How to configure .htaccess for WordPress Multisite

If you’re using Thesis with WordPress Multisite, you’ll likely need to tweak your .htaccess directives to get everything working properly.

CSS: Apache Directive

When used with WordPress Multisite, Thesis requires special Apache directives in the .htaccess file. This allows for cleaner output on the front end and also makes Multisite CSS more compatible with some caching Plugins.

To add the Apache directives, follow these steps:

  1. Open your .htaccess file located in the WordPress root.
  2. Find the following in the .htaccess file:

    # BEGIN WordPress
    RewriteEngine On
    RewriteBase /
    RewriteRule ^index\.php$ - [L]

    IMPORTANT: You must put the new rules in the correct position (just after the RewriteRule which looks exactly like the one shown above) within the .htaccess file or it will not work!

  3. Add the following lines (in bold) to your .htaccess file:

    # BEGIN WordPress
    RewriteEngine On
    RewriteBase /
    RewriteRule ^index\.php$ - [L]
    RewriteRule wp-content/thesis/skins/(.*)/css.css wp-admin/admin-post.php?action=thesis_do_css
    RewriteRule wp-content/thesis/skins/(.*)/css-editor.css wp-admin/admin-post.php?action=thesis_do_css
  4. Save the file. If you’re running caching plugins or caching software, be sure to empty/flush your cache.

If you are running a caching plugin, there may be tens or hundreds of lines of Apache Directives. In this case, you may need to contact your hosting company/sysadmin for further assistance.