Posts not showing on front page – queries not working

Hello all,
I’m using a simple horizontal theme, which places posts of different categories horizontally on a page through a series of WP_Query()s

Everything works fine on a local MAMP server, but when live online, certain categories aren’t showing on the front page, even tho they exist.

The site is live at: elliejones.co.uk

Once a post is viewed (of category production) then all content is displayed. I do not believe it is a browser-specific issue.

So it seems various have_posts() queries are falsely returning ‘false’, but only on the home page.

Ideally of course, I’d like to resolve why this: has anyone had a similar experience/ or have any suggestions as to how to go about debugging?

A hack work-around would be to redirect the home page to one of the production posts – but I can’t do this via .htaccess as this will mess wp-admin access. Any other options?

WP is set to load most recent posts, rather than a static page.

I include the index.php file which implements this.

Many thanks in advance for any ideas.

Alice

<?php get_header(); ?>

<div id="wrapper">

<div id="home" class="section-holder">

<div class="section">

</div> <!-- div.section -->
</div> <!-- home div.section-holder -->

<!-- any code included here occurs before the wordpress loop and is always displayed -->

<!-- GO THROUGH MULTIPLE LOOPS -->
<!-- //////////////////////////////////////  ////////////////////////////////////// -->

<!-- PUT THE ABOUT PAGE -->

<?php $about_query = new WP_Query('pagename=about'); ?>
	<div id="about" class="section-holder" >
    <div class = " section">
    <div id = "about-holder" class = "drag">
    <div id = "about-text">	

 <?php if ($about_query->have_posts()) : while ($about_query->have_posts()) : $about_query->the_post();?>
    <!-- put the about page... -->
		<h2><?php the_title(); ?></h2>
		<p><?php the_content(); ?></p>
  <?php endwhile;  

  else : ?>
	<h3>About</h3>
	<p>Sorry, I don't know anything about Ellie Jones. Please come back soon</p>

<?php endif; ?>

	</div> <!-- about text-->
	</div> <!-- about holder-->
	</div> <!-- section-->
	</div> <!-- section-holder-->

<!-- PUT THE PRODUCTIONS LIST  -->

<?php $productionsList_query = new WP_Query('category_name=productions'); ?>
    <div id="productions" class="section-holder" >
	<div class = "section">
	<div id = "productions-menu-holder" >
	<div id = "productions-menu">

	<h2>Productions (Past, Present & Future)</h2>
	<br>
	<p>[click production name for info and reviews]</p>
	<ul>
  <?php while ($productionsList_query->have_posts()) : $productionsList_query->the_post();
  $posttags = get_the_tags();

	if ($posttags) {
  		foreach($posttags as $tag) {
  		  $rever = $tag->name;}
	}?>

	<li><?php the_date( 'Y', '<yr>', '</yr>'); ?> &nbsp &nbsp<a href="<?php the_permalink(); ?>#productions" ><?php the_title('', ''); ?></a> -  <?php echo $rever ?></li>

  <?php endwhile; ?>
</ul>
	</div> <!-- menu-->
	</div> <!-- menu holder-->
	</div> <!-- section-->
	</div> <!-- section-holder-->

<?php query_posts($query_string . '&cat=12&posts_per_page=1');
  	if (have_posts()) : ?>
		<div id="reviews-contents" class="section-holder" >
		<div class = "section">
		<div id = "reviews-list">

	<?php while (have_posts()) : the_post(); ?>
		<div class = "reviews-item">
		<a name = "#<?php the_title(); ?>-menu"></a>
		<h2><?php the_title(); ?></h2>
		<p><?php the_content(); ?></p>
		</div> <!-- item -->

  <?php endwhile;  ?>

	</div> <!-- list-->
	</div> <!-- section-->
	</div> <!-- section-holder-->

  <!-- PUT THE NEWS -->

<?php $news_query = new WP_Query('category_name=news'); ?>
    <div id="news" class="section-holder" >
	<div class = "section">
	<div id = "news-list">
	<h2>News</h2>
	<div id="newsslider">

