As I looked into the new upgrade I found where “Multi-Site” was now a part of the upgrade or what WordPress calls WPMU allowing you to run multiple Blogs from a single installation of WordPress. Oh man, not good! I have always felt that Multi-Site was a security risk of the highest order. I have a ton of Blogs out there in the Blogosphere and you have to find them to knock them down. I’ve got them pretty well scattered. But with Multi-Site, if you get hacked, someone can take the whole thing down.

Sorry, I got a little carried away with that one. Multi-Site is available with WordPress 3.0 and forward, but is disabled by default, so you have to activate it to get it to work. If you don’t want to activate it you can just install one Blog per WordPress Installation. It takes some hard coding to get it to work, which is very good, so that you don’t activate it by mistake. Because if you do activate it by mistake, you can’t go back and de-activate it. So you have to be right on.

So let’s take a look at what is involved. To activate WPMU you will need to add this code to your “wp-config.php” file in your home directory or root file:

define(‘WP_ALLOW_MULTISITE’, true);

You will want to add this line of code to your “wp-config.php” file at the very beginning of the file like this:

<?php
/**
* The base configurations of the WordPress.
*
* This file has the following configurations: MySQL settings, Table Prefix,
* Secret Keys, WordPress Language, and ABSPATH. You can find more information
* by visiting {@link http://codex.wordpress.org/Editing_wp-config.php Editing
* wp-config.php} Codex page. You can get the MySQL settings from your web host.
*
* This file is used by the wp-config.php creation script during the
* installation. You don’t have to use the web site, you can just copy this file
* to “wp-config.php” and fill in the values.
*
* @package WordPress
*/

// ** MySQL settings – You can get this info from your web host ** //
/** The name of the database for WordPress */

You can add this code after you install WordPress if you like or before installation, it does not really matter …… One note of caution though, do not activate any plug-ins until you are finished setting up your Multi-Sites Network.

Once you have added this code you will need to go to your WordPress Dashboard > Tools > Nework, which then brings you to the “Create a Network of WordPress Sites” screen. Select your desired options then select “Install” and remember that this process is irreversible.

Your next screen will be the “Enabling the Network”. You will need to make some additional changes to you “.htaccess” and “wp-config.php” files. Once you are finished, just save your changes and log-off and then log back in and you will now see a new menu bar for “Super Admin”. This new menu will let you add sites and configure.

If you get into trouble with various plug-ins after you have enabled your network, you can reverse the process of installation, but why bother, you would just have to remove the Blogs that you installed under WPMU. It is really much easier to start over with a fresh install or forgo the use of the offending plug-in.

For those of you that are wondering why the line of code to activate the WPMU is not already written in your wp-config.php file like you sometimes see with other bits of code. Someone can and undoubtedly will mistakenly enable (True) the multi site option which will make changes in whole WordPress installation. So to avoid accidental “enabled multi site” option, WordPress team haven’t included it in your “wp-config.php” file.

I would like to offer a very special thanks to Imran Yousaf for his assistance in helping me to define the finer points of installing “WPMU”. You will find many helpful tips and tricks over at his very fine Blog. I highly recommend it.

Here it is: When editing a “Draft” you have the ability in WordPress to Preview these changes, as you are logged in to the admin area, in the preview you will notice the word “edit” next to the date and your name. When you press this edit to clean up your copy you will open a new tab in firefox or a new browser window in Explorer. Now it only does this one time, however you now have two tabs or two browser windows open for you to edit in. Once you save in one, you will not be able to save in another. The trouble is, when you hit the preview button and after reading your post you decide to edit and hit the edit link, you should be forced to back-up, like hitting the back button on the tool bar of you internet browser, not the ability to open a new tab or new browser window. Man, ………. I seen some bugs, but this is a killer.

After I had work through my copy and realized my problem, I was like four hours doing this post, and I was forced to stay with it, because I was looking at a deadline.

Once you publish your post and you decide to edit that post, you still get this behavior with WordPress. I’m sure there is a work around, I just don’t know it yet. I just wanted to get this info to you as soon as I realized the problem. So, do yourself a huge favor and when you hit the “Preview Changes” button; after you are through editing, just turn off the tab or window!  If you know of a work around, leave a comment and help us out, please. Thanks. See you next week!

These days I just find it easier to build what my non-techie customers need to communicate with their market on either a WordPress or Joomla Platform. Not only does it save a ton of time and money but it is much easier for the end user to work with. However, when the so called end user hears BLOG they flip. It’s all they can take to answer a few e-mails, they aren’t really interested in a “Blooogggg”. No running commentary, none of that stuff.

I try to explain the ease of use that a good CMS system along with a premium template will bring to them, but it kinda leaves them on edge. As I continue to explore different options for a good CMS for my clients based on their needs, I am continually amazed at the number of options that are available.

I thought I would provide “Open Jason” as a starting point for reference to those who thnk that a good CMS along with a premium template is worth its weight in gold …….. for themselves as well as others.

Of all the resources on the web for blogging I find that WordPress is by far the best platform (preaching to the choir, I know!) and that the Codex is by far the worst support forum out there. I have never been able to pull myself out of the ditch at anytime with anything offered on the Codex. However, I have found benefit in the links at the Codex and thought I would pass along one of those links in this weeks post. It’s the WordPress e-Commerce Plug-in which just released it’s latest version ( 3.7.5 ) this week.

The e-Commerce Plug-in is a platform with a focus on ease of use and adhering to web standards which I guess is an SEO angle. While I have had little experience with this plug-in, I am going to give it a try on one of my blogs and will report back here in the near future. If this plug-in enhances your revenue, than I guess that is about as extreme as you can get!

How about that new WordPress Update (2.8.6)? Mainly a security update dealing with sanitizing uploaded file names that are sometimes exploited in certain Apache configurations and an XSS vulnerability in “Press This” ………. Man, I don’t even want to go there!

When working with images in WordPress,  I have always found it easier to hard code the images to the site via the server rather than use the Media Library. I just personally find the file management server side easier to work with than WordPress’s Media Library.

One of the things I like best about server side file management is that you can usually see a vast amount images in one window. I don’t necessarily need to view all of the images as much as I need to identify a numerical sequence. This greatly facilitates speed when all I have to do is check the numerical sequence. However, it is said to be a big loss from the stand point of SEO.

When managing an image library, it is best if you use your selected keywords within the image name, thereby making it easier for the search engines to index you for your selected keywords.

Now, I may be selling myself short here, but I have never really needed that much of a traffic boost to have to go to the hassle of including the name of the keywords within the image name. Talk about a hassle ! I just find it much simpler to identify the image by number, thereby making it easier to remember and less likely to make mistakes when adding images to my posts.

You will have to make that decision for yourself; speed versus what I feel is minimal keyword indexing. Any comments on the subject would be greatly appreciated.

I’m not really sure I have this right, but I really have a need for speed when working my blogs. Is this a good trade-off ?