Let’s start with the CONS:

I always like to start with the cons because you get to finish with happy thoughts.

Multisite:

1. Sometimes a challenge to get up and running:
   1. WordPress will spit out a configuration, but it wont necessarily be accurate
   2. You have to configure .htaccess, web.config, wp-config, which are not always straight forward
   3. You server requirements are double of a single install
   4. Documentation for troubleshooting lacks at best
2. All sites will run slower:
   1. Each site is pulled from the same database and uses the same plugins
   2. There are extra redirects taking place to serve up the correct site
   3. I noticed a 5-10% speed decrease with each site installed
3. Management can be confusing:
   1. There are mulitple dashboards
   2. Plugins have extra options and sometimes additional requirements to work
   3. Some things are setup network wide while others are site specific
   4. Managing credentials is more complicated

Single Site:

1. Additional long term overhead
   1. Each time you want to add a site you must do a full install
   2. Each site has to be managed separately
   3. If you need to add a user or change a password you must do it on each needed install
   4. You have to install a new plugin on every site individually
2. Harder to manage:
   1. You may have separate logins on each site to keep track of
   2. Each site requires their own domain where multisite is optional to use a sub directory
   3. A lot more site information to keep track of
   4. Running a server without a managment GUI like Cpanel or Plesk can be a daunting task

Now that I have given you the Debbie Downer side of things, Let’s look at the Pros of both options

The Pros:

Multisite:

1. You only have to set the site up on the server once
2. You get to mange everything from one spot
3. You can share plugins between sites
4. You can share themes between sites
5. If you choose, you only have to manage one domain
6. One login for multiple sites
7. You can offer your clients the ability to offer their clients sites

Single Site:

1. Your sites will run faster
2. You have separation for more control over settings and security
3. Easier to setup (most of the time)
4. Less server requirements
5. More portable
6. Can give out full admin access without compromising other sites
7. Better plugin support

As you can see from the pros and cons, either way has about equal benefits.

From my experience what it really comes down to is this question:

Do you have a geek available to support your sites? Whether this is managed hosting, or a friend or colleague, having someone available who knows what they are doing will change the whole experience.

If the answer is no:

In a lot of ways it makes more sense to use a multisite install. You only have to find someone to help you setup the WordPress install once, you only need one server, you may not have to figure out how to manage a bunch of domains and DNS records, and when you become familiar with the admin adding new sites is no problem.

If the answer is yes:

(disclaimer: I am a Geek who manages WordPress installs and prefer this method)

It makes a lot of sense to use single site installs. Your sites will run faster, you can spreed them out across multiple servers, your plugins will work more often, installs are a snap, and you can fine tune everything from site to site.

THE END

This sense of pride is usually met with confusion from a non programmer. To a non programmer, being a programmer is the same as being an accountant. Hollywood has shown that programmers work from a desk cluttered with Code Red Moutain Dew and multiple keyboards. Maybe even some goofy glasses and a pocket protector.

My Home Office Computer

The truth is programmers are just normal people with a gift for using special characters on the single keyboard. That’s right just one, they may have multiple computers working together but are resourceful enough to connect one keyboard to run them all.

So then why are Programmers so proud of being programmers? Programming is pure creation. You begin with a blank screen. A few thousand key strokes later, you have created a beautiful, functional, piece of digital art which make the world a better place. You get to play THESIS for a living.

Programmers have a secret club called Open Source. Open Source allows worldwide programmers to work together on code which is given to the world for free. Just like owning a motorcycle or scuba diving, being a programmer automatically gives you access to the exclusive club.

Next time you see a programmers eyes light up with pride, you will know they are proud of trying to make the world a better place.

It was originally located at lipeimagination.info/forum/mainpage.php.?Even the structure of that url will tell you how old school the original project was. In the beginning it was semi-popular. Getting 50 posts on busy days ,it was of interest to many people from my network and some curious outsiders.

A couple of years ago the forum had become neglected and forgotten.

A Year ago it was redesigned with a new google friendly url structure and vast coding improvements with plans to grow. Alas, it was forgotten and left with coding errors.

