We are looking at using Mediawiki as the source of information for our IT infrastructure. Since Wikipedia is a giant knowledge base, why not our IT docs?
Here are a couple of questions that we have.
1) There are many existing docs, some of which we would like to move into MW. We can save a word document to *.html (using this we get a warning from word that it might not be able to use the format :) but we get a lot of extra bits. It appears that the style classes it creates at the beginning are not usable in the wiki document.
Is there a way to include these? Do I have to create another skin? Or is there a better way to bring these documents over?
2) As we move forward we are looking to create a 'template' for the various types of documents we have including Project Scope, Project Technical Design and Project Functional Design.
I have been looking at the docs and 'templates' and wonder if I have missed something. Is there an easy way to create a 'template' (a complete page with all tables, headings etc create) and then when you want a new page simply bring that document in instead of the blank edit panel
3) As we all know, change can be a very intimidating thing. With this in mind we are looking for ways to be able to edit, especially new documents, with some form of WYSIWYG type editor. Is there any that have been used successfully with MW? Any stories that you would like to share on how you use these
4) One of our documents is really a large spreadsheet. This works well for the data analysis. But I am wondering how MW will handle a large table. This might be something better to store in a secondary page and link from the 'Data Analysis' heading page
I hope these questions are not outside of the scope of this list. If you prefer I will be happy to take all questions, comments off line
Thank you very much
DSig David Tod Sigafoos | SANMAR Corporation PICK Guy 206-770-5585 davesigafoos@sanmar.com
Hi Dave,
- There are many existing docs, some of which we would like to move
into MW.
You might try Word2MediaWikiPlus: http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Extension:Word2MediaWikiPlus I'm not sure whether it's capable of handling complex documents though.
If that doesn't work, you could always upload the existing files as Word documents to the wiki - though if they're more than a somewhat obsolete reference and still subject to frequent changes, that might be a somewhat cumbersome workaround.
- As we move forward we are looking to create a 'template' for the
various types of documents we have including Project Scope, Project Technical Design and Project Functional Design.
I have been looking at the docs and 'templates' and wonder if I have missed something. Is there an easy way to create a 'template' (a complete page with all tables, headings etc create) and then when you want a new page simply bring that document in instead of the blank edit panel
You mean page transclusion? Or preloading newly-created pages with content? Both is possible. I don't know much about about preloading (there's an extension though: http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Extension:Preloader), but template transclusion is relatively easy:
Just create a page, e.g. [[Template:Hint]] and add some content to it. Then simply add {{Hint}} to another page, and all that's in [[Template:Hint]] will automatically be used in this page as well. You can also have parameters and complex conditions - take a look at the help pages for that (http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Help:Template).
- As we all know, change can be a very intimidating thing. With this
in mind we are looking for ways to be able to edit, especially new documents, with some form of WYSIWYG type editor. Is there any that have been used successfully with MW? Any stories that you would like to share on how you use these
There's a couple of options available, though none of those are flawless AFAIK: http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/WYSIWYG I'd also read the following (blog) articles on the topic - though that info might be outdated by now: http://www.librarywebchic.net/wordpress/2006/05/01/installing-a-wysiwyg-edit... http://www.librarywebchic.net/wordpress/2006/05/25/adding-a-wysiwyg-editor-t...
On a personal note, I'd actually prefer a sort of syntax highlighting to "real" WYSIWYG/WYSIWYM (i.e. still displaying the wiki syntax, but also formatted accordingly). That'd make it easier to edit complex pages without ceding control, and it'd also make it easier for beginners to learn about the wiki syntax from existing pages.
- One of our documents is really a large spreadsheet. This works well
for the data analysis. But I am wondering how MW will handle a large table. This might be something better to store in a secondary page and link from the 'Data Analysis' heading page
Not sure whether a wiki is the right environment for working with spreadsheets; editing large and complex table with wiki markup can be ... challenging. (Not to mention that spreadsheet-like calculations are not yet possible.)
I hope these questions are not outside of the scope of this list. If you prefer I will be happy to take all questions, comments off line
Nope, they're just the right kinda questions for this list - and some have in fact been discussed here before; take a look at the MediaWiki-l archives (translation: RTFA ;) ).
HTH.
-- F.
