local.xml file is not pulling in my phtml layout

Question

I'm trying to create my first Magento template from scratch. I created my local.xml file under app/design/frontend/default/my_theme/layout/

In it, I've referenced my preferred layout:

<new_layout translate="label">
    <label>Medtech</label>
    <reference name="root">
        <action method="setTemplate"><template>page/home.phtml</template></action>
        <!-- Mark root page block that template is applied -->
        <action method="setIsHandle"><applied>1</applied></action>
    </reference>
</new_layout>

My home.phtml template is located under app/design/frontend/default/my_theme/template/page/

But, it's not loading this layout file when I navigate to my home page. (It appears to be loading one of the default template layouts).

What am I doing wrong?

Answer 1

You have to set from admin panel

steps as per below

1) Open your admin panel.

2) Go to System >> Configuration >> Design Tab

3) change the fields as per below fields

4) Save config and run on front end side. It will definitely work.

I never seen the tag like "new_layout" in xml but one Suggesstion is that If you want to change the home page layout 1 column to 3 columns then then use below code in local.xml file.

 <cms_index_defaultindex>     
          <reference name="root">
             <action method="setTemplate"><template>page/3columns.phtml</template></action>
         </reference>
         <reference name="content">
             <block type="core/template" name="default_home_page" template="cms/default/home.phtml"/>
         </reference>
 </cms_index_defaultindex>