Use Single Blog Post as Site Front Page Without Redirect

Question

I am attempting to do something similar to the accepted answer on this question Is it possible to use a single custom post as the site front page

My problem is that this implementation causes a redirect.

So for example if I add the code below to twentyeleven functions.php on a default WordPress install, and then select the Hello World post from the reading->front page drop down my home url such as mysite.com will redirect to mysite.com/?p=1. So it is impossible to actually stay on the home page because of this redirect.

Is it possible to avoid this redirect? If so, the solution below will be great for showing a post or custom post as the home page.

add_filter( 'get_pages', 'add_pages_to_dropdown', 10, 2 );

function add_pages_to_dropdown( $pages, $r ){
    if ( ! isset( $r[ 'name' ] ) )
        return $pages;

    if ( 'page_on_front' == $r[ 'name' ] ) {
        $args = array(
            'post_type' => 'post'
        );

        $portfolios = get_posts( $args );
        $pages = array_merge( $pages, $portfolios );
    }

    return $pages;
}

Answer 1

I'll just copy/paste my answer to that question, here:

There are many ways to accomplish this, though some are more advanced than others:

1. Mark the blog post as sticky, and then set Posts per Page to 1 (Dashboard -> Settings -> Reading)
2. Create a custom front-page.php template, and query the post in question, either via the sticky post designation, or via custom post meta
3. Create a custom front-page.php template, and create a dynamic sidebar (i.e. Widget area), in which you add a Widget to display the post in question
4. (Insert lots of other methods here...)

But I have to ask: why not just put that blog post content in a static Page, and then assign that static Page as the Front Page?

Edit

Also: be sure that you have pretty permalinks enabled, via Dashboard -> Settings -> Permalinks.

Answer 2

My solution so far has been to take the reading->front page option out of the equation and go with a custom post type settings page.

Adding a settings page requires a bit of code but it can be done starting with the add_submenu_page(); function.

Then you can use the pre_get_posts action to alter the query by using that option you set like so

add_action( 'pre_get_posts', 'my_pre_get_posts' );

function my_pre_get_posts($query){
        $option = get_option('my_option');
        if(is_front_page()){
                $query->set('p', $option);
                $query->set('post_type', 'post');
        }

    }

This allows you to avoid having to create a front-page.php file which could be a duplication of a more specific theme file. The drawbacks to this are obvious, you now have an extra settings page. Not sure there is really a "correct" answer to this one.

Answer 3

You can just make a copy single.php and name it home.php and put it in your theme folder. Wordpress will use that as a home now. Ref: http://codex.wordpress.org/Template_Hierarchy

Then you just change the loop inside your home.php (based on single.php) to look like it's explained here: http://codex.wordpress.org/Function_Reference/query_posts#Retrieve_a_Particular_Post

So this:

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

Becomes this:

<?php
query_posts( 'p=5' );
if ( have_posts() ) while ( have_posts() ) : the_post();
?>

Where the line "query_posts" specify the postID that you want as a home (check that on wp-admin side). In the example, p=5 will query for postID = 5.

Or you can just redefine a new loop using http://codex.wordpress.org/Class_Reference/WP_Query method to ensure nothing else be broken with the new loop.

Pretty neat and simple.