If that doesn't work, you could always upload the existing files as Word documents to the wiki - though if they're more than a somewhat obsolete reference and still subject to frequent changes, that might be a somewhat cumbersome workaround.
If you choose to hack the Image upload file-extension filter to allow .DOC uploads, do not expect the built-in wiki search to find them. The vanilla search engine is only capable of identifying terms within the body of real articles.
-- Jim R. Wilson (jimbojw)
On 3/28/07, Frederik Dohr fdg001@gmx.net wrote:
Hi Dave,
- There are many existing docs, some of which we would like to move
into MW.
You might try Word2MediaWikiPlus: http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Extension:Word2MediaWikiPlus I'm not sure whether it's capable of handling complex documents though.
If that doesn't work, you could always upload the existing files as Word documents to the wiki - though if they're more than a somewhat obsolete reference and still subject to frequent changes, that might be a somewhat cumbersome workaround.
- As we move forward we are looking to create a 'template' for the
various types of documents we have including Project Scope, Project Technical Design and Project Functional Design.
I have been looking at the docs and 'templates' and wonder if I have missed something. Is there an easy way to create a 'template' (a complete page with all tables, headings etc create) and then when you want a new page simply bring that document in instead of the blank edit panel
You mean page transclusion? Or preloading newly-created pages with content? Both is possible. I don't know much about about preloading (there's an extension though: http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Extension:Preloader), but template transclusion is relatively easy:
Just create a page, e.g. [[Template:Hint]] and add some content to it. Then simply add {{Hint}} to another page, and all that's in [[Template:Hint]] will automatically be used in this page as well. You can also have parameters and complex conditions - take a look at the help pages for that (http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Help:Template).
- As we all know, change can be a very intimidating thing. With this
in mind we are looking for ways to be able to edit, especially new documents, with some form of WYSIWYG type editor. Is there any that have been used successfully with MW? Any stories that you would like to share on how you use these
There's a couple of options available, though none of those are flawless AFAIK: http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/WYSIWYG I'd also read the following (blog) articles on the topic - though that info might be outdated by now:
http://www.librarywebchic.net/wordpress/2006/05/01/installing-a-wysiwyg-edit...
http://www.librarywebchic.net/wordpress/2006/05/25/adding-a-wysiwyg-editor-t...
On a personal note, I'd actually prefer a sort of syntax highlighting to "real" WYSIWYG/WYSIWYM (i.e. still displaying the wiki syntax, but also formatted accordingly). That'd make it easier to edit complex pages without ceding control, and it'd also make it easier for beginners to learn about the wiki syntax from existing pages.
- One of our documents is really a large spreadsheet. This works well
for the data analysis. But I am wondering how MW will handle a large table. This might be something better to store in a secondary page and link from the 'Data Analysis' heading page
Not sure whether a wiki is the right environment for working with spreadsheets; editing large and complex table with wiki markup can be ... challenging. (Not to mention that spreadsheet-like calculations are not yet possible.)
I hope these questions are not outside of the scope of this list. If you prefer I will be happy to take all questions, comments off line
Nope, they're just the right kinda questions for this list - and some have in fact been discussed here before; take a look at the MediaWiki-l archives (translation: RTFA ;) ).
HTH.
-- F.
MediaWiki-l mailing list MediaWiki-l@lists.wikimedia.org http://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/mediawiki-l
On 3/28/07, Frederik Dohr fdg001@gmx.net wrote:
Hi Dave,
- There are many existing docs, some of which we would like to move
into MW.
You might try Word2MediaWikiPlus: http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Extension:Word2MediaWikiPlus I'm not sure whether it's capable of handling complex documents though.
If that doesn't work, you could always upload the existing files as Word documents to the wiki - though if they're more than a somewhat obsolete reference and still subject to frequent changes, that might be a somewhat cumbersome workaround.
- As we move forward we are looking to create a 'template' for the
various types of documents we have including Project Scope, Project Technical Design and Project Functional Design.
