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Multiple Themes on your Drupal Install
I was just encountered with the need to have a multi-site drupal install which utilized a specific theme for each site. In a lot of cases, multi-sites are set up on one drupal install, but utilize individual databases for each site. This is done by setting $db_url in settings.php to point to the database to be used for each site.
In our case, we needed to have a multi-site platform on one drupal install using only one database, but each site needed to display its own theme. This is accomplished by modifying each settings.php file for each site and un-commenting the following code.
# $conf = array(
# 'site_name' => 'My Drupal site',
# 'theme_default' => 'minnelli',
# 'anonymous' => 'Visitor',
# );
In our case, we only needed to set the 'theme_default' option for our settings and removed 'site_name' as well as 'anonymous'. Be sure to activate your themes in admin/build/themes by checking them On. This will allow you to set the 'theme_default' by specifying the theme name in each settings.php file.
Also, to keep with the "Drupal Way", make sure you place each theme for each site inside of a themes directory inside its site directory.
Example: sites/oneofmysites.com/themes/theme-directory
Drupal Multiple Sites Install & Theming - Advantages ?
I have been doing a little Drupal experiementing (emphasis on the LITTLE) and “discovered” the concept or methodology of hosting multiple sites on one Drupal install folder. I can see the advanages of updating a single Drupal install of the base code, but what other advantages are there?
I am curretnly wrestling with how to use a distinct theme for each individual site (as any client will want) and also wondering if there is any real advantage of using the multiple site from one install approach. For sites that are going to be themed with vast differences (modules, etc) it seems to be more problematic.
Why would I use this multiple site design instead of using a separate folder and unique Drupal install for each site domain? It would seem that for a host of client sites that it is going to actually be easier in the long run to use distinct folders & DBs for each site domain rather than have a huge package of default modules and themes show up in every site.
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