Chapter 5: Using Network Plugins and Themes
In This Chapter
Understanding theme management
Understanding network-wide plugins
Finding network-wide and Must-Use plugins
When you add new plugins and themes to your WordPress installation, you add new functionality and aesthetics. However, you don’t just multiply your choices; the possibilities become endless. For example, you can gather and display information from across the network or have the same features available to everyone. You can choose to have the same theme on all sites or different themes. Not only can you manage plugins and themes on a global level, but you also have site-specific control.
In this chapter, I show you how certain functionality appears across the network and how certain plugins look by default on all sites for all users. I also cover controlling access to different themes for different sites.
One of the interesting features of a network is the extensive use of the mu-plugins folder. In this chapter, I describe exactly how this folder processes plugin code. I also cover the Network Activate link on the Plugins page, which is very similar to the Activate link but has important differences.
