WP - Page template with conditional loop for the home page displaying posts assigned to the home-page category.

wp-page-template.php

<?php
/**
 * The template for displaying all pages.
 *
 * This is the template that displays all pages by default.
 * Please note that this is the wordpress construct of pages
 * and that other 'pages' on your wordpress site will use a
 * different template.
 *
 * @package WordPress
 * @subpackage Boilerplate
 * @since Boilerplate 1.0
 */

get_header(); ?>

<?php if (is_page('home')) { ?>

<?php $my_query = new WP_Query('category_name=home-page&showposts=-1'); ?>
<?php while ($my_query->have_posts()) : $my_query->the_post(); ?>

<article class="thumb">
	<a href="<?php the_permalink(); ?>">
		<header><?php the_title(); ?></header>
		<p class="experct"><?php the_excerpt(); ?></p>
	</a>
</article>

<?php } else { ?>

<article>
	<header><?php the_title(); ?></header>
		<p class="experct"><?php the_excerpt(); ?></p>
</article>

<?php } ?>

<?php endwhile; ?>

<?php get_sidebar(); ?>
<?php get_footer(); ?>