HolidayCheck Blog Network

With the HolidayCheck Blog Network, I used the new multiuser functionality WordPress included in Version 3.0. Since I am operating from a subdomain I had to go with the subdirectory install for the other blogs. Using the Domain Mapping Plugin for MU, I am able to run each blog on its own subdomain. The domains point to the root WordPress installation – the plugin takes care of the rest.
Before the blog network was available, I had to hack tweak the wp-config.php file a bit to determine which top level domain is requested and have it set the right database prefix and locale. Now this isn’t necessary anymore and I can maintain plugins, themes, users etc. centrally, which reduces the maintenance overhead a lot.

HolidayCheck Campus

HolidayCheck Campus is the first blog that I created on the HolidayCheck Blog Network. Its theme is a child of the theme framework I used for the Polish and German Blog, thus taking advantage of all modules I incorporated in the parent theme. Since its design (Mock up by Thomas Witt) is so different from its counterparts, it almost exclusively uses its own templates (even the searchform!).

Again, I had to customize a lot to meet the requirements. Here are some modules I had to extend or create:

  • Admin Advice
    Textbox in the settings area to edit a Dashboard Widget, viewable for all authors and guestauthors with instructions
  • Code Markup
    This is still in development, I’m currently looking for a possibility to highlight the code without a buggy plugin
  • Post Thumbnail
    Adds theme support and displays the thumbnail in the posts overview
  • Search excerpt
    Highlights the searchterm and displays the section of an article where the term was found (try it here!)
  • Twitter anywhere
    Add the Twitter anywhere functionality with a fallback for users who have JavaScript disabled

HolidayCheck Blog Poland

I created this website (run on WordPress) as part of my job as a working student at HolidayCheck. The design was mostly taken over from its German counterpart (Designed by Thomas Witt).

Extensive customization was requested, only to name a few:

  • Making it possible to run two sites on one WordPress install (traffic: ca. 1000 visits/day)
  • Internationalizing the existing theme
  • Customized post editor, based on user role
  • Possibility to assign certain categories to a particular author (admin can access them all)
  • Dynamically building of author overview page (based on name and post count)
  • Dynamically creating the Google Analytics code (now deprecated)
  • Click-Tracking for Google Analytics