Add support for multiple different blogs

[kemalkastrataj]

Describe the bug
The Multisite Language Switcher (MSLS) plugin currently lacks the functionality to associate different sets of sites within a multisite or multi-network setup. In scenarios where multiple groups of sites exist—such as a client with a coaching site spanning two associated sites (where MSLS works correctly) and a third, entirely unrelated site—the plugin cannot accommodate separate translation associations.

For example, if I were to add a German version for the unrelated third site, MSLS would incorrectly attempt to treat all four sites (the two coaching sites and the unrelated site plus its translation) as being in the same translation group. Currently, there's no way to group or separate translations for different site sets within a network, which limits MSLS’s flexibility for complex site structures.

[lloc]

Thanks for your input on this particular scenario. Normally, you can decide the sites that you want to tie together by assigning them to a specific user. There is the field “Reference User” which is helpful for this task. For even more accentuated separation of sites in a multisite, you could also use a plugin called “WP Multi Network”. This plugin got not much love during the last major updates of WordPress, but I have plans to work on it too.

[martin-neumann-gurus]

I just tested to use the reference user in order to divide two different blogs with in a network. One network I have set with the super admin and the other one, with a newly created admin that had no super admin privileges. The network with the new admin worked fine, but the one that used the super admin, was including the other network as well. Do I need to use two users that have no super admin privileges in order to make that work?

[kemalkastrataj]

I haven't tested this yet, but just based on theory, a dropdown within the site's MSLS settings section would be better. Maybe something like a parent site, so you can designate site X as the parent of all these others.

Or do you think it would be better to group them by user?

[lloc]

You can use any user as “Reference User” to tie the websites together. This can be even a subscriber because the plugin uses this info only for that specific info.

The “Reference User” setting is a dropdown and I believe it is ok like it is since you can decide on a website level who is in or out.

[martin-neumann-gurus]

Yes I can see what the reference user is supposed to do. But in my tests it did not quite worked out as it should. Depending on the user you choose (Maybe depending on the privilleges of the user) it includes more blogs than it should. It is not quite working right yet. If you want we can connect and I will show you what is going on here at my installation.