WordPress MU

Hello,
I've been searching forum after forum and other docs for days on end to determine if Buddypress and WPMU is capable of doing what I am after. Perhaps it isn't the right software for this instance, though I figure it's best to ask those who know (rather than just Google.)

Overall, Wordpress MU is what I want...mostly. I do want all users to have the option to write blogs. But the issue I have is that I don't want them to have as many options.

For example, I want to define all categories for all users to put their blogs in. I also want to define the way their blog will look, ie set the theme and widgets in place and disallow them from moving them. Also, I don't want them to be able to create multiple blogs...one is enough for each person.

I really suspect that I am just overlooking some things. There are so many millions of options here that my mind has gone mushy digging through the admin panel for days on end.

Any advice?

Thanks!

All those things can be done with plugins. Check out http://www.wpmudev.org

Let's break it down:
1. Out of the box, every user can have their own blog. Buddy press isn't even needed for that.

2. There are plugins out there that let you limit users to one blog. Here's a example. I haven't used it, and it was the first example that I found: http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/limit-blogs-per-user/

3. If you want to control the theme and widgets, you just need to hard code the widgets in a theme, and only give users that one theme.

4. I believe the blog templates plugin allows you to set up categories. To keep people from adding additional ones, you'd have to use the hide menus plugin or some other similar plugin. I think this was discussed recently, so I'll let you google it.

Thank you all very much!

I managed to find some interesting things for category management last night that really inspired me to keep going with this setup. The suggestions you have offered have certainly cemented the resolve.

I had originally hoped to avoid theme editing if possible, but I think that I might as well jump in head-first and make my own theme since I need to do it anyhow. I think it may prove to be fun. :)

I really appreciate the tips.

Good luck with making a theme! It's fun, but unless you're modifying an existing theme you will find that your first theme will be very basic and even then you will run into questions on how to display things.

My recommendation is to get familiar with the Codex pages describing how to make a template, the template heirarchy, and various functions. Then for questions, the general wordpress forum is probably a better option than the MU forums.

Quick tip: start with a theme that is *generally* close to what you want. Then edit the heck out of it.