A case study of using WordPress Multisite at the OSU Libraries.

1. How to Make and
Maintain a Successful
Installation of WordPress
Multisite
by David Ensinger

2. About Me
• Front End Developer
• Formerly OSU Libraries
• Currently CITYTECH

3. OHIOOHIO
Welcomes You

4. Outline
• OSU Libraries
• WordPress Multisite
• Underscores Theme

5. OSU Libraries

6. Courtesy of broken thoughts | http://www.flickr.com/photos/brokenthoughts/4325451872/

7. Courtesy of broken thoughts | http://www.flickr.com/photos/brokenthoughts/4325448506/

8. Courtesy of broken thoughts | http://www.flickr.com/photos/brokenthoughts/4324703229/

9. Courtesy of broken thoughts | http://www.flickr.com/photos/brokenthoughts/4325446276/

10. The Facts
• Total Enrollment: 64,077
• Library Locations: ~12
• Volumes: 7,117,102
• Special Collections: 9
• Departments: 30
• Faculty and Staff: ~ 450

11. Vision
• Advance student and faculty success
• Deliver distinctive content
• Foster intellectual connections

12. Blogs Facts
• 35 blogs
• ~50 plugins
• More than 400 users
• 6.78% of traffic to library.osu.edu
• 79,775 pageviews for the quarter ended
June 30th

13. The Process

14. Focus Group
• Met with half dozen site owners
• Discussed their blogs
• Came away with great feedback

15. Strengths
• Great content
• Frequent posts
• Enthusiastic site admins
• Support from Administration

16. Weaknesses
• Infrequent posts
• Under utilization of WordPress features
• Poor engagement with visitors
• Outdated theme

18. Goals
• Use WordPress better
• Upgrade theme
• Integrate with Social Media

19. WordPress Multisite

21. Why Use?
• Quick access to many blogs
• Common plugins
• Common themes
• Shared users
• Advanced settings
• One upgrade

22. Multisite Requirements
• PHP version 5.2.4 or greater
• MySQL version 5.0.15 or greater
• Apache mod_rewrite module (for
Permalinks)
• More Info: http://codex.wordpress.org/
Hosting_WordPress

23. Activate Multisite
• wp-config.php:
define('WP_ALLOW_MULTISITE', true);
• Pick subdomain or subdirectory
• site.example.com or www.example.com/
site/

24. Activate Multisite (cont.)
• Add the specified lines to your wp-
config.php file
• Add the specified lines to your .htaccess
file
• More Info: http://codex.wordpress.org/
Create_A_Network

25. Sites
• List all sites in network
• See when a site last updated
• Overview of users

26. Users
• Add and edit users throughout the
network
• Roles and capabilities are roughly the
same as single site installations
• Super Admin gets some capabilities
normally reserved for Admin
• Tip: Assign an Admin to each site and offer
both encouragement and support

27. Plugins
• Activate across the whole network or
specific to individual sites
• Display Plugins administration menu for
Admins to activate/deactivate plugins
• Curate plugins and add theme support as
desired

29. Favorite Plugins
• Akismet
• Tip: wp-config.php:
define('WPCOM_API_KEY','your_api_key');
• Network Latest Posts
• Network Plugin Auditor
• Simple Feed Stats
• Sitewide Google Analytics

30. Themes
• Network Enable or Disable
• Activate on a per site basis
• Admins can’t activate/deactivate themes

31. Underscores

33. Underscores
• A starter theme, not a parent theme
• All the good stuff: templates, functions,
and theme options
• Passes theme-check
• 1000-hour head start
• More Info: http://underscores.me/

34. Goals
• Responsive design
• Support for post formats
• Theme options
• Curate plugins
• Good documentation

37. Tools
• HTML5 Boilerplate
• Modernizr
• Sass
• Underscores Theme

38. Useful Plugins
• Debug Bar
• Developer
• Log Deprecated Notices
• Monster Widget
• RTL Tester
• Theme-Check
• User Switching

41. Post Script
• Blog skills more difficult to teach than
expected
• Few blogs have switched to new theme
• No one to resume my work (yet)

42. That’s It!

43. Contact
• David Ensinger
• @DavidEnsinger
• hello@davidensinger.com

44. Thank You
• Attendees
• Speakers
• Organizers

45. Questions?