This is Part 9  in an Overview of WordPress 3.0 series.

Besides Custom Post Types and the new Menu system, the biggest awaited feature is the incorporating or merging of the WordPress MU and the WordPress code base. If you are unfamiliar with WordPress MU, it was a fork (variation) of WordPress that allowed for the creation and management of tons of different blogs with only a single installation of WordPress.  So now, with the merging of the two code bases, users can create lots of different sites with only one installation of WordPress 3.0.

I’ve heard the example used of web developers now being able to construct and host their own client sites and have them running on one installation of WordPress.  There are many uses for this new feature.  For people who are used to using WordPress MU, you probably won’t be in too much awe, but for people who have only ever used a single installation of WordPress, the door is now open for you.

BUT… this functionality is not enabled out of the box.  But it’s not too tough to enable this multi-site functionality.  All you need to do to get started is add one line of code to the wp-config.php file:

define(‘WP_ALLOW_MULTISITE’, ‘true’);

Once you add that line of code to your wp-config.php file you will see a new ‘Network’ tab under the ‘Tools’ menu.

This new multi-network/site function lets you choose between sub-domains or sub-directories for your networked websites.  Remember that you need to be sure which option you want to choose, because you can’t change them later. I’ve also been told that this functionality will not work properly on a localhost install.  If you want to try this out, you will need to be on an actual live server.

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