Using WordPress MU to Power Multiple Blogs
Thursday, December 13th, 2007 1:33 pm by
TDH 
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WordPress MU, short for Multi-User, is a WordPress version that you probably have used without really knowing it. Automattic’s hosted blog service, WordPress.com, uses WordPress MU, although what you get when signing up with WordPress.com is pretty far from your basic WordPress MU install.
In other words, like most blog installs before plugins and nifty theming’s been added.
Choosing MU
I choose to build this on WordPress MU for one simple reason: I wanted to be able to create a beta blog in a few seconds, and MU let’s me do that.
Lately I’ve been doing a lot of WordPress MU work for a national blog network that I’ve founded. All is not done, but it’s launched over at pakten.se, if anyone’s up for some Swedish. The front page is one of the things on my todo-list by the way, so don’t judge me too hard now, eh? Links to the seven (as I’m writing this) blogs within the network is available in the top right, in the bar, if you want to click around.
I choose to build this on WordPress MU for one simple reason: I wanted to be able to create a beta blog in a few seconds, and MU let’s me do that.
A Whole New WordPress World?
Nope, it’s not. More or less every theme will work, and most of the plugins available. If you’re running a hosted WordPress installation, you can probably just move every extra little feature you’ve incorporated there, into a WordPress MU blog.
However, MU doesn’t have the ease that WordPress offers. Installation is still simple, permalinks a breeze, but there are a few things to consider. One being the fact that the MU community is small (or very silent), and documentation is poor at best. If you run into problems you’ll soon find yourself in the MU forums, and that’s far from the best way to find information.
Maybe I’m spoiled with the WordPress Codex wiki, a place that’s still valid since MU is basically WordPress for more users, but I thought twice before going with MU at all. Yes, I know, it’s opensource and everyone’s participating for free, yadayada - I can relate to that, and understand it. However, you won’t be having any users unless you offer decent documentation. I most certainly know my way around WordPress, but if I hadn’t I’d never dared to give MU a shot on a public project.
Pros and Cons with Using MU
Remember, this is assuming we’re using WordPress MU to power multiple blogs. If you want to offer your visitors a free blog, then MU really is your only WordPress option, since installing a WordPress blog for each person that wants to blog is tedious and slow.
WordPress MU supports most themes and plugins, as I stated above. It gets better, however. You can put plugins in a mu-plugin directory (much like you do with regular WordPress plugins in wp-content/plugins), and that means that they are automatically available and activated for all blogs.
Time saved for the multiple blogger. Nice.
That’s the good part. The bad part is that it doesn’t work with a lot of plugins, since no admin interface will show up, and if the plugin is manipulating the database, then forget about it. You can still put plugins in wp-content/plugins, however, and activate them manually for each blog. Just like you would if it was traditional stand-alone WordPress installs.
Themes are the same as with original WordPress, with the lone exception that you’ll have to activate them for usage in MU Admin, a new tab for administrators in WordPress MU’s admin interface.
So far so good, right? Sure, not every plugin can be activated in one place, but that’s a small price to pay for just having to update the blogging software on one place, and the same goes for plugins and themes of course.
Time saved for the multiple blogger. Nice.
Problems with MU
Yes, time saved indeed. There are, however, quite a few problems that you’ll have to overcome. Like editing core files for allowing certain tags to be used in the Post and Page writing fields in admin. Per default, you can’t even publish a YouTube video, since some of the tags the embed code uses get stripped away. I found quite a few things that I wanted to allow, since I’m in control of my own blogs - which was the whole purpose here.
Naturally, the not allowed tags are meant to protect the MU administrators when offering blogs for free, to anyone who wants ‘em. Still, editing wp-includes/kses.php (where you’ll set allowed tags and so on) isn’t a small thing for someone not used to hacking som PHP. Not very user friendly.
Another problem I’ve had with MU is pinging, still unresolved. Per default, MU pings pingomatic.com, which is fine. I’d like to add more services though, which isn’t possible in admin - I can just add that one. As you might know, you can add just about how many you want in regular WordPress.
I have yet to find out how to add more ping services. Unfortunately, the small MU community haven’t been very helpful yet - and this is a problem I’d reckon could arise to quite a lot of people. What little documentation there is doesn’t help either. In fact, with all the “MU is just like WordPress so read the Codex” references that are out there, I could see users get pretty confused about these things, since pinging several services is a standard feature in WordPress.
(Do you know where I should look or what I should do to ping multiple services in WordPress MU? Get in touch, please!)
Final Verdict for Using MU to Power Multiple Blogs
I almost regret going with MU. It lacks the polish of regular WordPress, and the community is a lot smaller. I feel a lot more left out on my own here, than I did when I first ventured into WordPress.
However, the ease of which I can create blogs - allowing public creation or not - makes up for it. Just having to update on blog system, on set of plugins, that also saves me time.
While I wouldn’t pick MovableType over original WordPress, the lack of support and help for MU makes me wonder if there’s something better out there.