We had become so busy here, there was no longer even a formal link to the forum from our main site.?It was still getting traffic directed from google each week. I expected the traffic to die off over time, but I has continued to be steady. I recently received an email thanking me for information on the forum that made someone’s project much easier. I decided it was time to dust off the project.

Now here we are coming up on 4 years since the founding of Lipe Imagination and the Forum Lives Again!?I have gone through the code and fixed (“hopefully”) all the errors and added a couple of enhancements. The first enhancement you will notice is all the post forms now include a full WYSIWYG editor. For those not familiar, it means you can format your text and easily add links and images.

I started a thread for suggestions for new features and ideas. Please use it!

The Forum is now linked from our main site once again and can be reached at http://forum.lipeimagination.info

The purpose of my visit is to attend a Wordcamp with my colleges from Vivid Image.

I question I was asked most before I left was “What is Wordcamp?”. So here is an explanation……

Wordcamp is a convention for WordPress users, developers, business owners, interested parties, and others just looking get out of the house. Here we get together to share ideas, and learn from each other. Now that WordPress has become the most popular blogging/website platform there is quite a need for these large meetups. With hundreds of?attendees and Wordcamps held year round all over the world, it is no surprise that this has become a big deal.

I new addition to this year’s Chicago Wordcamp is the “Newbie” wodpress user class. It filled up almost immediately, creating plans for a large session next year. If you subscribe to this blog, it is most likely that you have or currently use WordPress so you know how cool it is.

I plan to bring back with me new ideas to make my WordPress projects and the Web a whole better.

A few of you know about my latest plugin in development “Simple Links”. I was hoping to have it complete so I could announce it this weekend but ?no dice. It is now scheduled to be published in September.

Hope to see you all at the next Wordcamp!!!

When adding javascript or jquery to wordpress it is tempting to throw something into a header or footer hook that simply echos out a script tag like so

add_action( ‘get_header’, ‘script_function’ );

function script_function(){

echo ‘<script type=”text/javascript”>’;

alert( ‘hello’ );

echo ‘</script>’;

}

While this method will do the trick it can become quite cumbersome. You have to be careful of which order you call this script in case it has dependencies on other scripts like jquery.
It is also not very organized to mix js with php.

Here is a better way:

Although, I am going to focus on Jquery this same method is proper practice for javascript by itself as well.

One of the many great things about WordPress, is it has the latest version of Jquery built right in. There is also a hook built in to add scripts to your site.

Start with a hook called ‘wp_enqueue_scripts” and call the ‘wp_enqueue_script‘ function inside it like so.

add_action( ‘wp_enqueue_scripts’, ‘add_my_script’ );

 

function add_my_script(){
wp_enqueue_script(
apply_filters( ‘my_plugin_script’, ‘my_script’ ), //Allows developers to overright the name of the script
get_bloginfo( ‘stylesheet_directory’ ) . ‘/js/’ . ‘custom_script.js’, //The location of your script file
array(‘jquery’ ), //The scripts this depends on?
’1.0.0′ //The Version of your script

);
}

Let’s take a look at the arguments above.

1. The first one“apply_filters( ‘my_plugin_script’, ‘my_script’ )” is what names your script. You want this to be unique. Using apply_filters is optional but it lets other developers rename it in case of other scripts with the same name. If there are two same named scripts, WordPress with Go with the latest one only.
2. The Second one “get_bloginfo( ‘stylesheet_directory’ ) . ‘/js/’ . ‘custom_script.js’” is where your file is located. In this example I used a handy little function which gives the directory of your active theme wherever it happens to be.
3. The Third one “array(‘jquery’ )” is an array the names of any scripts that yours depends on. To use the built in Jquery use this example.
4. The Fourth one “1.0.0″ is the version of your script. This is caching purposes. If you change your script it’s a good idea to change the version as well.

//You call your jquery like normal inside this function

//$(‘input’).val( ‘ ‘ );

As The plugin I developed Advanced Sidebar Menu reaches 5,000 downloads http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/advanced-sidebar-menu/ I thought it might be a good time to talk about the capabilities I have added in the last couple versions.

