[wp-hackers] site sections, distinct theme per section

John Black immanence7 at gmail.com
Mon Jul 11 08:46:39 UTC 2011 

Thanks Dion,

You're probably right about multisite. I have two problems with it, however: 1) I really wish BackupBuddy played well with it. I can make an individual backup within multisite, but I can't see how to import a site using it. The tutorials I have read on importing an existing site into multisite are either confusing to me, or, if I follow them, don't work. I don't end up with the site I have externally, but rather end up facing starting from scratch; 2) I'm worried about incompatible plugins.

If could solve problem #1 it would be an advance.

I guess a third problem is how (given that I'm working localhost) I get my multisite online eventually.

It's just scary.

There really needs to be a cloning plugin for multisite!

best,
JB

On 11 Jul 2011, at 09:37, Dion Hulse (dd32) wrote:

> Make sure all the installs share the same salts/keys as well
> 
> You'll then need to make the cookie apply to / rather than /install/
> You can do this by defining the extra constants.
> see the *COOKIEPATH constants here:
> http://core.trac.wordpress.org/browser/trunk/wp-includes/default-constants.php#L198
> 
> The capabilities for each user are stored in the usermeta, while you
> can define a custom user table, the capabilities are stored as
> per-site, meaning, the usermeta row has the database prefix prefixed.
> 
> You're probably also not going to be able to use most plugins such as
> s2Member without heavy modification or syncing of the options to all
> the sites in your "network"..
> 
> Long story short? You're going to have some headaches tieing 5
> different installs together, and then getting plugins working nicely
> on it too, there is a reason MultiSite installs were invented.
> 
> 
> On 11 July 2011 17:21, John Black <immanence7 at gmail.com> wrote:
>> Thanks for this.
>> 
>> When it comes down to it, I really need to activate the entire theme, with the functionality it has. So it's more than appearances. This is the difficulty.
>> 
>> Having looked into this more, and having tried a multisite installation (and then having experienced the difficulty of cloning a multisite install, and even backing one up), I'm heading in a direction few would agree with: discreet installs in subdirectories.
>> 
>> Consequently, I have a new question:
>> 
>> I now have four installs working together to constitute a site: 1) http://mydomain.com (an opening theme); 2) http://mydomain.com/main (the main site, based on a separate theme and a separate install); 3) http://mydomain.com/store (based on the same theme as /main but with a custom skin); and 4) http://mydomain.com/ads (based on the same theme as /main but with a custom skin).
>> 
>> I want to keep the last two installs (#3 and #4) because I want to keep the URLs tight (i.e., http://mydomain.com/store and not http://mydomain.com/main/store).
>> 
>> My question is: How can I integrate http://mydomain.com/main and http://mydomain.com/store so customers joining and logging in to /main are automatically linked to (and logged in to) /store and /ads?
>> 
>> All sites are run within one database, with different wp_ prefixes. I tried adding the following to the bottom of the wp-config.php file of the installs I want to link:
>> 
>> /** Unify Logins. */
>> define(CUSTOM_USER_TABLE,'wp5_users');
>> define(CUSTOM_USER_META_TABLE,'wp5_usermeta');
>> 
>> wp5_ prefix is the prefix of the install I want to take precedence.
>> 
>> (I picked up this tip here, by the way).
>> 
>> But when I log into wp5_ (install #2) and go to the admin of wp6_ (install #3) it asks me to login again.
>> 
>> So: a) customers of wp5_ (install #2 or /main) would have to have a separate account on wp6_ (install #3 or /store) and wp7_ (install #4 or /ads). People would be logging in twice or more. I want to unify these.
>> 
>> Can I somehow bridge these installs?
>> 
>> An added complexity is that I want to use s2Member or something similar to manage membership of my site as a whole.
>> 
>> I also wanted users to be able to use their login details to access the site's forum (which so far is based on phpBB3; this plugin allows you to bridge Wordpress and phpBB3, but only by making all access to Wordpress be handled by phpBB3).
>> 