If you know your way around WordPress, and know a little about PHP, then WordPress MU is a good choice for powering multiple blogs. Otherwise you’ll have a hard time, or harder at least - MU isn’t as user friendly as original WordPress.
And by all means don’t expect your fresh WordPress MU install to look and feel like sleek WordPress.com. Then you’ll cry…
Finally, they say MovableType OpenSource will support multiple blogs in one install. It’s just available as a nightly build still, and I haven’t had the time to check it out, but if that’s true then WordPress MU is in for some serious competition. While I wouldn’t pick MovableType over original WordPress, the lack of support and help for MU makes me wonder if there’s something better out there.
Competition is good. Users will be the great gainers here.
I'm a designer, writer, and blogger who's been working professionally online since 1998. Since then I've survived dotcom, published magazines, books, and lots of websites. See more posts by 
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[Sorry if this is a dupe, but your db connection died just now.]
“they say MovableType OpenSource will support multiple blogs in one install.”
Movable Type has always supported multiple blogs[1]. The open source version isn’t a factor unless you’re assuming people will only consider free options, and even that isn’t necessarily valid depending upon why the user wants multiples(eg. multiple sites/personal use still falls under a free license.)
[1] At least as far back as is relevant here. I suppose it’s possible 1.0 didn’t, but I can’t recall.
Our company tried a few projects with MU, but the system is not mature enough; nor do we think it ever will be. We switched to django. Although there is a bit of a learning curve, the amount of overall work “x” months/years down the road are nothing compared to MU. With a bit of time creating an MU out of django is well worth the effort. For anyone switching to MU, take heed to the following things:
- It is slow, like WP
- You will need to hack much of the core code to get your desired results; unless you keep good track, updates are nightmare’ish
- Still a slew of bugs
Out of the box, django can perform like MU, that of course if you build/svn the correct apps.
Great article. I really like the objective writeup. In answer to your question though - For each blog there is an option “ping_sites” that determines which services are pinged for activity within the blog. The wpmu code allows for multiple entries within this option, expecting them to be newline \n delimited.
So, for example if you wanted to set up multiple services for a single blog you’d enter SQL of the following form:
update wp_2_options set option_value = ‘http://rpc.pingomatic.com/\nhttp://topicexchange.com/RPC2′ where option_name = ‘ping_sites’
There is a function named populate_options that youll find somewhere in your install - its shifted around within different WPMU versions - that installs the default options for each new blog. If you look for the line that populates ping_sites then you can edit it so that new blogs automatically get the new ping server set.
So, for example if you want to set it up so that all future blogs use a new set of ping servers, youd simply change the line that reads:
add_option(’ping_sites’, ‘http://rpc.pingomatic.com/’);
to:
add_option(’ping_sites’, “http://rpc.pingomatic.com/\nhttp://topicexchange.com/RPC2″);
nb. the double quotes are required for the escaping of the newline character
Hope that helps.
Great and thank for the review. I don’t have time testing myself but I whish to offer free blog with MU.
Su
I believe that for MovableType to really reach the masses, it needs to be open source. You’re correct however, support for multiple blogs on one install’s been around for quite some time.
Father Dom
Well, obviously you’ve found a solution. It would be interesting to follow up on your decisions, perhaps in a future blog post? Drop me a line if you will.
Richard
Thanks for the tips, I’ll be sure to try this one out! Really appreciate it.
n-blue
Thanks. Just setting up MU to offer free blogs isn’t very hard, so when you have an extra hour, just give it a go, that’s my advice.
I have an existing site - a photo upload website. I have installed wordpress MU so the users can post their photos in a blog. However, to make the user comfortable in using my website, i would like the wordpress MU to use the signup and login information from my photo upload website. The question is “how can i by-pass the sign-up and log-in procedures of wordpress MU and go directly to their blog or admin panel of the blog?” Is there anyone who can help me with these issues?
I did not even know of WP MU…
My hosting plan lets me install WP for free in the domain name, think thats always the best option.
Richard
There doesn’t seem to be a wp_2_options table in the most recent release of WordPress MU. Any suggestions?
The ‘2′ in wp_2_options stands for the blog_id of the blog in question for your mu install. You should actually be able to edit that field at Dashboard -> Site Options -> Blog -> Edit the blog you want to change. If you want to edit the field directly using phpmyadmin, the blogis is listed on the Blogs page within Site Admin.
Movable Type Open Source has been available as a versioned download for quite some time. A quick check of their website shows their first release about 5 months ago. Not sure why you’re looking at the Open Source page for download links when the main download link is at the upper right of the page you’re on. You can still get nightly builds if you want but it’s been versioned for quite some time now.
But Movable Type is different from WordPress Mu is how it creates those multiple blogs. WPMU is designed to be used as a blogging host like wordpress.com, blogger, or livejournal. When a visitor creates an account on your install, they also get a blog for them to use. With MT, the admin has to create a new blog for them. It’s a bit different.
