WP-Universe creates a blog universe based on categories of a Wordpress blog.
Blog universe is a Wordpress blog which serves more than one domain/subdomain. WP-Universe does not require any coding/template editing but automatically handles the universe-creation. To explain the concept universe;
Let’s assume we have a blog - http://www.myblog.com - which is our main blog. Let’s say we have categories gaming, coding and life. After enabling WP-Universe you can match categories to universe subdomains or domains;
- Category Gaming -> http://gaming.myblog.com
- Category Coding -> http://coding.myblog.com
- Category Life -> http://life.myblog.com
With a simple configuration your universe will be;
- http://www.myblog.com - Main Blog / Universe / Serves all content from all categories
- http://gaming.myblog.com - Gaming Universe; will just serve content from GAMING category and it’s subcategories.
- http://coding.myblog.com - Coding Universe; will just serve content from CODING category and it’s subcategories.
- http://life.myblog.com - Life Universe; will just serve content from LIFE category and it’s subcategories.
Demos & Sites Using
WP-Universe runs on my main blog, check;
- http://www.regularsexpressions.com - Main Universe
- http://war.regularsexpressions.com - Warhammer Online Portal
- http://wow.regularsexpressions.com - World of Warcraft Portal
- http://devblog.regularsexpressions.com - Coding Portal
Download
http://downloads.wordpress.org/plugin/wp-universe.0.1.zip
Installation
- Upload WP-Universe to your blog’s wp-content/plugins directory
- Activate the plugin
- Goto category managment and for each category you want to be served as sub-universes, put URL of sub-universe to categories description field.
- Enable/Redirect subdomain/domain to your Wordpress installation.
To better understand step 3;
- Let’s say we got our blog at http://www.myblog.com and have a category named Wordpress. We want it to be served as http://wordpress.myblog.com
- Goto category managment [Managment/Category Menu under Wordpress Adminstration]
- Find Wordpress category and click it to edit.
- Write http://wordpress.myblog.com to description field of the category and click “Edit Category”
- Add a subdomain using your hosting control panel/dns controller to your default IP.
That’s it!
Frequently Asked Questions
Do i need to add a code / edit template?
No WP-Universe needs to coding/editing at all. Everything is simple!
Will it work with every plugin / theme?
WP-Universe uses standarts methods and hooks itself to Wordpress default functions (get_posts). So that every plugin/theme with standart coding guidelines will just work with WP-Universe.
What about feeds?
Your feeds will also be universe enabled!
Wordpress Repository: http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/wp-universe/
About
[...] For installation, downloading and FAQ please check the plugin’s own page. [...]
[...] For more information about WP-Universe check here. [...]
But, will this work if your main blog is already subdomain?
I.E. blog.mainblog.com.
With a cat of “subject” will the plugin produce the following: subject.blog.mainblog.com
Does this only work with subdomains? Or is it possible to link specific categories with additional www domains. I.e. main category is http://www.mydomain.com and another category would be http://www.myotherdomain.com
[...] WP-Universe [...]
I can’t seem to get this plugin to work, and the problem may be setting up the subdomain on the server side. I posted a support topic at Wordpress.org — http://wordpress.org/support/topic/203780 — but perhaps I could get help here.
I’ve installed the plugin.
I’ve added the subdomain URL to the category description.
I’ve added the subdomain to my server.
When I did the third step, it created a directory for the subdomain, and now it simply goes there (which is an uncreated site). And I’m not sure what else to do. Thanks for your help and the plugin.
@marc
yes it’ll just work.
@michael, plugin is not subdomain limited, domains also works
@mark adams i’ll check your support topic
Sounds like a very cool plugin - thx
Two questions:
1) I can imagine that Google don’t like the double posting, as http://www.domain.com/article-1 will have the same content as category.domain.com/article-1. Will it be possible to have no-follow for the subdomains? Or any other solutions/suggestions re this?
(maybe some 302 redirect magic?)
2) Does this plugin work with WPMU? And if it does, which will have the highest priority: WPMU subdomain or WP-Universe subdomain (if the same exist both places) ?
I’m using WP-Universe on my site: http://agabus.com. One of my sub-domains is http://news.agabus.com. What advice could you give me to control the sidebar? I’d like to customize the sidebar for each sub-blog. Would one use something like Widget Logic or Headspace2?
Also, ditto on HammerFar’s question.
Lastly, as regard my earlier support question, thanks for your help. Works perfectly.
@Mark,
0.1 version was just a proof-of-concept plugin. I’ll provide a 0.2 version with superior features like being able to select themes for each sub-universe, hiding others universes contents. I’ll also provide support functions for sidebar stuff
I have to say it is exceptionally well-proven. My aim is to keep most content in the main blog, but as I write on topics unrelated to my blog’s theme, it’s nice to put some of the content outside the main blog. Look forward to succeeding versions.
[...] WP-Universe [...]
[...] WP Universe es un plugin para Wordpress que permite de una manera mas o menos sencilla convertir nuestras categorías en subdominios, algo que hace un tiempo daba muy buen resultado a nivel SEO y que ahora tengo mis dudas que siga ocurriendo. [...]
[...] Visto en Kabytes Enlace | WP-Universe [...]
[...] en Kabytes Enlace | WP-Universe [...]
[...] interesante: convertir categorías en subdominos. Para eso en regular(s)expressions está el plugin WP-Universe, que se encarga de eso. Interesante para lo del SEO. November 26, 2008 | En blogosfera, wordpress [...]
how does it deal with sitemaps (xml versions) it would be prudent for each subdomain to have a sitemap relevant only to its category.
Did 2.8 break this plugin? I cannot get it to work…