WordPress MU

I've read through the FAQ, About, Read Me... as well as much of the forum, but am looking for some specific feedback for my usage.

I use WP mainly as a CMS. I've built probably a dozen themes from scratch, as well as implemented and customized a few third party themes. Occasionally I also convert static sites to use WP - converting the static design into a WP theme.

I also have a dozen or so WP sites that I host. They're all different, with different themes and different plugins. I'm looking for a better way to manage all of the sites, especially since I've been getting a lot more demand for WP sites. At most, I'll probably end up hosing ~100 sites.

I have WPMU installed and running and have been testing it. I haven't setup the domain plugin yet, but that is a critical portion.

So my question for you who have been using WPMU, based on your experience do you think my use is a good fit for WPMU? People wont be creating their own sites or blogs, I'll just be using it to manage the WP installs I configure for others.

Thanks

Occasionally I also convert static sites to use WP - converting the static design into a WP theme.

http://www.artisteer.com/ might be of some help for ya :)

So my question for you who have been using WPMU, based on your experience do you think my use is a good fit for WPMU? People wont be creating their own sites or blogs, I'll just be using it to manage the WP installs I configure for others.

Mainly depends on plugins you're going to use.
Also, keep in mind, that if a user signs up in WPMU - he becomes a user of the whole system, not only of particular blog.

http://www.artisteer.com/ might be of some help for ya :)

Thanks. That may come in useful... I wonder how well it works (I've been doing front-end dev for ~12 years so I'm pretty picky about my code)

Mainly depends on plugins you're going to use.

How so? Plugins vary based on the site's purpose. One has a video player, contact form and shopping cart. Another has an image gallery, sfir and a different contact form. A third has a different image gallery, a different contact form...

Also, keep in mind, that if a user signs up in WPMU - he becomes a user of the whole system, not only of particular blog.

So does that mean they could at least see, if not modify & contribute to other blogs?

Thanks

Thanks. That may come in useful... I wonder how well it works (I've been doing front-end dev for ~12 years so I'm pretty picky about my code)

Didn't have a chance to check its output yet :)
So, would be definitely interested in your feedback, if you decide to testdrive it ;)

How so? Plugins vary based on the site's purpose. One has a video player, contact form and shopping cart. Another has an image gallery, sfir and a different contact form. A third has a different image gallery, a different contact form...

My main point here is that not all WP plugins work well (or work at all)in WPMU :)

So does that mean they could at least see, if not modify & contribute to other blogs?

See - yes, unless you make a blog private.
Modify - if you allow them to.
Contribute - yes, if you mean post comments, vote, etc

@ Mavic,

It sounds to me like WPMU with the Domain Mapping plugin will fit your needs. Especially if these will be static sites that you build for others.

and if you dump all the plugins in the ONE plugin folder, then all clients have all plugins. You can block their access to that menu though.

Also? They won't be ftp'ing anything.

And yes, they can see other blog - but not from the backend. Just as any other web visitor would. Their backend still looks like a stand-alone blog.

Thanks all. On the "see other blogs" topic, some more details would help. All of the WP sites I'd run through this would be completely separate from each other. I don't plan on using the subdomains (other than technically that's how WPMU is configured) - they'd all have their own domain. I really don't want Site A to know that I also host Site B.

I think I have a couple domains I'm not using, so I can probably map those to my WPMU test and play around.

As far as plugins go, is there any pattern to which ones typically don't work? I try to limit the number of plugins, and don't tend to use anything that wasn't recently updated or doesn't have much of a history to it. Nothing quite like using a plugin then having it later no longer be compatible.

"I really don't want Site A to know that I also host Site B."

They won't. Not unless they do an IP trace to see how many sites are hosted on that IP...

It's pretty much hit and miss with the plugins.

Thanks. If they do an IP trace, look on my site to see samples... I don't care. I just don't want them to somehow know they're connected to another site - at least not more than they would if it was two separate installs on the same IP.

Looks like WPMU is for me.

This sort of application sounds like what I'm trying to do.

I work for someone who has several commercial enterprises and wants to do ecommerce in three different areas, yet he also runs a couple of nonprofits, one of which is planning a site with online video classes. And the IT department only has four static IPs so I'm stuck with doing this thruogh virtual hosting on one server.

What I've been trying to determine is IF, and then HOW, one could use WPMU to host completely different sites with completely different urls. Not subdomains, not domain/user. I need to have the same machine, with virtual hosting and subdirectories, host http://www.foobar.com , http://www.foo.com , and http://www.bar.org . (Not real names, obviously ;) ). Yet the sites have to be easily implemented and maintained.

Is WPMU something that would work from a single installation for this?

wjd - look up domain mapping.

Wait. What did VentureMaker mean by saying:

"Also, keep in mind, that if a user signs up in WPMU - he becomes a user of the whole system, not only of particular blog."

I don't understand that comment, especially since several follow up posts seem to contradict that.

Doesn't apply if you're using mapped domains on each blog.

Hi wjd & mavic,

Did you ever move over to MPMU? What are your thoughts? Any pros/cons?

Would love to hear your experience.

Al