[Mediawiki-l] process for uploading/linking to files is difficult

[greg whittier]

Hi all,

I'm been given permission to introduce a wiki into my department at
work.  I've been using mediawiki as a demo to the extent that changing
would be hard now, but one feature I'm afraid will kill the wiki
quickly is the difficulty of uploading files.  While I know wikis are
primarily for text content, the first instinct of a new user will be
to share the files he's been producing in his pre-wiki days.

As I understand it, the way to upload files right now is to go to
Special:Upload, click browse, etc.  Then you edit a page and use the
[[media:filename|description] syntax.  I had one of our most tech
savvy users try this and it was comically hard for him.  He picked a
file with a very long file name and spaces.  He got a warning about
the renaming and file size that confused him (I can probably configure
this).  Then he tried to list the files so he could cut and paste the
file name (this is way beyond most of the potential users) back in the
edit window.  This process involved open the file multiple times in
the attempt to highlight it.  Then we put brackets around the name.
Forgot it was two instead of one at first, etc.

Is there any easier way to do this?  I'd like to have the user not
have to memorize or cut and paste the filename across windows.  Where
would I look to alter the button above the editing window.  I've never
coded in php before, but have used other scripting languages (python,
perl, etc.).

Any help is greatly appreciated!

Thanks,
Greg