I want to create the homepage for my website using standard shortcodes rather than use the template builder.
I need to do this because when I use the template and the jetpack plugin i get the sharing icons added to every section within my template (see http://ls.websiteinprogress.co.uk/homepage-temp/)
Therefore I am trying to recreate the same page as above but not using the template builder. When I try to include featured products I can only get it to show a 4 column layout and not as in the template. The template builder allows me to select 5 columns, no excerpt, paging = yes, sort = default, slider auto-rotate = 5. When I try to add any of these options using the standard shortcodes they do not work. I can only get 4 columns to render.
Do you think you could help me by providing either the shortcode that I should use to achieve the same effect as the template, or direct me to more detailed instructions on the featured products shortcode and how I can use the same options as the template builder provides.
thanks in advance for your help.
Create a new thread and tell me what problems you are encountering and what you want to know. 
There is no step 3 :) 
