Thread: Just a few questions...

Just a few questions...

If I installed the Clipper theme in a multi site environment, what can and cannot I change on each install?

Here's an example of what I'm thinking…
Site 1 - Clipper installed, change "Featured Coupons" on the home page to "Featured ZYX", limit the categories, only allow certain stores, etc
Site 2 - Clipper installed, change "Featured Coupons" on the home page to "Featured ABC," limit the categories, etc, etc
Site 3 - Clipper installed, change "Featured Coupons" on the home page to "Featured MNO," change Stores to Sites, limit the categories, etc

All Sites - reduce the spacing surrounding the logo / search area to maximize real estate
All Sites - reduce the spacing at the bottom of the template to increase real estate space

In other words, how much customization can I do before I won't be able to use the M S to do simple updates? And for the "all sites" example above, would I make those changes using the Super Admin on the main site where those changes would flow directly to the sub sites? And if I did the real estate mods from above, for example, how would that work on future updates and what kind of complications will I encounter?

Maybe I'm looking at this in the wrong way, I'm just trying to see how to use the multi site to my advantage while being able to make each install unique (since it's required).

Lastly, has anyone installed a "live search" (ajax) for the search function? If so, what plugin would you suggest to customize the search, such that it will search stores (or specific field) only , for example?

Don't worry, I'll have more questions, I'm just getting warmed up! :)

In order to give each site a unique look whilst also being conscious of theme updates, you need to look at creating a child theme for each site, so that any changes you make aren't lost in the process of an update. Updating then shouldn't be an issue even on a multisite installation if you use child themes. The documentation linked should give you a better idea of how this works, and thus also make your questions about updates a little clearer :)

I'm not aware of any ajax based search functionality being implemented by anyone, at least not mentioned in the forums at this time. AppThemes does not officially support third party plugins, so we unfortunately don't have recommendations which we could offer that we could also guarantee are compatible with the theme. Thanks.

So if I just wanted to just change "Store" to "Site" for one of the websites, I will still have to create a child theme in order to do that? Or what exact changes require the use of a child theme? Or what can I modify per site without having to resort to child themes? Sorry for my lack following along, it's been a long few days, and it's been a couple years since playing around with websites.

And no worry on the ajax search, I have an idea on how to accomplish what I need.

Thanks again, pepsi.

You can certainly still make changes to text in the code without creating a child theme for it, yes, however you will lose those changes in the process of an update as all theme files are overwritten. So, whilst creating a child theme is not something you definitely have to do, nor is there a "recommended" point at which you should do it, it's really dependent on whether or not you feel like making those individual changes to theme files for every site, every time you update the theme version. We of course recommend the use of a child theme when making any changes to the theme ;)

Alrighty then! lol You know you're stuff, pepsi. :) I guess I'll just have to decide to purchase the theme or not and give it a go to see what happens.

Oh yeah, one last thing, besides making the themes responsive in the near future, can you elaborate on any new features to be implemented on the Clipper theme?

Thank you.

Although I don't have a confirmed list of features to share at this time, the next biggest feature apart from being made responsive is that we'll be looking to implement AppThemes payments into Clipper which gives you the ability to charge for posting coupons (currently there is no payment gateway built into the theme by default). I'd love to give you a specific date for this, however I can really only say that it's coming, and hopefully soon! Thanks :)