@Cracks I’m afraid I don’t have any first hand experience deploying a single file to multiple sites. But I wonder if the alternative deployment technique I discuss in my third article (where the production site is a Subversion working copy) might suit your requirements. It does require that the sites are hosted on a server that has Subversion installed, and that you have shell access to the sites, which rules out many shared hosting accounts.

Otherwise (and this has nothing to do with Subversion) an FTP synchronisation program would probably be suitable – I use FTPGetter, mostly for downloading to my working copy files that have been uploaded to the server by the website owner (ie: via a CMS), but of course you could set up the reverse, rules to automate the uploading of certain files. There are plenty of FTP automation apps around that do the same thing as FTPGetter.

I need to share a single stylesheet amongst multiple sites..? So when I make changes to the single, local file (style.css), I need those changes rolled out to all the live sites. Is this possible with Subversions, or is that the job for some other organisation technique?

I have a network of WordPress sites, and I need a better-than-manual-upload option.

On a mac I’ve found SmartSVN to be good, although the last time I used it it had a rather clunky, un-Mac like GUI.

Versions on the other hand has a pleasantly Mac-like GUI, but I have yet to have a project in which to test out its feature set—I note some other users declaring SmartSVN still to be the way to go, or else Git if one is more comfortable using the Terminal.

A friend, who is more of a fully fledged programmer than myself, has been encouraging me to return to Subversion for web development, but I’ve hesitated because it just seems like overkill for what are mostly one-man projects. Your article however makes a lot of good points, and it may be time to rethink my current approach.