Now that I have completed the very bare bones installation of this site and installed and modified a great template to get things started, it is now time to create the network that will manage all my client’s projects. WordPress version 3.0, the software running this site, has a fantastic new native feature that allows you to unlock a very powerful hidden functionality. This would be multisite functionality and allows you to administrate multiple sites under one installation.

For what reasons would I need it? Good question; As I am tired of paying month after month for other project managers and proofing systems to manage all my work, I decided to build my own with the new WordPress. Here’s how you do it:

Install WordPress, you can find the WordPress software package here, and follow the instructions found here. Once you have your site in a working state, you then need to activate the multisite functionality.

[Everything from here on will require basic knowledge of web programming. If you have no clue what an htaccess file does or dealing with configuration files, then I suggest you leave this to an expert (how about me?)]

Using FTP get access to your root folder where WordPress is installed. Open up your wp-config.php file in a plain text editor (eg. TextEdit or Notepad; not Microsoft Word!) and add the following line to the file just above the /* That's all, stop editing! Happy blogging. */:

define('WP_ALLOW_MULTISITE', true);

Save your changes to the root directory, and login to the backend of your WordPress site. Nothing will look different upon first glance, but on the left side of the screen, you’ll see a tools tab; click it. It should reveal a new selection called Network (see below).

If you are brave and have a web server that can support it, a network utilizing sub-domains is powerful, but having a the DNS Wildcard is not common in most web servers, and that ones that have it are expensive (at least in my experience).

Once you have “installed” the multisite functionality, all you need to do is follow the instructions that are given. All the files needing editing are in your root directory. First, re-open your wp-config.php file and add the given code. Lastly, you will have to edit your htaccess file.

If you can’t find it, make sure to turn on “see hidden files” in your FTP software. The easiest way to create one, if one doesn’t exist, is to use a plain text editor and copy the code into the file. Name it htaccess.txt. This will allow you to see and use it on your local computer. Upload it to your server and rename it to ‘.htaccess’ (without quotes).

If you can see it and open it from your root directory, then just open it and replace all the code between the # BEGIN WordPress and the # END WordPress with the new code. Save it, and you should be good to go!

After all this has been done, you will be forced to re-login. Once logged in, you will see a new tab called Super Admin. This is where all your multisite awesomeness will live. That’s it for this update. Catch me again next time!