Davao Wordpresser

I have handled regular Wordpress and Wordpress Multi User installations for different sites. I actually began learning the regular Wordpress. It was good to practice on as changes can be committed online, directly into the user account.

The main difference between the two is that the regular, stand-alone Wordpress (WP) installation

1. Caters for single blogs (which can have multiple users but single administration panel)
2. Its theme can be customized online (using the theme editor)
3. The plug-ins can be edited

while Wordpress Multi-User (WP MU)

1. Is designed to cater from hundreds to thousands of blogs, each with own administration panel.
2. Its theme editor is disabled since one instance of a theme is shared among the users (which means what one gets from a theme is the same to all who uses the same theme)
3. Plugins cannot be edited.

These differences are some of the most obvious in the user side.

Here are points that explain WP MU features further

1. It is created based on WP. It is created as a “shell outside” a regular Wordpress installation. According to their website, 95%- 99% of the core of WP MU is WP.
2. WP MU can have multiple blogs in one installation which means smaller file size for the hosting. Imagine installing fifty (50) blogs using WP on one hosting and WP MU on the other. The savings in terms of size is huge, especially for a website owner.
3. The installation process is different.
4. The panel for the “super administrator” or the site owner can be hidden to regular users, depending on the restrictions.
5. There is a folder named “mu-plugins”. All plug-ins placed inside it are automatically enabled site wide.
6. It still has the folder “plugins” (which is also present in WP). All plugins placed inside it which can be enabled per blog by the specific blog owner (a.k.a. sub-administrator).
7. WP MU requires the site owner (or the web master) to know a bit of programming and coding. If you plan to use WPMU, it is recommended that you tinker with WP first.

Themes that are available online for download are generally working for both installations. The theme management system stayed mainly the same for both installations I guess.

There are issues on installing plug-ins however. Many plug-ins designed for WP do not run on WP MU mainly because there is a difference in accessing and creating tables in the database. Some common plug-ins (like Akismet) can work if this is placed on the “plug-ins” folder and not the “mu plug-ins” folder. A set of plug-ins compatible for Wordpress MU can be found here.

Some of my sites that uses WP MU include this Davao City web community, Tagadabaw.com as well as this online shop, Toinky.com.

To sum it up, if you plan to maintain like 20 to 30 blogs or so or offer a blog hosting (may it be free or for a minimum fee), Wordpress Multi User is for you. You just have to get ready to get your hands dirty with ample amounts of code and a bit of programming or you can hire one who can set it up for you and teach you how to manage it.

If you plan to maintain fewer than 20 blogs (this is a personal preference based on experience by the way), then I recommend the regular stand alone Wordpress installation.

That’s it for now. May the blogging force be with you.