Help to structure a project with subdomains and multisite.

[zilli]

Hello,

I'm about to suggest a CMF/CMS for a scalable project in my company and I really need your input here to get PW on board. The idea is simple

- Build a main website - www.acme.com

- And than build independent but related websites using the subdomains - product.acme.com / something.acme.com 

- Each subdomain will have their own website and staff team.

What do I need?

- All the websites should be able to have their own backend. The reason for that is because the staff from product.acme.com will be different from acme.com. So, I don't want a staff from product.acme.com to be able to "see" the acme.com backend.

- To be able to setup independent pages design/features for each sub-domain.

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It's something like google.com and their sub-domains. You have adwrods.google.com / maps.google.com / translator.google.com and so on. They keep their main brand visible - google.com - and add their different products from subdomains.

In my case, the subdomains will only host another simple website. 

How would you approach this project?

Please let me know if you need more clarification.

Best regards,

Zilli

[LostKobrakai]

Is there anything those different website should share in terms of data? If not (or only few) than it's probably the easiest do just use three different pw installations and if needed share data via something like the ServicePages module. Otherwise I suggest taking a look into the Multisite and the Dynamic Roles modules. They would allow you to setup the structure you're envisioning in a single pw installation with some shared and some exclusive data.

- To be able to setup independent pages design/features for each sub-domain.

Design is by default set up on a by-template basis, so each subdomain could simply use their one templates. If needed you could also implement custom logic to reuse templates between subdomains and only adjust the styling depending on the location.

[zilli]

Thanks @LostKobrakai.

Is it possible to treat the subdomains as "sections" of the main site, instead separate sites? The reason is that if my subdomain will hold just a few dozen pages, maybe I don't need to create a new site instalment. If so, can I create an user in the backend that would only have permission to that section of the website?

[LostKobrakai]

That's certainly possible, which you can see here: https://processwire.com/talk/topic/10324-bmw-dealer-sites/