As of version 3.0 released on April 14th, I added the ability to display categories with the same child/parent relationship as the pages.
This feature (inspired by Kori and WordPress Members), displays a list of all the categories that are either parents of, or children of the parent of, the current category when viewing a category page.

As of version 3.2 released last night, I added the ability to display categories on single post pages.
This feature (inspired by Steve and WordPress Members ), adds and option to display a list of all the of the categories the current post is in with the same parent/child relationship. There is an option to show each of these category lists as a new widget or an extended list.
This functionality can now be incorporated into our designs and what we can offer our client with simple drag and drop functionality and no custom coding.

 

This is very exciting for me!

The plugin now carries a 4 star rating and has contributed to making the web better as a whole.

Awesome.

Paginating is by default built into wordpress. It is quite easy to use and in most cases it is an automatic addition to the bottom of pages.
You can adjust how many post show up by changing a setting the Reading Section. You can also change the type of page links which are display in the Genesis settings.

This all works good and fine unless you want your custom post type to paginate. That does not work as expected.
To make the links show up you have to change the way your template handles the archive. Most likely you have a file in your theme called archive dash your custom post types name e.g. archive-nursery.php which is called when you are in the archive of your custom post type.

To make the paginate work, you will have to adjust the main loop like so:
$paged = ( get_query_var(‘paged’)) ? get_query_var(‘paged’) : 1;
$temp = $wp_query;
$wp_query = null;
$wp_query = new WP_Query();
$wp_query->query(‘paged=’. $paged .’&post_type=nursery’ );

while ($wp_query ->have_posts() ) {

$wp_query->the_post();

In this example the custom post type is nursery. You will have to change that to match. Basically all this code does is:
1. Get the current page
2. Set a var to the original loop
3. Reset the loop
4. Create a new loop
5. Call the posts using our specified parameters.

Thats only the first part. Next you need to call a couple functions to add the page links.
?>
<div class= “navigation”>

php previous_posts_link( ‘? Previous’); ?>

 

php next_posts_link( ‘More ?’); ?>

</div>
<?php $wp_query = null; $wp_query = $temp;?>

That code will echo out the links for the pages and set the loop block back to the original loop.
Ok, so far so good as long as you want the number of posts to match what you have set in your Reading settings in the dashboard.
But what if you want to display a different number of posts and still make the paginate work?
This is how you accomplish this:

1. In your functions.php file include the following code: Again this example uses nursery:
function posts_per_page( $query ) {

if ( $query->query_vars['post_type'] == ‘nursery’ ){
$query->query_vars['posts_per_page'] = 6;
}
return $query;
}
add_filter( ‘pre_get_posts’, ‘posts_per_page’ );

This code tells wordpress that you want 6 posts on each page if in the nursery archive.

2. Adjust the parameters sent when calling the post to match the number per page.
$paged = ( get_query_var(‘paged’)) ? get_query_var(‘paged’) : 1;
$temp = $wp_query;
$wp_query = null;
$wp_query = new WP_Query();
$wp_query->query(‘showposts=6′.’&paged=’. $paged .’&post_type=nursery’ );
while ($wp_query ->have_posts() ) {
$wp_query->the_post();

Same as before along with an additional showposts=6.

Now you have it. Create your loops output like normal and your custom post type will paginate.

Today I published the phase 1 changes to my forum. The new structure is currently in Beta testing phase. Most of the changes are invisible. I recreated the entire structure of the site to allow for future changes more efficiently.

Some of the changes that have already been made are as follows:

• The location of the forum has changed to http://forum.lipeimagination.info, don’t worry, all the old links and site location will still bring you to the new home.
• The url structure is now google friendly. Old pages that used to be linked to with a series of ?page=&forum= etc are not linked to with a hyphen separated name.
• You may now sort the threads by subject. Just click on subject on the threads list page and they will sort alphabetically.
• One of the first things you will notice is the new login process. I wrote a much more secure login which takes you out of the normal site structure to log you in.
• The contact form now only has one options. Also many of the links through the site no open a email in outlook instead of redirecting you to the contact form.
• Some of the messages have changed.
• The reply form now shows up under the message you are replying to instead of always at the bottom. There is still a reply form at the bottom of each thread to reply to the thread itself, but you may now reply to a reply right under the reply.

