If you want to put 4 items on the home page, featured products is one way...
If you want the LAST 4 latest and greatest from one category (and if a new product is added to the category, it bounces what was #4 to #5 and customers will not see the former #4 in the slot...) that sounds like a bit of trickery and custom code...
The merchant in me doesn't like an automated tool putting anything on the home page. I want total control over visual merchandising and control over the items and in which slot they are displayed.
But that's me...
I use the
xTreme template, and we can put ANYTHING into the featured product slots. I'm not referring to the "featured products" in the "tab" -- but the 6 items above the tabs. Thes 6 items can be static pages, products, categories, or links to somewhere else... In my opinion, this is the control a merchandiser should have.
Good luck with this.
J