To multisite or no?

  • Resolved piperali

    (@piperali)


    13 years, 1 month ago

    I originally thought enabling multisite would be the way to go with this but further reading (namely this) has made me not so sure.

    Do you really need a network?

    The sites in a multisite network are separate, very like the separate blogs at WordPress.com. They are not interconnected like things in other kinds of networks (even though plugins can create various kinds of interconnections between the sites). If you plan on creating sites that are strongly interconnected, that share data, or share users, then a multisite network might not be the best solution.

    For example, if all you want is for different collections of web pages to look very different, then you can probably achieve what you want in a single site by using a plugin to switch themes, templates, or stylesheets.

    For another example, if all you want is for different groups of users to have access to different information, then you can probably achieve what you want in a single site by using a plugin to switch capabilities, menus, and link URLs.

    This is what I’m thinking of doing:

    My domain, Aless.ca is currently just a painfully boring blog. I thought I’d like having everything all in one place, turns out that’s not so. So what I want to do is have everything as-is (using a theme like this https://okaythemes.com/themes/scribe/ or maybe sticking with Twentyeleven or another free theme) but also have a blog that utilizes all those pretty post formats I’m gaga for (using something like this Kendura from Themeforest). Please note that I am not actually considering paying for two themes, but I haven’t taken much time to explore my theme options).

    So the main theme, in this example Scribe, would have all my political posts, portfolio, etc, while Kundera would have life-posts like “Ooh I went to supper with John and Jane Doe and look at what I ordered!!!!” and other Tumblr-ish things.

    My question is, do I need to multisite or no?

Viewing 6 replies - 1 through 6 (of 6 total)
  • Moderator Ipstenu (Mika Epstein)

    (@ipstenu)

    ?????? Advisor and Activist

    If you want everything to look totally different, and be managed separately, use Multisite.

    I think… this is an edge case. I’d do it, but then again, I do to keep my personal me stuff (ipstenu.org) separate from my techy things (tech.ipstenu.org).

    Thread Starter piperali

    (@piperali)

    Thanks. I ultimately decided to set up a directory aless.ca/blog and put a separate wordpress install in there…. after trying Multisite and not being a huge fan of the set up. ??

    I have the exact same issue, and can’t decide on the best solution.

    I realize that a separate blog install requires x2 editing when doing something with the theme (if I want to use the same theme for my two sites). At the same time, perhaps it fixes a lot of potential headache..

    Pro’s and cons of Multisite vs. separate blog install?

    Pros:

    I’m currently migrating the separated blogs from some friends to a single network, I’m talking about 20 different blogs, every one with their own plugins, themes, and contents of course. It has been a PITA for me as technical support, and they as co-managers of their own sites, trying to get them to stay updating their plugins/themes, and keeping working things.

    We choose to migrate every single blog to the network, since it has been a lot easier to me and another tech-savvy friend to update the whole network at once, and avoiding bugs introduced by our users while they were trying to “fix” things and ending with a real mess. Also if a bug shows up, we can handle it only one time and not again and again for every installation.

    It has helped us to reduce the amount of files in the server, and since at bluehost we are limited to 200K i-nodes in our account, that limit is important to handle.

    Contras:

    Sometimes it’s a bit tricky to thing how a change in a theme, for example, could hit to every other blog using that theme with undesired changes. However following best practices like making child themes instead of hacking the themes themselves, has helped even to a couple of friends to learn to make changes to their themes.

    However, since the requests for support from members of our network stills coming, but we need to fix it just one time, it’s really another pro ??

    Thanks for the reply. One question. Are theme settings copied to all blogs, or can theme settings be different on blogs using the same theme? E.g. if links are set to be green o blog 1 using the theme settings, are the automatically green on blog 2 too, or do I have to change that manually?

    Moderator Ipstenu (Mika Epstein)

    (@ipstenu)

    ?????? Advisor and Activist

    Theme settings are per-blog. If the theme permits, you can export theme settings.

    (FYI, when a topic is marked ‘resolved’ we usually dont’ come look in it.)

Viewing 6 replies - 1 through 6 (of 6 total)
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