Wordpress/PHP help required please

[Craig R]

I am trying to get my homepage on wordpress to show the latest blog updates.

I want it to show any post categoried as "featured" at the top of the page, with a limit of showing 2 featured posts.

Underneath this I want to show the latest blog updates from anything outside the featured category, with a limit of 5 posts.

Unfortunately I don't have a clue about php so I'm using total guesswork to try and get this to work, and so far I'm failing. Here is my code:

<div id="home-area">
		
	<?php if (have_posts()) : while (have_posts()) : the_post(); ?>
	<?php if ( !in_category('featured') && !is_single() ) continue; ?>

<?php static $count1 = 0;
		if ($count1 == "2") { break; }
		else { ?>

		<article <?php post_class() ?> id="post-<?php the_ID(); ?>">
			<div class="featured">
<div class="read-more"><a href="<?php the_permalink() ?>"></a></div>					

<div class="posted-info">
Posted on <?php the_time('F jS, Y') ?> in <?php the_category(', ') ?> </div>
<div class="featured-title"></div>
<h2><a href="<?php the_permalink() ?>"><?php the_title(); ?></a></h2>
<?php the_excerpt(); ?>
</div>
</article>
		
		<?php $count1++; } ?>
		<?php endwhile; ?> 
 <?php endif; ?>

</div>


<div id="home-area2">
		
		<?php if (have_posts()) : while (have_posts()) : the_post(); ?>
<?php if ( in_category('featured') && !is_single() ) continue; ?>
		
<?php static $count2 = 0;
		if ($count2 == "5") { break; }
		else { ?>


		<article <?php post_class() ?> id="post-<?php the_ID(); ?>">
				<div class="brief-news">
			
						<div class="read-more"><a href="<?php the_permalink() ?>"></a></div>
					<div class="posted-info">
					<?php the_tags('Tags: ', ', ', '<br />'); ?>
					Posted on <?php the_time('F jS, Y') ?> in <?php the_category(', ') ?> 
					</div>
			
					<h2><a href="<?php the_permalink() ?>"><?php the_title(); ?></a></h2>
					<?php the_excerpt(); ?>

				</div>
		</article>
		
		<?php $count2++; } ?>
		<?php endwhile; ?>


	<?php endif; ?>


	</div>

Currently the break counter on the top div is also breaking the content in the bottom div, when I want these to have seperate counts independent of each other.

Can anyone help me out and show me where I'm going wrong? Your help would be much appreciated!

 

[Craig R]

Never mind, I seem to have got it working now.