"Example isn't just another way to teach, it's the only way." -- attributed to Albert Einstein

Peter Blaise says: Thanks to Alexis, Brion, Gary, and Mike Dillon (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Mike_Dillon/Sidebar) for your exploration of this topic. I've finally worked out a repeatable solution and documented here:

http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/MediaWiki_talk:Sidebar#How_to_add_long_and _complex_links_to_MediaWiki:sidebar (copied below * for our archives)

and here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Mike_Dillon/Sidebar#How_to_add_long_an d_complex_links_to_MediaWiki:sidebar

Thanks again.

-- Peter Blaise

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* from http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/MediaWiki_talk:Sidebar#How_to_add_long_and _complex_links_to_MediaWiki:sidebar

How to add long and complex links to MediaWiki:sidebar

Peter Blaise says: Note: I wanted to add traditional "indexes" as links in the sidebar. I found that full-length links or "&" characters in my links caused those links to fail to show up in the sidebar display. An example goal is to show a link to "All talk pages", for instance, like this raw URL that works on it's own, but not when inserted into the sidebar:

* http://www.our-mediwiki-url.com/index.php?title=Special%3AAllpages&from= &namespace=1

... but that line just disappeared in the display of the sidebar, as did any iteration of the same, with or without spaces when adding a "|" pipe character after that link to describe it in the MediaWiki:sidebar, and so on. I contacted the mediawikil mailing list http://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/mediawiki-l. There, Alexis Moinet and Brion Vibber explored the problem and here's what seems to work for now, see MediaWiki-l Digest, Vol 45, Issue 34 at http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/mediawiki-l/2007-June/021023.html. Instead of directly using long and complex links, we first created a new "MediaWiki:nnn" page that contains the long complex link for us. Then, using the shorter, simpler name of that newly created "MediaWiki:nnn" page, we could create a link that does finally work in the sidebar. When clicked, it goes directly to the target page from the sidebar as intended. Here are the steps to success:

How to add long and complex links to MediaWiki:sidebar

1. Find the intended target page and copy it's full URL address 2. In the "search" box, type: MediaWiki:new-link-page-name (page-title of your choosing), [Go] 3. Create/edit new page "Mediawiki:new-link-page-name" 4. Paste the long complex link of the intended target page into the contents of the new page, such as the one line in our sample: * http://www.our-mediwiki-url.com/index.php?title=Special%3AAllpages&from= &namespace=1 5. Save the new page 6. In the "search" box, type: MediaWiki:sidebar, [Go] 7. Edit the Mediawiki:sidebar page, adding a new line at the bottom that reads: * ** new-link-page-name|description 8. Save the Mediawiki:sidebar page 9. Note, find all the "MediaWiki:nnn" pages by going to "Special:Allpages" and selecting "Mediawiki" from the drop-down menu

Caveats: This seems to require the long URL, such as:

* http://www.our-mediwiki-url.com/index.php?title=Special%3AAllpages&from= &namespace=1

... but we cannot yet figure out how to make shorter, relative links, such as:

* index.php?title=Special%3AAllpages&from=&namespace=1 * Special:Allpages&from=&namespace=1

So, this solution is not portable, and must be custom created for a specific long, localized URL - dang! If anyone has a suggestion of a briefer, common way to accomplish putting such expanded "special:nnn" links into the sidebar, PLEASE let us know! I've copied this from Wikipedia.org http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Mike_Dillon/Sidebar#How_to_add_long_an d_complex_links_to_MediaWiki:sidebar to MediaWiki.org here since this is really MediaWiki content, not Wikipedia.org content. -- Peter Blaise peterblaise 12:39, 13 June 2007 (UTC)

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Brion wrote: [unrelated]... wiki admin level (through a MediaWiki: page) instead of the server admin level (through LocalSettings.php) ...

Peter Blaise responds: THANKS! That's a very definitive distinction between the meaning of "admin" and "sysop". People ask, "How do I make someone an admin?" and they mean "How do I empower a logged-in user to be able to perform MediaWiki editing and customization functions via the on-screen MediaWiki interface?", which is really "sysop" or "bureaucrat", not "admin". "Admin" is not a proper title of a MediaWiki user class level, but I see your use of "admin" as someone who can stand outside the working MediaWiki system and adjust it from the outside, such as playing with the files and server structure and contents directly. That clarification is very helpful to me, and I will add it to the MediaWiki encyclopedia I am building in-house to help others in my group befriend and master MediaWiki.

-- Peter Blaise