Change homepage to 1column.phtml in local.xml in new theme in Magento

Question

I am new to Magento. I want to develop theme in it. I start to create it by create CSS, JavaScript and add this files to it and it work. I want to change template file for home page to 1column.phtml that is located in

my_theme/default/template/page/1column.phtml

Here is my code in local.xml file

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<layout>
<!--default layout-->
<default>

    <reference name="head">
        <action method="addItem"><type>skin_css</type><name>css/style.css</name></action>
    </reference>

</default>  

<cms_index_index>

    <reference name="root">
        <action method="setTemplate"><template>page/1column.phtml</template></action>
    </reference>

    <reference name="head">
        <action method="addItem"><type>skin_js</type><name>js/script.js</name></action>
    </reference>        

 </cms_index_index>

</layout>

But the result is used 3column.phtml as it default.

How can I set 1column.phtml to my Magento homepage?

Solution 1

you can simply do it without changing any core files:

1. Login to admin panel
   
2. Navigate to CMS->Pages
   
3. Go to the Page named Home Page, click on it.
   
4. On left hand panel go to the "Design " Tab
   
5. Under Page layout column, choose 1 column
   
6. Save

Please check the following image for more info:

Solution 2

When you edit any of the xml files you want to refresh the cache. This can be done by logging in to the admin and clicking system > cache management, then selecting all, and choosing refresh.

Alternatively you could disable all those caches while the project is in development. Same place, just a different option chosen.

---

EDIT

How about if you ignore the layout.xml and instead go to the magento admin to CMS>CMS Pages choose the home cms page, then go to design tab and put in the following

<reference name="root">
    <action method="setTemplate"><template>page/1column.phtml</template></action>
    <remove name="left" />
    <remove name="right" />
</reference>

<reference name="head">
    <action method="addItem"><type>skin_js</type><name>js/script.js</name></action>
</reference>