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Let’s configure our WordPress Multisite Network to work with a global frontend dashboard. This means that your users, instead of using the normal wp-admin dashboard, will use a completely different user interface to manage their restaurants; you’ll create this frontend dashboard with the WP Frontend Admin plugin. 

Follow these steps:

1- CREATE A NEW SITE FOR THE GLOBAL DASHBOARD

We’ll use three essential sites on our restaurant management platform:

  1. Main Site – This is the main network site. Here youc can create your public homepage, pricing pages, contact forms, blog, etc.
  2. Global dashboard site – On this site, we’ll create the global frontend dashboard. When users manage their sites, they will use the frontend admin pages from this site instead of using the normal wp-admin dashboard.
  3. Template Site – This will be a pre-configured site that we’ll use as a template for every restaurant. More on this in future lessons.

Let’s create the Global frontend dashboard site:

  • Go to Network Admin > Sites.
  • Hit Add New.

add new site wordpress

Now you need to enter the new site’s info:

  • Site Address (URL): Since our multisite network works with subdomains, let’s add something like “dashboard” so that our global dashboard’s site URL is something like “dashboard.restaurantmanager.com”.
  • Site Title: Enter the global dashboard site title.
  • Site Language: Select the site language from the dropdown.
  • Admin Email: Enter the admin email here.
  • Note. You don’t need to select the Site Plan nor the Site Template fields.
  • Click Add Site.

add new site wordpress

2- SET UP THE GLOBAL SETTINGS FOR WP FRONTEND ADMIN

Go to Network Admin > WP Frontend Admin > Settings.

Head to General and select the following values:

  • Enable global settings on Multisite: Yes. WP Frontend Admin’s settings selected here will be applied globally to all the sites.
  • Disable the wp-admin notices when viewing on the frontend: Yes. This is to remove all the admin notices added by plugins and themes from the frontend. Keep in mind that useful notifications will be removed as well.

enable global settings on wordpress multisite

  • Hide pages containing our shortcode: Yes. When you create a frontend dashboard that includes the wp-admin “Pages” section, you can hide the pages that contain the WP Frontend Admin shortcode. This way, users do not have access to the “system pages” when managing their own site pages.
  • WordPress Multisite: Use this site as the dashboard for the entire network: Select the site we created above as the global dashboard site.
  • Click Save to apply the general settings.

Now go to the Access Restrictions tab and select these values:

  • Enable the wp-admin access restrictions: Yes.
  • Access restriction: What wp-admin pages can be viewed on the frontend: By now, we don’t need to add anything here, but when we have built all the global frontend dashboard pages, we will need to add the URLs of the pages that will be displayed on the frontend to build the dashboard. This is important to avoid users’ viewing other wp-admin pages on the normal WordPress dashboard. More on that in future lessons.

global frontend dashboard for wordpress multisite

  • Access restriction: Who can access the wp-admin dashboard: Select manage_network because only super admins (network admins) should be able to access wp-admin. Other users will have to use the global frontend dashboard.
  • Access restriction: Frontend dashboard URL: Here you need to enter the URL of the site that will be used as a global frontend dashboard.
  • Allow site owners to register users for their subsites?: Activate this option
  • Scroll down and enter the following in These user roles will use the frontend dashboard:
administrator,shop_manager
  • Finally, hit Save to apply the access restrictions.

global frontend dashboard for wordpress multisite

Now move to the WP Ultimo tab in the WP Frontend Admin settings and tick the WP Ultimo: Remove disallowed pages from menus checkbox.

Since WP Frontend Admin allows you to block frontend dashboard pages based on the WP Ultimo plan, this option allows you to hide the pages that are not available for the user’s plan from the frontend dashboard.

3- Optional – Enable WP Ultimo’s Custom Domains feature

WP Ultimo allows you to add a monetization system to your WordPress Multisite Networks.

You can allow users to use their own custom domain, which is a unique name that identifies a website, for example, site.com.

You can use this as an advanced feature so that your users pay extra money to be able to use a custom domain in your network.

Follow these steps to enable the Custom Domains feature in WP Ultimo.

Open the Network Admin dashboard, and go to Network Admin > WP Ultimo > Settings > Domain Mapping and select these settings:

  • Enable Domain Mapping: Yes
  • Enable Single Sign On: Optional
  • Force Admin Redirect: Allow access to the admin by both mapped domain and network domain
  • Enable Custom Domains: Yes
  • Hit the Save Settings button.

Once you select all these global settings, you’re ready to continue creating your restaurant management platform.

In the next lesson, we’ll learn how to create a WP Ultimo membership plan that you’ll sell to your users, so they can manage their restaurants on your platform.

TIP

If you have a premium license of WP Frontend Admin, you can download the full backup of our restaurants platform, so you can import it on your site and everything shown in this course will be already configured for you. It will save you a lot of time.

Platform for WP Ultimo 1.x

Platform for WP Ultimo 2.x

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