Wordpress MU Control Panel
WordPress introduced a new version of its multi-user blog software in January 2009. I have been using version 2.6 for the past few months and it was working well, although the site management was very confusing to use. Version 2.7 fixes this problem by making the Site Admin menu more uniform with the main dashboard.
The Site Admin is now located on the left hand menu, which is much easier to access than 2.6. (previously on the right side of the control panel. There are six options: Admin, Blogs, Users, Themes, Options, and Upgrade. Pretty straight-forward.
Admin: Create new blogs
Blogs: View each of the blogs, its users, links to edit/de-activate
Users: Manage what each of the users can see/edit/role
Themes: Themes available for blogs.
Site Options: Security/Global settings for WordPress
Upgrade: This is used to upgrade the WordPress version on the individual blogs. You still need to manually copy the latest version of WordPress MU into the folder when a new version comes out. In contrast, the standalone WordPress has a button that will automatically fetch the source and install the latest version for you.
What I like about the new version:
A lot of the things I like about WordPress 2.7, I like it on WordPress MU. Major Upgrades with 2.7 vs. 2.6 include: QuickPress publishing features for quick posting, 1 click upgrade, and all new navigation system on the dashboard.
Site Themes Control Panel
Quick Post Feature
There is also redundant menu options on the top menu in WordPress MU. This allows you to quickly switch between different blogs. So, switching between blogs is a one click process vs. a multiple click previously in 2.6.
Top Toolbar for WordPress MU
Verdict:
WordPress MU 2.7 is definitely worth considering with the new dashboard layout. The main advantage of having MU is that you have the ability to control the settings of all blogs. You can control what themes can be used, ban certain email addresses from registering, control permissions, and set the default welcome email. There is a built-in quota manager for each blog, so you can limit the disk space usage of all blogs. You can also limit the types of files that a user can upload on a blog — such as limiting attachments to PDF, Word Documents, or images. Another advantage of the MU is that you only need to upgrade the blog software in 1 place for several blogs. User management is good, but there still needs to be a way to add a user to multiple blogs in one screen.
Overall, WordPress MU 2.7 is great resource if you need to support several blogs (blog network) and are a fan of the standalone WordPress software.
WordPress MU Support Forums
http://mu.wordpress.org/forums/
WordPress MU Download
http://mu.wordpress.org/download/
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Your right there are great opportunities but paying for one isn’t the best
Your post on MU 2.7 review is the best I could find by far.
I’m wondering if the users are able to edit their themes by modifying the files or it’s exactly the same as getting a blog from wordpress.com.
The site admin controls what themes are available for the users’ blogs. Site admin adds new themes for all users and approves which ones can be used on all blogs.
As far as the users, they can select from the list of available themes for their blog. Users don’t get the option to add new themes or edit the theme files (unlike the regular version of WordPress)
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Hi,
This is an excellent review!
I’m considering using MU as a way to have client-only areas.
My rationale is that I would like to have separate plugins for the client area which will weigh down the public site.
If I install the added plugins only to the client-only instance of MU, will it indeed keep the public site loading as quickly?
Thanks,
Josh