3
(1)
(a) set news to appear in home in sys admin->general settings
(b) set news preferences to show 10 topics on front page
(c) news link in main menu::appears automaticly, as it goes trough the list of instaled modules;
-> create your own menu (might want to use
multimenu for that one) would be an option to avoid the extra menu entry;
(2)
(a) go into sys admin->template manager
(b) clone templates
(c) in cloned set of templates, make changes accordingly
there are often different ways to achieve things. this is one way. hope it helps....nice project you got going...wouldn't mind seeing a XOOPS module of it
.... claiming such would have gotten you a quicker answer, as your questions have been answered multiple times in the forums...