Please help me create a new sidebox!

Please can someone point me in the right direction to create a new sidebox in the centre column? I want to have a box on my front page (index) only, showing a thumbnail of a specified image from each category. I've searched the help forums for literally days on this and am getting nowhere fast - not on the creation of the box itself, or on how to do the content of it either! ANY help much appreciated.

If it's in the center column, it wouldn't be a sidebox.

If you want a selection of images in some configuration in the center column on the main page only, you'd place them in define_main_page.php, using HTML and either CSS or tables for layout.

You can edit that file using the Define Pages Editor in Admin - Tools, or download it from includes/languages/english/html_includes, edit it and then upload it back to your **includes/languages/english/html_includes/CUSTOM **folder.

If you really want an independent box, it might work better to start from a base of one of the existing centerboxes, like "featured products for xxx". Clone that and substitute your information.

Actually, you're both right - it hadn't occured to me (coz I'm stoopid) to place the content I wanted in define_main_page, but of course that will work perfectly! And all I have to do is clone the css from an existing centre box.
Many thanks to you both, you've given me the tips I need to be able to do it now.