I have been looking at the docs and 'templates' and wonder if I have missed something. Is there an easy way to create a 'template' (a complete page with all tables, headings etc create) and then when you want a new page simply bring that document in instead of the blank edit panel
You mean page transclusion? Or preloading newly-created pages with content? Both is possible. I don't know much about about preloading (there's an extension though: http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Extension:Preloader), but template transclusion is relatively easy:
Just create a page, e.g. [[Template:Hint]] and add some content to it. Then simply add {{Hint}} to another page, and all that's in [[Template:Hint]] will automatically be used in this page as well. You can also have parameters and complex conditions - take a look at the help pages for that (http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Help:Template).
- As we all know, change can be a very intimidating thing. With this
in mind we are looking for ways to be able to edit, especially new documents, with some form of WYSIWYG type editor. Is there any that have been used successfully with MW? Any stories that you would like to share on how you use these
There's a couple of options available, though none of those are flawless AFAIK: http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/WYSIWYG I'd also read the following (blog) articles on the topic - though that info might be outdated by now:
http://www.librarywebchic.net/wordpress/2006/05/01/installing-a-wysiwyg-edit...
http://www.librarywebchic.net/wordpress/2006/05/25/adding-a-wysiwyg-editor-t...
On a personal note, I'd actually prefer a sort of syntax highlighting to "real" WYSIWYG/WYSIWYM (i.e. still displaying the wiki syntax, but also formatted accordingly). That'd make it easier to edit complex pages without ceding control, and it'd also make it easier for beginners to learn about the wiki syntax from existing pages.
- One of our documents is really a large spreadsheet. This works well
for the data analysis. But I am wondering how MW will handle a large table. This might be something better to store in a secondary page and link from the 'Data Analysis' heading page
Not sure whether a wiki is the right environment for working with spreadsheets; editing large and complex table with wiki markup can be ... challenging. (Not to mention that spreadsheet-like calculations are not yet possible.)
You may have a try with wikicalc: http://www.softwaregarden.com/wkcalpha/
I hope these questions are not outside of the scope of this list. If
you prefer I will be happy to take all questions, comments off line
Nope, they're just the right kinda questions for this list - and some have in fact been discussed here before; take a look at the MediaWiki-l archives (translation: RTFA ;) ).
HTH.
-- F.
MediaWiki-l mailing list MediaWiki-l@lists.wikimedia.org http://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/mediawiki-l
- One of our documents is really a large spreadsheet. This works well
for the data analysis. But I am wondering how MW will handle a large table. This might be something better to store in a secondary page and link from the 'Data Analysis' heading page
Not sure whether a wiki is the right environment for working with spreadsheets; editing large and complex table with wiki markup can be ... challenging. (Not to mention that spreadsheet-like calculations are not yet possible.)
You may have a try with wikicalc: http://www.softwaregarden.com/wkcalpha/
Thanks for this link; I'd read about wikiCalc a while ago, but it was just a very early demonstration back then - plus I couldn't remember its name... Great to see it's out of beta!
-- F.
-----Original Message----- From: mediawiki-l-bounces@lists.wikimedia.org [mailto:mediawiki-l-bounces@lists.wikimedia.org] On Behalf Of aretai aretai Sent: Thursday, March 29, 2007 1:31 To: MediaWiki announcements and site admin list Subject: Re: [Mediawiki-l] Using Wiki for documentation
On 3/28/07, Frederik Dohr fdg001@gmx.net wrote:
<snip>
Not sure whether a wiki is the right environment for working with spreadsheets; editing large and complex table with wiki markup can be ... challenging. (Not to mention that spreadsheet-like calculations
are
not yet possible.)
You may have a try with wikicalc:
http://www.softwaregarden.com/wkcalpha/
Thanks for that. I think that my original message gave the impression that we were using a table for calculations. That is not currently true (though your reply gives me some new ideas<G>)
We are primarily using the spreadsheet in this case as a 'format' for the documentation.
Thank you very much for the reply, like I said it has give me some ideas for the future and the site was great.
DSig David Tod Sigafoos
Frederik Dohr wrote:
- One of our documents is really a large spreadsheet. This works well
for the data analysis. But I am wondering how MW will handle a large table. This might be something better to store in a secondary page and link from the 'Data Analysis' heading page
An alternative I've used is to continue to use the spreadsheet so it will do the calculations but then have either a macro or an extra workbook that allows you to output the result in wikitext including the wiki table syntax and then paste it into the wiki, this does rather depend on the frequency of updating etc needed.
