Can multisite be used in such a way to have a top level Network site (with a couple of pages) and additional multi sites which will be child pages of the Network site pages?

We need to build a WP website which will have child pages managed by different users and each user's area will have a blog for them to write posts. The top level Network site page/s will not be accessible in WP for the standard user but only for a Super Admin user, and the Super Admin user can update plugins and a custom theme which will update all site pages (Network site and all multisites).

I've had a play locally and get the below URL structures (sorry, re-watching GOT at the mo!):

Top level 'network site' ('/of' added via .htaccess as no page needed but required for SEO):

www.game.local
www.game.local/of/thrones/

Additional multisite landing pages ('/jon' and '/cersei' would be added via .htaccess as no page needed but required for SEO):

www.game.local/jon/snow
www.game.local/cersei/lannister ...

Each multisite would have blogs so articles can be written:

www.game.local/jon/snow/article/title
www.game.local/cersei/lannister/article/title
etc...

And would contain other pages too:

www.game.local/jon/snow/explore
www.game.local/jon/snow/search
www.game.local/cersei/lannister/explore
www.game.local/cersei/lannister/search

All multisites would need the /of/thrones/ adding before their landing pages using a .htaccess rule so the whole URL would be Eg.

www.game.local/of/thrones/jon/snow
www.game.local/of/thrones/cersei/lannister

So should a multisite installation be used in this way?

To summarise:

1. Is this the best way of achieving what we want? If not, is there a better way?
2. Is it possible to search for and retrieve post content from all multisites at the Network site level?
3. Can one nav menu be built and used in all site pages with this approach? Any help is much appreciated.

Can multisite be used in such a way to have a top level Network site (with a couple of pages) and additional multi sites which will be child pages of the Network site pages?

We need to build a WP website which will have child pages managed by different users and each user's area will have a blog for them to write posts. The top level Network site page/s will not be accessible in WP for the standard user but only for a Super Admin user, and the Super Admin user can update plugins and a custom theme which will update all site pages (Network site and all multisites).

I've had a play locally and get the below URL structures (sorry, re-watching GOT at the mo!):

Top level 'network site' ('/of' added via .htaccess as no page needed but required for SEO):

www.game.local
www.game.local/of/thrones/

Additional multisite landing pages ('/jon' and '/cersei' would be added via .htaccess as no page needed but required for SEO):

www.game.local/jon/snow
www.game.local/cersei/lannister ...

Each multisite would have blogs so articles can be written:

www.game.local/jon/snow/article/title
www.game.local/cersei/lannister/article/title
etc...

And would contain other pages too:

www.game.local/jon/snow/explore
www.game.local/jon/snow/search
www.game.local/cersei/lannister/explore
www.game.local/cersei/lannister/search

All multisites would need the /of/thrones/ adding before their landing pages using a .htaccess rule so the whole URL would be Eg.

www.game.local/of/thrones/jon/snow
www.game.local/of/thrones/cersei/lannister

So should a multisite installation be used in this way?

To summarise:

1. Is this the best way of achieving what we want? If not, is there a better way?
2. Is it possible to search for and retrieve post content from all multisites at the Network site level?
3. Can one nav menu be built and used in all site pages with this approach? Any help is much appreciated.

• multisite
• site-url
• multisite-user-management

Share Improve this question edited Apr 2, 2019 at 10:50 Damodog asked Mar 28, 2019 at 11:25 DamodogDamodog 10111 bronze badge 3

• OK question 2 can be done via a plugin: wordpress/plugins/multisite-post-reader But if anybody could confirm specifically on 1. as this is the main thing holding me back at the mo. Thanks. – Damodog Commented Mar 28, 2019 at 14:40
• Welcome to WordPress development. Asking for the "best" of something raises primarily opinion-based answers. Which we don't want on this Q+A site. Asking multiple distinct question at once also makes your request too broad. Please see How do I ask a good question and update your question accordingly. – norman.lol Commented Apr 1, 2019 at 14:32
• Hey @leymannx My main question (1) naturally brings up the other 2 as follow on questions (which I know breaks the rules a little for one post) but I was just hoping for a steer from the community as to whether my idea is totally unworkable or if somebody else had done something similar. I'll try to tweak it a little. – Damodog Commented Apr 2, 2019 at 10:41

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1 - I cannot say if it's the best way or not. I can say that I don't have a better idea, so if it works, then I'd say it's the best :)

2 - You found a plugin

3 - Not that am aware of, but you could possibly create a plugin that adds the menu to newly created sites via https://codex.wordpress/Plugin_API/Action_Reference/wpmu_new_blog