Yo. i want to upgrade to the pro version, but before i do i have one question. I wont be posting that many entries, maybe only 5 or 6 per month. will these posts stay on the homepage once the month changes?

or will they automatically be archived and all the sudden my homepage is blank?

is there a way to make sure that at all times, the webber.php always displays at least the last 10 entries, regardless of how old they are?

Yes, you can do what you want.  You’ll want to look at the following four preferences under Weblog Management.  You can use the ‘i’ link next to each for more info:

1. Show entries by current month?
2. Pad by this many entries

3. Entries per page
4. Display entries by?

To expand on what Chris said…

You have two different ways that you can do it. From what you said, they probably will come out to be about the same for you because you don’t have over 10 entries per month. But here they are.

Method 1: monthly with minimum

Set “Show entries by current month?” to “yes”
Set “Pad by this many entries” to “10”

Your home page will then show all of the entries for the current month, and if necessary enough entries from the previous month(s) to show 10 entries.

Method 2: fixed number

Set “Show entries by current month?” to “no”
Set “Entries per page” to “10”
Set “Display entries by?” to “number”

Your home page will always show the most recent 10 entries, regardless of what month they were posted.

The difference

With Method 2 you always have exactly 10 entries on the home page, unless you haven’t made 10 entries since the beginning.

With Method 1 you may have more than 10 entries if you made more than 10 during the current month, because it will show all entries for the current month. Also, this method also will not show the “next page” and “previous page” links at the bottom of the page; use the monthly archive links to navigate to a different month.

If you have multiple weblogs (pMachine Pro), each weblog can use a different technique if you want.