>> If anyone can help me navigate through this maze I would be eternally grateful!!
>> 
>> best,
>> JB
>> 
>> On 9 Jul 2011, at 01:11, Lynne Pope wrote:
>> 
>>> To use multiple header.php files where you have created template pages for
>>> your sections, see this:
>>> http://codex.wordpress.org/Function_Reference/get_header
>>> 
>>> If your sections are set up as categories you can change the appearance &
>>> layout with CSS (and, optionally, JavaScript). To ensure that only the
>>> CSS/js you need for those sections is loaded use the following:
>>> 
>>> <?php if (is_category(category-1-ID)) { ?>
>>> header.php content
>>> <?php } elseif (is_category(category-2-ID)) { ?>
>>> header.php content for category 2
>>> <?php } else { ?>
>>> Default header.php content for everything else
>>> <?php } ?>
>>> 
>>> Also see http://codex.wordpress.org/Conditional_Tags#A_Category_Page
>>> 
>>> You can use the same conditionals within templates to alter the output or by
>>> calling different templates when certain pages or categories are called.
>>> 
>>> There are several different ways to achieve what you want within one single
>>> WP site but if you intend to make a lot of conditional calls, for example to
>>> load different templates within your sections, WordPress will perform better
>>> if you take the multisite subdirectory install route. Swapping out the CSS &
>>> scripts etc in the header by using conditionals doesn't have any noticeable
>>> impact on performance. However, if you use this PLUS loads of custom
>>> templates it can make a noticeable difference.
>>> 
>>> Lynne
>>> 
>>> 
>>> On Fri, Jul 8, 2011 at 8:54 PM, John Black <immanence7 at gmail.com> wrote:
>>> 
>>>> Thanks for that Lynne.
>>>> 
>>>> 1. What kind of conditionals would I be looking for?
>>>> 2. General comment thrown into the wilderness: It is obvious that very
>>>> large organisations have different wings. Wordpress has made great leaps
>>>> forward lately, in terms of adoption as a full blown CMS. This could be
>>>> encouraged more if this kind of functionality (the ability to have sections,
>>>> recalling different themes / aesthetics) were able to be built into a single
>>>> install.
>>>> 
>>>> I'll look into the multisite option.
>>>> 
>>>> best,
>>>> JB
>>>> 
>>>> On 8 Jul 2011, at 10:30, Lynne Pope wrote:
>>>> 
>>>>> It's possible to do this by using conditionals in the header.php to serve
>>>>> different css and JavaScript files to different categories. This only
>>>> works
>>>>> if the underlying HTML structure is the same for each of your sections
>>>> and
>>>>> you are happy to have each section set up as a category. The only other
>>>> way
>>>>> to do this is by using a multisite install and setting each section up as
>>>>> its own instance within subdomains.
>>>>> 
>>>>> Lynne
>>>>> 
>>>>> On Fri, Jul 8, 2011 at 5:29 PM, John Black <immanence7 at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>>> 
>>>>>> I've searched for an answer and didn't find anything. Not even a premium
>>>>>> plugin exists, to my knowledge.
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> Is there any way to do the following:
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> Have multiple sections within a single WordPress installation (or
>>>> domain)
>>>>>> that each call up a distinct theme?
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> For example: Maybe I'd like to use one theme for the opening pages; use
>>>> a
>>>>>> second theme for a dedicated e-store; a third theme for a dedicated
>>>> video
>>>>>> store; or another theme for a ticket / help section.
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> These are just examples.
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> I know that much can be done with single post templates, but this is not
>>>>>> what I'm talking about. I'd really like to be able to use more than one
>>>>>> theme on my domain.
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> (p.s., I know subdomains would be a way, possibly, of doing this. But it
>>>>>> seems an awful hassle, to have several installations running, several
>>>>>> databases, etc, and I'm sure there would be issues later, not least,
>>>>>> perhaps, with SEO).
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> ANY IDEAS??
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> 
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