Don’t Use WordPress Multisite!
The best solution is using the right tool
(by Mika “Ipstenu” Epstein | http://helf.us/wcsf2013 )
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DreamHost
WordPress Support
Manager and
Community
Specialist
(aka ‘Guru’)
Mika “Ipstenu” Epstein
Half-Elf, Half-Unicorn
• Support Rep
• Plugin Reviewer
• Core Contributor
• Beta Tester
• Trainer
WordPress.Org ….
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MULTISITE IS GREAT …
EXCEPT WHEN IT’S
NOT
Just Because I Can … isn’t a great business model
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Multisite is a Good Sharer
One install of core
code
Common user base
Shared plugins
Shared (controlled)
themes
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Multisite is a Bad Secret Keeper
Logged in users are
logged in for all sites
User profiles are the
same for all sites
Changes to theme
files are changed for
all sites
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It Can’t Do Everything Easily
It’s not easy to share
content or menus
SubFolder sites have /
blog/ in their URL
Restricting plugins is
complicated
Creating special user
roles is hard
Moving it (or just one
site off it) is tricksy
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DO YOU REALLY REALLY
NEED MULTISITE?
Plan before you build, know your limitations
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Look Before you Leap
Who is the site for?
How do they
currently use
WordPress?
Will you always want
them on the
network?
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Plan For The Future
Mapped domains
Custom email
SFTP/Shell access
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Consider Your Themes & Plugins!
Plugins are not evil
Good themes are
totally awesome
Put your own
‘functions’ in mu-
plugins
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FIFTEEN REASONS
YOUR SITE SHOULDN’T
BE ON MULTISITE
Unless you’re absolutely, totally, 100% sure…
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Categorizing
Posts
“I have a site I want to organize by
categories.”
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The Same
The Same
The Same
“All my sites should look 100% the
same.”
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Non-
Admins
“My site admins won’t change things.”
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Sections
“I need a special section for videos.”
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Dissimilar
Sections
“Each section has to be different.”
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User
Privacy
“Users on one site cannot know about
the other sites.”
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Different
Profiles Per
Site
“Each user should have a different
profile per site.”
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Small Sites
“It’s just one small site...”
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Rookie
Client
“It’s for my client, but they’re new at
WordPress.”
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iframes and
javascript
“My admins need to insert iframes and
js in posts and widgets.”
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Installing
Plugins &
Themes
“My admins need to install their own
plugins and themes.”
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BuddyPress
“Each site on the network needs its
own BuddyPress instance.”
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Dev Work
“I want to build it on Multisite and
move it as soon as it’s done.”
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Stores
“Every site should share the same store
database.”
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Shared
Content
“I need the same post on every site on
my network.”
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The End!
You can find me at http://halfelf.org
Grumpy cat images credited to http://www.grumpycats.com/