy.png always understood]
 `front-page.php` to be the template used for front page display regardless
 of what a user has chosen on his reading settings page. For themes that
 take advantage of featured areas on the home page (like sliders or welcome
 messages), regardless of whether a static page or index of posts has been
 chosen for the home page, wouldn't your proposed change effectively break
 themes that are doing it right?

 > Thus, what happens currently is that users can configure their site to
 display the blog posts index as the site front page, and the Theme would
 display the custom front-page.php content instead of the blog posts index.

 This seems OK and exactly the intended use of that template file, as
 described in the Codex, and is a design decision when done well. `front-
 page.php` can include custom design and content elements on the home page
 and also take into account whether a user has chosen a posts or page front
 page.

 > There are two alternatives

 Both are bad, in my opinion. The first isn't practical and the second
 changes how themes have come to use `front-page.php` since it was
 introduced three years ago in [14276]. I'm not exactly sure why this
 proposed change would make sense.

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Ticket URL: <http://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/23669#comment:10>
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