I'm very sorry you are frustrated. I've read through and it seems this issue seems to have more to do with the nature of Wordpress and themes than the product not being as described.  It can be frustrating at first if you don't understand that the content is always separate from the theme. 

There main concepts of setting up your home page are no different with Clean Theme than they are with the base theme or any other child theme.  There are many threads here on different aspects of that, I know it can be very time consuming to go through them and get answers but that is one of the challenges with a do-it-yourself type deal like Symbiostock.  I feel we are very lucky to have such an active community of helpers.

What you seem to be looking for is someone to actually set up your homepage content for you.  That is not typically something any theme can provide automatically.  Unfortunately there will be some level of learning and set up that needs to be done on your own for every Symbiostock site.

Jo Ann, I really appreciate your input and I will be incorporating your suggestion on the functions.php addition for the next release.  I've never used the slider you mention in your message so I'm not sure why it would be breaking the layout.  This is another tricky aspect of offering themes, there really is no way to test every use case with all the possible plugins out there.

Just a personal note, because this is frustrating for me too. I started selling Clean Theme because people liked my design and wanted something similar.  It was suggested by several users that making commercial child themes available would save time for those who aren't knowledgeable in editing CSS and wanted a different style.  That is what I hope to provide for people who purchase it.

I've spent many many hours creating documentation at Symbioguides.com and exchanging messages with Symbiostockers to help with set up. Currently I'm struggling to keep up with the development of the main theme to keep Clean Theme working for those who are happy using it.  I've had much less time lately to be here on MSG walking people through things for which I apologize, but it can't be helped at the moment.

I'm learning that being responsible for a commercial child theme is difficult business.  To put it in perspective compared to selling stock, if one theme sale is equal to one large image sale at istock, it would be like having to provide on-going support for each image you sell and exchanging a few emails with customers instructing them how to use your image after they buy it.  And on top of that having to worry about upgrading your image to play nicely with their graphics software every time that changes!

I am going through all of my messages today and sending out answers where I can.  I'll be updating the SymbioThemes support forum (it seems there was an issue with my alert emails not being sent) and adding a contact form where I can be reached directly.  The MSG forum is not the best way to get a hold of me these days, but it is still a great place for community help!

A front page building tutorial is on my long list of things to do as soon as I have the time to spare.  In the mean time, if you have any specific issues please feel free to email me: amanda [ at ] creativembers [ dot ] com

Sorry for rambling a bit here, just know that I am doing my best to make sure things are running smoothly and fighting with limited time.

Amanda and jeancliclac- Just some random thoughts.

My background is Information Technology and customer service, 35 years before I retired last year.  So I have some experience in working with both technical and not technical clients.

I like the Clean Theme and how it makes my site look.  But I did not try to load and use it until after I had worked with Leo's theme for several months.  I know that someone just starting out will have a very steep learning curve with WordPress, Symbiostock theme and then CleanTheme.  I had never used WordPress prior to this so I had a lot of learning to do.  That included lots of mistakes and having to retry different options.  In fact I revamped my site just this week.  Taking examples from other Symbiostock members.

This forum is great for getting help when you are stuck so keep at it.  Ask for help, have patience and most of all have fun. :-)

David