One of my current “Action Items” was to get involved in the WordPress community. If you are unfamiliar with wordpress, it is the content management system we current use at Vivid Image to build our sites on.

Yesterday I finally found some time to do so. “Yeah, I know it was Saturday”. Turns out I’m kinda a geek.

After registering with WordPress, I decided to go onto the Forums and see If I could help anyone out there. 2 hours later, I had responded to several threads and hopefully helped many members.

Last night I decided to post one of the many plugins I wrote to see if anyone could use it.

It has now been around 12 hours since I posted it. I has been downloaded 132 times and currently holds a 4 star rating. If you would like to see for yourself, you may check out the details and download it at http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/advanced-sidebar-menu/.

It is my “Aparently soon to be famous” Advanced menu plugin, which I have currently used on 3 sites I have built and looks like it may be part of over a hundred sites others are building.

If I can find the time, I will probably post my Go Live plugin later today……. Stay Tuned for a plugin on WordPress called “Go Live Update Urls”

If that doesn’t make any sense to you, believe me, you are not alone. What is ICANN? What are generic top-level domains? How does this affect me?….. These are all very good questions. Let’s see if I can answer them.

First let’s take a look at ICANN. ICANN or (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) is a non-profit corporation founded in 1998 to help regulated internet domain addressing.

Domain addressing allows you to type what is called a friendly name e.g. lipeimagintion.info into your Internet Explorer, instead of a hard to keep track of “IP” number like 94.157.221.11, to get to a particular website or email.

Out on the internet there are huge indexes of every website and address. For everyone in the world to reach the same website at the same address these indexes must universal and kept up to date. There are certain criteria to keep these indexes from becoming too massive and unusable.  This is where ICANN comes in. They decide the criteria by which websites are named.        

Next, generic top-level domains or (gTLDs). gTLDs are the concept of adding an extension to the end of a domain name to make it more easily accessible in the huge indexes I mentioned earlier. When you look at the end of a websites address you see something like .com, .org, .net etc. Those are gTLDs. What they say is, “if the address ends with .com, it goes in the .com index”.

ICANN decides what gTLDs may be used. If everyone was able to add whatever extension they wanted to their site’s address, there would be no way to keep the indexes efficient. The internet would slow down and there could easily be inconsistencies of which website you get when you type in an address.

This brings us back to the topic. Right now there are 22 gTLDs that can be used when addressing a website. Many of them are very familiar to us. On June 20 2011, ICANN decided to open up gTLDs to many new extensions. They have made it available for groups or companies to apply for a personalized extension. These applications will be accepted between January 12 2012, and April 12 2012. According to ICANN’s latest press release, we will start seeing these personalized domains on the web in late 2012.

Finally, how does this affect you? For the average web browser, there will be more extensions to remember when looking for a particular site. This means checking your Internet Explorers address bar more frequently to make sure you are not on a “spoofed” site.

If you are the owner of a website, this means there will be a lot more possibilities for similar addresses. For instance let’s say you have a website and the address is lipeimagination.info. To make sure people looking for you site actually find it, you also purchased lipeimagination.net and lipeimagination.com You have pointed all three to the same site. This gives you the assurance that a user looking for your site will find it whether they type in .com, .org, or .net. If no one already owns them, you may purchase all 22 of the possible domains.

With the new gTLDs there will be a lot more possibilities for the same address. Someone else could buy lipeimagination.bic for instance and now internet users looking for you site may inadvertently end up on a different site by accidentally adding the incorrect extension.

Well, now what? What do we do to prevent our users from ending up where they don’t want to be?   The answer is this. If you are using a hosting company like Lipe Imagination to handle your website, ask them to let you know when new extensions become available and make sure to get the addresses which match your existing ones before anyone else does. I will be monitoring these and am happy to share new information with any of our clients.

There is some silver lining to this cloud. One of the main reasons they approved the new gTLDs is to allow non English writing countries to have domain extensions in their own characters and languages. This means is there will be a lot of new gTLDs that are not in English and will most likely not cause your users to accidentally go to the wrong site. You will be able to secure your sites address without owning “every” similar address.