why does blog page ignore template [closed]

Question

This is never answered completely anywhere.

If there is a dropdown to select what page I want to use for my blog, why would it ignore the template I select? I realize it uses the index. Then why in the world would they a) make you name a page if they ignore it anyway. b)give you an option to chose a template if they ignore it. I read all of the 'it doesn't work that way' posts all over...why the options? If it ignores it why would I select a page to use? Why would it ignore my template?

So I customize the index page. Then there is zero reason for the option. I can pick a front page template but for the blog, they give the options and then just ignore it. Makes no sense. But I can edit the index. Sounds totally stupid.

Answer 1

Refer to the Template Hierarchy Codex entry.

The template hierarchy for the blog posts index is as follows:

• home.php
• index.php

There is no case where the blog posts index will use a page template, either the default page template or a custom page template.

The determination is controlled by wp-includes\template-loader.php. Refer to Line 31:

elseif ( is_home()  && $template = get_home_template()   ) :

And get_home_template() is defined in wp_includes\template.php:

function get_home_template() {
    $templates = array( 'home.php', 'index.php' );

    return get_query_template( 'home', $templates );
}

So, as you can see, the blog posts index never looks for any variation of a page template.