Admin Privileges
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There are two significant functionalities missing from the “administrator” role in a sub-site of a multisite network. The (regular, not super) admin 1) cannot embed code such as a PayPal button script (the script part simply disappears), and 2) the Additional CSS tab is not available in the Customizer (doesn’t show). How can an admin perform these two critical functions when inappropriate to designate them as a super-admin for the entire network?
The page I need help with: [log in to see the link]
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On a multisite, the themes and plugins are the bailiwicks of super admins. That’s just the way ‘it is’ and that’s to keep the themes and plugins from being changed where changes could hurt the sites of other users.
It is hoped that the super admins have the integrity of the whole system in mind and won’t allow changes that might harm some other user’s site(s).
If the individual site owner needs to edit a theme or plugin (or to add plugins that might be detrimental to the network) then that site owner needs to be provided a site to themselves. Most servers handling a multisite can usually support several discrete WordPress installations so that is an option for you.
There may be plugins available to allow some further control but I’d stay away from those. I’ve never given any thought to the customizer not allowing site-specific CSS overrides so I can’t speak to that but the same control concerns probably drive that design decision.
There are child themes and some network assignments of themes to individual sites if I remember correctly. It may be that a child assigned to a site via the network might carry with it the ability to allow the site admin to add CSS code.
You might want to look into that as a possible ‘theme’ solution. I’ve never tried that except as super admin so I’m not real sure about that outcome either.
The logic in the first response above is flawed. My problem has nothing to do with plugins or theme modifications. Can I get a forum moderator to reply to this please and escalate this to a problem that Automattic should resolve?
The whole purpose of the Customizer (that was forced upon all of us) is to allow the most novice user to test and modify various themes to decide what they’d like to use. I provide about 50 themes in my multisite and either the client or I choose what will work best for them. In many cases I will create a child theme, but that is irrelevant to this problem. When a commonly used theme is chosen, either the client or I will add their logo, specify colors, header image, etc. in the Customizer. Allowing an admin of a subsite to access Additional CSS cannot harm any of the themes because all of this customization is done inline.
A simple example is I set the color orange for my client in the Customizer Additional CSS of https://www.faystonforager.com/ as: .site-header, .site-footer { background-color: #E79734; } and told her how she can tweak the color if she’d like. But because she can’t access this, it takes a simple modification out of her hands and requires me to do it, costing one of us.
The other issue would be better described as Custom HTML rather than script. PayPal “Buy Now” and “Add to Cart” buttons are simple things that an admin should be allowed to add. If an admin is capable of doing this in an individual site, they should be allowed to do it in a subsite. The problem with the PayPal button on the above website is fully described here: https://www.darlenemccormick.com/documentation/ When an admin of a sub-site tries to copy that code, the form and input tags are removed. If I insert it into her page, it breaks when she re-enters the page to do anything else. The only way to have the button remain intact and allow her to work on her site is to save it as a reusable block. But then any time she might have to change a price or add a variation in PayPal and regenerate the code, I need to update the reusable block, again removing her autonomy and costing one of us.
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