You could go to plug ins and down load a custom index.  I have one up on my site.  www.okifriends.com. 

that address doesnt work on this page but if you go to my profile here it has my website

geezz brandon lolz ;-) we're not awake @ 2:15am est for these funky questions... heh heh... wait until 9 am tomorrow morning after my coffee....

Thanks for the reply brandon. I actually have custom_index mod and I have modified it in several different ways but it dosn't allow me to replace the entire first page, it only gives me options to change the location of the widgets on the same layout and thats it, however, this is not what I am looking for.

I actually want to put up a custom front page something like "Goofbucket.com". The custom page I want to put up, doesn't have any login box, nor other information such as newset members, groups or files/bookmarks etc. It's just a graphics based page.

And I was wondering if there are certain files that I need to target to change "just" the front page.

Dhrup, lol, big boys always played at night.

heh heh ;;;) you have a point there.. i myself usually do a 16+ hr shift almost everyday.
the custom page like goodbucket.com lolz ;;;-)
carlos mi a amigo da clever design genius from australia coded dat...
ps: don't go there to be a meany lolz - i am admin there ;-(

haha, I know how it is to pull doubles (two shifts) everyday. I use to manage this sensitive datacentre where operators were usually called in sick and I had to cover up...but now I finally see the light in the end of the tunnel... (*closes his eyes and takes a deep breath)

BTW, I am already a goofer to check if I could get any more ideas. However, I like the classic elgg pages once you are in the site. It's just the friggin front page that I would like to control.

And I did not mean to copy or create a page similar to goofbucket.com, I exampled it only to explain what I want to do with the front page, i.e. only to put my custom designed main page instead of what Elgg's offering.

And I am sure  there must be some pages that could be replaced with the custom main page, and that's what I am trying to find out.

I'll buy you a coffee (double latte so you can pull a 24hr shift ;), if you tell me (in english) what to change to change the front page. hehe

Talk to Gooferz or Carlos about the FrontPage. I was lucky to see the FrontPage design drafts long before implementation. I remember months ago chatting with Carlos and I had said thaty not many people here4 aty Elgg Comm seemed to be too willing to help Goofers and so so the two of got together and helped out in whatever ways we could and had time to spare.
re: Your custom logged-out page coding..
Post some specs -- vers?  theme?
there may be a dead-easy way to do this..l after I know more info..
I might want to see what you've coded so far...
I've done this myself many times.. but if you're the type who wants to do their own coding  then you not wanna me to code it for you.

You could hack code your stuff directly into index.php.. even tho many will tell you that's not the proper Elgg way to do it. But it seems you want overwrite a la GooZ minus login box..

//Load the front page
                global $CONFIG;
                $title = elgg_view_title(elgg_echo(<WHATEVER YOU WANT TITLE>));
                set_context('search');
                $content = list_registered_entities(0,10,true,false,array('object','group'));
                set_context('main');
                global $autofeed;
                $autofeed = false;
                $content = elgg_view_layout('two_column_left_sidebar', '', $title . $content, elgg_view("account/forms/login"));
                $content = elgg_view_layout('two_column_left_sidebar', '', $title . <WHATEVER YOU WANT RIGHT SIDE>, elgg_view("WHATEVER YOU WANT LEFT SIDE));
                page_draw(null, $content);

Ahh, you, a great man, as always. Thanks for the quick tip but I don't thoroughly understand this due to my only 3 weeks old web development skills.

However, as I am too bad at coding, I usually hack the code to make a few changes here n there by hit n try to see what the change does and whether it meets my requirement or not. Sometimes through FireBug to see instant changes, sometimes by changing the file multiple times.

I have this plugin: custom_index, re-customized in many ways. I deleted everything in the file new_index.php under /mod/custom_index/views/default/canvas/layouts and recoded it using html tags to show certain graphics here n there etc., then currently I am using the following on my test platform. The front page you see is what I pulled in by deleting many things from the original new_index.php page and throwing my customized banner, plus keeping the right and left boxes. (On other file, I even deleted these, and simply put a layout for a custom page, but everything stays within that big white box containing banner, left and right boxes etc.)

Here's the problem I am facing, everything I add into new_index.php (/mod/custom_index/views/default/canvas/layouts) it only shows within that white box. And if I change the background (in css) it changes on every page. So how do I control just the front page?

My specs are very simple. I want to just throw my customized page and background on the front page (only the front page). So once the users logs in, the theme changes to whatever the core elgg theme is. (I am not using any theme at all).

P.S. where in that index.php file which you are referring to with the code you provided?

Thanks

better PM me for my skype ID so u can see your screen. i'll give you 5 mins or so...