How can I create an alternative home page?

I’m working on a site which has a fully customized front page. Now I’m asked to add a more classic looking blog type page which will be reacheable at http://domain/blog.

I tried creating a custom (empty) page called blog and put some code into page-blog.php, but the problem is that I can’t get The Loop to work in there: the page render aborts right where the display of The Loop should start.

Is a custom page the wrong way to do it?

Assuming you are using WordPress v3.x (as I don’t remember how this works in earlier versions) this is what you need to do if starting from scratch:

1. Create a “Page“ and call it “Home Page” (or whatever.)

2. Create another Page and call it “Blog” (or whatever.)

3. In the admin console select the “Settings” > “Reading” option.

4. Select “A static page” for the “Front Page Displays” radio button.

5. Assign “Front Page” to be “Home Page” (or whatever from #1)

6. Assign “Posts Page” to be “Blog” (or whatever from #2)

7. Click “Save Changes”

8. You’re done.

Here’s a screenshot showing the admin console options:

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