[Mediawiki-l] Re: language, images, mediawiki 1.4, special messages and customization

[Ashar Voultoiz]

Morten Blaabjerg wrote:

Hello Morten,

> LANGUAGE
<snip>

> When setting up the wiki, I decided to set up with the english version
> of the text, which it seems I am now stuck with?
> -is it possible to change the interface language from english to danish
> (including all the special messages) after setup and with a growing
> database? - which files are relevant?

We are not that evil.

Change your wgLang variable in localsettings then you will have to 
rebuild the messages wich are in the database. To do that you have to 
use a script in a console:

  ./maintenance/rebuildMessages.php

You probably want to delete them all and rebuild a new one :/


> Is it possible with MediaWiki 1.4 for users to specify their preferred
> site language in their preferences, for the interface and system
> messages? - how is this managed more precisely? - Which files will still
> be of concern to me, after the install of MediaWiki 1.4?

In 1.4 the messages can be either:

  1/ site wide messages using $wgLang . They remain the same for all 
users and are used for the interface mostly.
  2/ per user preferences.

You can set the default language to be danish and users can override it 
in their preferences to something list (ex: chinese, finish, english 
..). You can probably test it on http://test.wikipedia.org/ .

> Is it possible to limit the languages available to users, if one cannot
> commit to customizing one's wiki to all kinds of languages? -or the
> system messages can be kept to such a minimum, that I won't have to
> (which I doubt)?

You can select them (in 1.4) using:

   $wgUserLanguages = array('en', 'fr');

Users will only be able to switch between english and french.


> IMAGES
<snip: I dont know about php safe :( >

> OTHER QUESTIONS & COMMENTS
> 
> How does one best limit the menu items, user preferences or special
> pages of no relevance to one's customization? Which files are the
> important ones to meddle with, to remove, say, certain skins, from being
> selectable by a user? The site has been designed with a site-particular
> skin, a modified monobook-css etc. and you don't want the site style to
> appear otherwise to the user. How do you do that?

iirc in 1.3 you have to edit ./includes/Skins.php

You can also use $wgDefaultSkin in LocalSettings to change the default 
skin (ex: 'nostalgia' ).

> Why not keep all the system messages within the file system, easily
> accessible from the root system, - and keep them all out of the wiki?

MediaWiki is developed for wikipedia wich have like 150 languages. 
Developers had a hard time patching the languages files other and other. 
So someone (Tim Starling / Brion ?) came with the idea to let users edit 
the interface themselves instead of begging for the language files to be 
updated manually :p

You can use the language files directly with:
  $wgUseDatabaseMessages = false;

But you will no more be able to use MediaWiki: namespace to edit the 
interface :p

> There are quite a few "wikipedia leftovers" for instance, in the special
> messages, such as a number of unneccessary references or links, that are
> empty, and a bit of a hazzle to track down and eliminate. No need to
> refer in the special messages to a 'policy' if a small site doesn't have
> one (yet)... No need either IMO to wet everything in a
> copyright/disclaimer context, if the site in question or users has no
> need for them, but only loads their base engine with existing links to a
> lot of non-creative empty 'paragraph pages' (and all that even before
> there's any creative content).

I believe most wikipedia occurences have been removed from 1.4 language 
files. As for the copyright you can disable some with:

   $wgRightsPage = NULL;
   $wgRightsUrl = NULL;
   $wgRightsText = NULL;
   $wgRightsIcon = NULL

   $wgUseCopyrightUpload = false;
   $wgCheckCopyrightUpload = false;

As for the messages coming from the languages files, you will have to 
edit them. As for the hardcoded link, they will probably filled in a 
later version when we add some documentation in MediaWiki :o)

> This is just constructive criticism - so far from ever becoming a
> programmer myself, I can only hack, copy n' paste and learn bits
> everywhere. I love the power of the wiki concept - I feel I am
> witnessing the maturing of the internet and its real creative power
> here. Keep up the good work :-)

Thanks Morten ! Keep asking question don't be shy, that's how free 
softwares get better :-)

cheers,


-- 
Ashar Voultoiz - WP++++
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Hashar
Servers in trouble ? noc (at) wikimedia (dot) org
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