WP Multisite Static Frontpage

Question

I created a multisite and my question is as followed:

Im trying to display a default static page for each new site. So when they create a new site, they automatically get a default page I made. This is the only page they need and have controle over. This page has only widgetized area's in it so that the site-admin can add content by adding widgets into the widget area's. They dont have access to create a post or page themselves.

By adding a piece of code into wp-admin/includes/upgrade.php the page will be automatically made by WP whenever a new site is made. However, the page isnt connected to the template with the html/php code in it to display the widgets they add. Normally in WP you can create a page and on the right side you can select a template.

Is it clear this far? (even I get confused lol)

So what Im asking is.. is there a way to create a static frontpage for all newly created sites (like test.example.com and test2.example.com) with a template connected to it?

Thanks in advance!!! It would make my day!

Answer 1

I would recommend waiting until WordPress 3.4 is released. Among other features, it is slated to include the ability to allow Themes to define/declare a static front page. I believe this functionality should suit your needs.

(Note: as of today, WordPress 3.4 just hit Beta 1, and is scheduled for final release in May.)

Answer 2

You can hook into the creation of a new multisite blog like this:

add_action('wpmu_new_blog', 'default_settings', 100, 2);
function default_settings($blog_id, $user_id){
    switch_to_blog($blog_id);

    // setup your page here

    restore_current_blog();
}

In that function you would use wp_insert_post to create your page, and then you would set the option used to determine the homepage to the ID of the newly created post