As to the embed issue, there’s a fairly detailed thread in the forums on getting around this. Do note though that this isn’t recommended for most wpmu installs as it’s a security risk and it puts the rest of the bloggers and their blogs at risk. If you’re the only one usign the site, then it’s fine.
As per the admin interface for plugins, they do show up if one is created by the plugins. Not sure why you;re not seeing them as they usually show up under the Options page like regular wordpress plugins do. And if you want to assign plugins to specific blogs, there’s a plugin that will allow you to do that as well.
As to the note being willing to hack php and it’s not for everybody, I’ll grant you that. WordPress multiuser is not for everybody. We have folks coming by where we know they’ve never installed even regular wordpress who are totally lost with wpmu. (Heck, we can’t even get folks to read the readme file included with the download.) It’s the same with webhosting. Folks think they can throw up a server and make tons of money. WPMu requires some background in server management and work with php and mysql. Most of us have our files hacked a great deal to better serve our clients. That’s one of the pluses of open source software.
Gotta admit though from reading your post, it really sounds like wpmu is overkill for you and is not needed though. What would have probably worked better for you is the multiple installs of regular wordpress as noted in the comments above (most hosters have autoinstallers and updaters) or using one of a number of multiple blog hacks that have been created. Again, wpmu is more for a host who is providing blogs for their visitors or clients. From what you write, that’s not what you’re doing here.
Regards
drmike
Movable Type’s Personal version’s been available for quite some time, that’s true. The open source version, however, was made available in RC etc. recently, unless I’m totally mistaken. Their Personal license isn’t an option, and that’s where they’ve their downloads.
I’m not sure if going WPMU was right for this particular project or not. The ease of setting things up, and so on, sure is nice of course, but the problems I’m having are really annoying.
Anyway, thanks for your comment. Nice to get your input.
I hope WordPress developers replace kses with htmLawed (which is actually developed off kses) and put in place a control panel for setting htmLawed options (tags to filter, etc.). htmLawed seems to be much. much better than kses.
WordPress Mu multiple ping services are easy to set. Go to your admin interface. Click the ‘Site Admin’ menu. Click the ‘Blogs’ submenu. Then click the ‘Edit’ link next to 1 of your blogs. You will now see the ‘Edit Blog’ page. Scroll down a bit and you will see the WordPress Mu ‘Ping Sites’ edit box (textarea). Add your ping services list there and hit the ‘Update Options’ button. All finished. Now you have your WordPress Mu blog setup to use multiple ping services.
I hope this helps.
Looks like Richard Pendergast took the long way but at least he made an awesome attempt to help out. Bump to Richard P.
CJ
I checked out several different approaches to multi-blog Wordpress, and the nice thing about your approach is that it is a very elegant concept that will easily adapt to later version of Wordpress (assuming it continues to use a specific config-only file). I’m guessing that it won’t actually need any change at all. (Did you originally write this for 1.2 or something? Just proves my point, I suppose!)
CJ , when entering extra pings sites into that field how do you delimit them? space, coma semi-colons?
Thanks for the clue so far by the way.
Movable Type’s Personal version’s been available for quite some time, that’s true. The open source version, however, was made available in RC etc. recently, unless I’m totally mistaken. Their Personal license isn’t an option, and that’s where they’ve their downloads.
i feel the same way too about the community.. there’s a gap between the pro’s and newbie. No wonder so much Desperados..
The pro seems want to take advantage about their knowledge about WPMU and keep it alone,unless you pay for their consultion or plugin development etc.
So why bother going opensource then? there will be no successor in WPMU nor people willing to develop MU to make it bigger except for those pro’s.
What about Drupal?
Or wait for Buddy Press to wipe those pro’s.. I hope
see this too from Matt
I really like this guy..
Hi guys, I recently installed WP MU, I have found plenty of themes that are fine for the general blogs, but there doesnt seem to be many themes for the main admin blog!
The way I understand it, its different from the standard wp and therefore need a different theme, is this correct?
If so, can anyone recommend some themes.
I have also used WPMU to setup multiple sites with open registrations, I’ve even helped develop multiple plugins for WP and WPMU, and even my own plugin which works on both.
drmike was right when he said that WPMU requires “some background in server management and work with php and mysql.” By the same token, so does becoming a web services reseller, and you see those programs all over the web as well, the main difference being that you don’t see ‘Get Rich Quick overnight’ websites popping up selling the ‘Simple php script’ for $299 (reduced to $47 if you act before midnight tonight.)
As I write this, WPMU v1.3.3 (Based on WP 2.3.3) is the current download from WordPress, with version 1.5RC1 (Based on WP 2.5) available in the svn trac.
That being said, I find very few of the problems and issues, discussed in your article and in the comments here, pertinent to the current release.
The community of MU admins has steadily gotten larger, and there is quite a bit of community support both inside and outside of the ‘Official’ wordpress circles.
I know the article was written some time ago, but perhaps now, it’s time to have another look.