  <?php while ($news_query->have_posts()) : $news_query->the_post();?>

	<div class = "news-item">
		<h3><?php the_title(); ?></h3>
		<?php the_date('Y-m-d', '<h4>', '</h4>'); ?>
		<p><?php the_content(); ?></p>

		<div id="fb-root"></div>
		<!--
	<script src="https://connect.facebook.net/en_US/all.js#xfbml=1"></script><fb:like href="<?php echo get_permalink(); ?>" show_faces="false" action="recommend" width="350"></fb:like>
-->

<a name="fb_share" type="button_count" href="https://www.facebook.com/sharer.php">Share</a><script src="https://static.ak.fbcdn.net/connect.php/js/FB.Share" type="text/javascript"></script>

	</div> <!-- item -->

  <?php endwhile; ?>
  	</div> <!-- slider-->
	</div> <!-- list-->
	</div> <!-- section-->
	</div> <!-- section-holder-->

<!-- PUT THE GALLERY -->

<?php $gallery_query = new WP_Query('category_name=gallery');  ?>

    <div id="gallery" class="section-holder" >
	<div class = "section">
	<h3 class = "rot-2"> Gallery</h3>
	<div class="gallery ">

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

	<?php the_content();?>

  	<?php endwhile;
  	else : ?>
  	<p>Very sorry, but there are no pictures here </p>
	<?php endif; ?>

	</div> <!-- photos-->
	</div> <!-- section-->
	</div> <!-- section-holder-->

	<!-- PUT THE AUDIO --->

	<?php $audio_query = new WP_Query('pagename=listen'); ?>

	<div id="audio" class="section-holder" >

	<div class = "section">

	<div id = "audio-holder rot-1">
	 	<?php while ($audio_query->have_posts()) : $audio_query->the_post();?>
		<h3>Listen</h3>

    <div class = "player">
		<p><?php the_content(); ?></p>

	</div> <!-- the player -->
  		<?php endwhile;  ?>

	</div> <!-- holder-->
	</div> <!-- section-->
	</div> <!-- section-holder-->

	<!-- PUT THE VIDEO  -->

<?php $video_query = new WP_Query('category_name=video');  ?>

    <div id="video" class="section-holder" >
  	<div class = "section">
	<h3 class = "rot-1"> Video</h3>
	<div id = "video-holder">

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

	<div class="video-item" >

	<?php the_content(); ?>

	</div>

  	<?php endwhile;
  	else : ?>

  	<div class="video-item">
  	<p>Very sorry, but there are no flims to watch </p>
  	</div> <!-- item -->

	<?php endif; ?>
	</div> <!-- vid holder -->

	</div> <!-- section-->
	</div> <!-- section-holder-->

<div id="contact" class="section-holder" >
<div class = "section">
<h3>Contact</h3>
<div id = "contact-info" >

 <?php

// PUT CONTACT PAGE
$page_id = get_page_by_title('Contact');
$page_data = get_page($page_id);?>

<?php echo apply_filters('the_content', $page_data->post_content); ?> 

</div> <!-- list -->
</div> <!-- div.section -->
</div> <!-- div.section-holder -->

	<!-- stop the post loop and process any code included here only once
	// any code output will be displayed below the entire set of posts -->

<?php else : ?>

sorry there is nothing to display
<!-- if there are no posts to display, process any code that is included here
	// the output of any code included here will be displayed instead of posts -->

<?php endif; ?>

<!--any code included here occurs after the wordpress loop and is always displayed -->

<div id="sidebar" class = "section-holder ">

<div class = "section">

<div id = "sidebar-holder" >
<h3>Links</h3>
<?php get_sidebar(); ?>
<div id = "footer">
<?php get_footer(); ?>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>

</div><!--/wrapper-->