Change the number of home screen panels in Android

A phone user manual (HTC Wildfire S. **Android 2.2**) says >'Home screen has seven panels that you can customise'. The system settings do not contain an option to modify the number of panels. I was searching for this on the web and was not able to find any solution that does not involve third-party applications. If this requires programming, please, move the question to StackOverflow and respond with detail.