Ta
John
This is a very interesting idea. Just looked at word2wikiplus (at http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Extension:Word2MediaWikiPlus) and found it to work quite well. Might be able to 'modify' it a bit to do the same with xls.
Thanks for the idea
DSig David Tod Sigafoos | SANMAR Corporation PICK Guy 206-770-5585 davesigafoos@sanmar.com
-----Original Message----- From: mediawiki-l-bounces@lists.wikimedia.org [mailto:mediawiki-l-bounces@lists.wikimedia.org] On Behalf Of John Moorhouse Sent: Thursday, March 29, 2007 3:28 To: MediaWiki announcements and site admin list Subject: Re: [Mediawiki-l] Using Wiki for documentation
Frederik Dohr wrote:
- One of our documents is really a large spreadsheet. This works
well
for the data analysis. But I am wondering how MW will handle a large table. This might be something better to store in a secondary page
and
link from the 'Data Analysis' heading page
An alternative I've used is to continue to use the spreadsheet so it will do the calculations but then have either a macro or an extra workbook that allows you to output the result in wikitext including the wiki table syntax and then paste it into the wiki, this does rather depend on the frequency of updating etc needed.
Ta
John
It's possible to copy-paste to word and then run macro - result is a table. I've checked and it works pretty well. But yes I think .xls, .ppt add-on would be quite a good thing.
Regards, Aretai
On 3/29/07, Dave Sigafoos davesigafoos@sanmar.com wrote:
This is a very interesting idea. Just looked at word2wikiplus (at http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Extension:Word2MediaWikiPlus) and found it to work quite well. Might be able to 'modify' it a bit to do the same with xls.
Thanks for the idea
DSig David Tod Sigafoos | SANMAR Corporation PICK Guy 206-770-5585 davesigafoos@sanmar.com
-----Original Message----- From: mediawiki-l-bounces@lists.wikimedia.org [mailto:mediawiki-l-bounces@lists.wikimedia.org] On Behalf Of John Moorhouse Sent: Thursday, March 29, 2007 3:28 To: MediaWiki announcements and site admin list Subject: Re: [Mediawiki-l] Using Wiki for documentation
Frederik Dohr wrote:
- One of our documents is really a large spreadsheet. This works
well
for the data analysis. But I am wondering how MW will handle a large table. This might be something better to store in a secondary page
and
link from the 'Data Analysis' heading page
An alternative I've used is to continue to use the spreadsheet so it will do the calculations but then have either a macro or an extra workbook that allows you to output the result in wikitext including the wiki table syntax and then paste it into the wiki, this does rather depend on the frequency of updating etc needed.
Ta
John
MediaWiki-l mailing list MediaWiki-l@lists.wikimedia.org http://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/mediawiki-l
Dave Sigafoos schrieb:
We are looking at using Mediawiki as the source of information for our IT infrastructure. Since Wikipedia is a giant knowledge base, why not our IT docs?
Here are a couple of questions that we have.
- There are many existing docs, some of which we would like to move
into MW. We can save a word document to *.html (using this we get a warning from word that it might not be able to use the format :) but we get a lot of extra bits. It appears that the style classes it creates at the beginning are not usable in the wiki document.
As mentioned before Word2MediaWikiPlus, but that is a one way street. For Excel you can use http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Helferlein/VBA-Macro_for_EXCEL_tablec...
- As we move forward we are looking to create a 'template' for the
various types of documents we have including Project Scope, Project Technical Design and Project Functional Design.
I have been looking at the docs and 'templates' and wonder if I have missed something. Is there an easy way to create a 'template' (a complete page with all tables, headings etc create) and then when you want a new page simply bring that document in instead of the blank edit panel
This is a three-step process:
a) create your template, usally with variables b) create a sample page, which must be protected against changes ( install the input box extension http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Help:Inputbox) d) create an input box with the attribut preload=template sample
- As we all know, change can be a very intimidating thing. With this
in mind we are looking for ways to be able to edit, especially new documents, with some form of WYSIWYG type editor. Is there any that have been used successfully with MW? Any stories that you would like to share on how you use these
i don't recommend the yet available solutions. a half day introduction to your co-workers will do a better job.
GunterS
mediawiki-l@lists.wikimedia.org