WordPress® Bible, Second Edition

Chapter 22. Leveraging WordPress Multisite Functionality

IN THIS CHAPTER

• Installing and configuring WordPress Multisite

• Managing Multisite

• Understanding WordPress Multisite plugin nuances

• Accessing the Multisite API

• Adapting to WordPress Multisite

WordPress Multisite is the mode that WordPress can be placed into to allow for multiple sites to be managed from a central install. This mode used to be WordPress MU (prior to WordPress 3.0) and was formerly a separate software codebase. More on this later, but in summary, it is now just a separate mode for WordPress to be run in.

Holistically, WordPress Multisite is a completely different approach to blogging. Whereas WordPress is fairly straight-line blogging — it's meant for individuals who want to have a blog to write or produce content on the Web — WordPress Multisite is primarily meant for networks or hosting WordPress for other bloggers.

To that end, though many of the management options for blogs using WordPress Multisite are similar to a standard WordPress installation, the principles behind security, user management, and site management are entirely different.

In addition, WordPress Multisite introduces an entirely new role called the Super Administrator, or Super Admin, who has Administrator capabilities across the entire network of WordPress Multisite sites. Regular administrators also exist, as they do in WordPress, but like in WordPress, administrators in WordPress Multisite are only Administrators on their individual sites and do ...