WordPress MU

do i need to change
wp-content/themes/home/home.php
to customie main page ?

or i have to customize the default theme ?

what if i customize the
wp-content/themes/home/home.php
but donothing to default blog theme ?
will it leave my main site blog unaffected and in its real shape ?

wp-content/themes/home/home.php is the one you need to edit for the main page.

it won't affect the default theme. There's two themes in the folder that are *identical* except for the home theme has the file home.php. you can change whatever you want in the home theme and the default stays the same.

you can use any theme as the main theme of your site, you just need a home.php file inside that theme to have it used as the front page of your blog...

if you want to use the home.php... :)

now ....

i have customized blog theme and it works fine ... but the problem is that when i hav euploaded it to my server ... the main page is now looking like a general blog ... with latest post on it ...

how can i show a main page with sign in and sign up link on it as it is shown with default wordpressmu theme ?

i want my main page url to remain as example.com ( i mean it should not look like example.com/home.php )

should i customize the home.php and them set wordpress to change my main page to a static page that is home.php ?

If you put the home.php page in the theme folder that the main blog is using, it will automatically use it first. Just by it being there, it will show, you don't have to tell it anything.

See: http://codex.wordpress.org/Template_Hierarchy

"how can i show a main page with sign in and sign up link on it as it is shown with default wordpressmu theme ?"

Snag it off that page and stick in in the theme you want.

any what about my blog posts ?
i want to have them at example.com/blog ?
how can i make this ...

so wht my blog posts have an url like ...
example.com/blog/?p=111

what about the login screen for users?, how can i include it on the home.php, whats the code for that?.
thanks :)

Here a simple example...


<form name="loginform" id="loginform" action="http://<?php echo $current_site->domain . $current_site->path ?>wp-login.php" method="post">
<div>
<label for="log"><?php _e('Username'); ?></label>
<input type="text" name="log" id="log" value="" size="20" tabindex="1" />
<label for="pwd"><?php _e('Password'); ?></label>
<input type="password" name="pwd" id="pwd" value="" size="20" tabindex="2" />
<input name="rememberme" type="checkbox" id="rememberme" value="forever" tabindex="3" />
<label for="rememberme" id="rembme"><?php _e('Remember me'); ?></label>
<input type="submit" name="submit" class="submit" id="login" value="<?php _e('Login'); ?>" tabindex="4" />
</div>
</form>


There's a fancy version in the trac wiki.

Hi drmike,

Can you point me to the right direction regarding the fancy version on the trac wiki? Thanks a lot.

Here you go:

http://trac.mu.wordpress.org/wiki/FancyLogin

screech! It is gone!

:)

nada

You're right. It is.

Hi,

Beginner here. I'm trying to get up to speed. I finally was able to get MU installed. Now I need to customize home.php.

I was able to locate it. Now, how do you make the changes?

Could someone point me in the right direction for instructions? I can work with html, but have not used php.

Thanks,
Tom

You can use any HTML outside the < php tags and could even edit the file in Frontpage or similar programs. But frankly if you do not know anything about PHP, WPMU will be hell and you should, I quote from the very first lines of the README file:

"If you're not comfortable editing PHP code, taking care of a complex webserver and database system and being pro-active about following developments of this project then run, don't walk, to http://wordpress.com/ and sign yourself and your friends up to free blogs. It's easier in the long run and you'll save yourself a lot of pain and angst."

Even with some PHP knowledge it is a slow learning curve.

If you are interested in building a site that is similar in behavior to say WordPress.com then you need to be [or have at your disposal] a PHP developer that has a good working knowledge of Word Press and the architecture of Word Press MU.

The key to the "community" concept that Word Press.com puts forward is primarily the role of the hosting blog. This blog is not entirely 'themed' in the same way you would theme a user blog. This is because the hosting blog deals with not only the articles/categories and pages of the host itself but it gathers, collects and offers up information that comes from within the community it represents.

To emulate this behavior you need addition PHP functions, database tables and some well-written mySQL queries that are scalable and reach across the entire site. These are used to collect and display the information that extends the role of the hosting blog.

Free PHP code for this purpose has not been heavily developed nor is it readily available. There are very few useful functions that come with WPMU that you can use to build on. The signup, login functionality, a few functions dealing with blog activity, etc is about all there is.

Global categories, global tag clouds and anything else that would be necessary to create "site-wide" exposure would need to be created from existing plugins or developed yourself. There are a few plugins available for download from http://wpmudevorg.wordpress.com/plugins.php but most that concern themselves with "site-wide" functionality are not really suited for large communities.

It is possible to emulate a WordPress.com or myspace style site in which the "community" atmosphere is obvious but you won't find the pieces you need to build it available in the same easy way you find plugins available for WordPress.

Having said all of this, if you're just interested in creating a multi user blog that doesn't represent a community (other than the "Get yourself a free blog" on the home page) - then you have everything you need in home.php

Just wanted to thank zappoman for posting the form code above, very helpful!