[Mediawiki-l] Any leads on a basic wiki setup-and-configure instruction manual?

Mon Apr 9 21:16:34 UTC 2007

If you haven't done so check out the book at PACKET Pub.  They have a PDF and hardcover version for Wiki.  It is really pretty good.  There is good basic information there.  Just remember that MW is a moving target.

DSig
David Tod Sigafoos | SANMAR Corporation
PICK Guy
206-770-5585
davesigafoos at sanmar.com 

-----Original Message-----
From: mediawiki-l-bounces at lists.wikimedia.org [mailto:mediawiki-l-bounces at lists.wikimedia.org] On Behalf Of Monahon, Peter B.
Sent: Monday, April 09, 2007 13:01
To: mediawiki-l at lists.wikimedia.org
Subject: Re: [Mediawiki-l] Any leads on a basic wiki setup-and-configure instruction manual?

Thanks, folks, for the replies.

1 - In response to the suggestion that I NOT "bother" (my interpretation) the MediaWiki folks with my inquiry:  I disagree.  ANY customer-need is a signal for the original programmers to tune their product, or marketing, to better align with their audience.  Grow or die.  Nature abhors a vacuum, information fills it.  Hey, and if these listservs can tolerate "out of office replies" and cc's of the entire threads, I'm quite confident readers can also handle seeing my full original inquiry.

2 - I note no one has "Any leads on a basic wiki setup-and-configure instruction manual?" except (a) web links that contain contents that are not responsive to my inquiry (and I've printed and read hundreds of those pages already) or direct answers (thank you very much, but ... I'm asking how'd YOU learn so I can teach myself - I want read what YOU read to answer these questions for myself, and more!)

I'll keep hunting.

- Peter Blaise Monahon, USPTO/OTPC, 571-272-3950, MDE 4D68, WS01419
- Monday, April 09, 2007 9:13:07 AM

> michael.ittner at elixic.de wrote: I will be out 
> of the office starting  17.03.2007 and will 
> not return until 06.04.2007.

> Jim Hu <jimhu at tamu.edu> wrote: 
> http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Help:Contents 

> michael.ittner at elixic.de wrote again: I will 
> be out of the office starting  17.03.2007 
> and will not return until 06.04.2007.

> Angela <beesley at gmail.com> wrote: 
> Hi Peter, It's best to ask only the MediaWiki 
> mailing list about this rather than cc'ing the 
> Wikitech list which is meant for Wikimedia's 
> own projects rather than external projects 
> that use MediaWiki.  There's a FAQ at 
> http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/MediaWiki_FAQ 
> and MediaWiki forums at http://mwusers.com/ 
> which you may find answer some of your 
> questions. 

[Peter Blaise says: My original (refused) post shared my particular comments that those exact resources as offered were unresponsive to my specific challenges.  The FAQ is a mere 20 pages.  Remember, though, that I'm asking about an INSTRUCTION MANUAL so I can answer my own questions, and I offered 4 sample questions, which you very kindly tried to address below.]

> > 1 - Sign in as admin.  Is that so hard?  
> >      How do I sign in as admin?
> 
> Go to [[Special:Userlogin]] on your wiki.  
> You will have created an admin account 
> when you installed MediaWiki.  If you don't 
> remember that user's name, try looking at 
> [[Special:Listadmins]] on your wiki to see
> if there is anyone with admin access.  If not, 
> you'll need to add that via the database.

[Peter Blaise says: Nope.  I presume you mean "Go to [[Special:Userlogin]] on your wiki by typing "Special:Userlogin" into the [Search] box" ... however, even "going" to "Special:Listusers" I only get red "Admin ‎(Bureaucrat, Sysop)" links.  When you suggest that I "add that via the database" - what I'm asking is "...by doing what...?"  In other words, I'm looking for a MediaWiki INSTRUCTION MANUAL someplace.  Has anyone else found one that provides a referential resource for MediaWiki?  Letting MediaWiki know I'd like one seems a logical act.  Hello?  MediaWiki?  Are you li$tening?  Hello?

> > 2 - Make others sign-in as lesser-editors 
> >      and contributors.  I need to see how 
> >      hierarchies of user-capabilities work 
> >      before I go live.
>
> Other users should be able to create 
> normal accounts at [[Special:Userlogin]].

[Peter Blaise says: Ahhh ... but I want to prevent anonymous contributions, hence my wording "MAKE others sign in as lesser editors".  Again, thanks for some insight (which does not work for me), but I'm asking how you learned, and if there's a MediaWiki INSTRUCTION MANUAL someplace.]

> > 3 - Lock parts of article contents so users 
> >      can add to them but not delete the 
> >      locked part, admins can change anything.
>
> You can only lock an entire article, not part of 
> it.  A way around that is to add content to a 
> template and lock the template.  For example,
> put your content at [[Template:Main]] and 
> type {{main}} on a page to include that 
> content there.

[Peter Blaise says: Yes, I was reading about templates over the weekend and wondered if that might work.  How'd you learn that?  Have you tried it, actually?  Anyway, I'll try, but I imagine the call to the template will be visible when editing the page, so the original page contents will not only NOT be visible during editing, but the call itself can then be munged.  In other words, I'll explore.  I was hoping MediaWiki or someone already explored what to me is hard to imagine is unprecedented, and that there might be a MediaWiki INSTRUCTION MANUAL someplace...]

> > 4 - Change/customize a few visual things, 
> >      like the sidebar.
>
> The sidebar can be edited by any admin 
> at [[MediaWiki:Sidebar]].  Angela, Angela 
Beesley http://www.Wikia.com/

[Peter Blaise says: By doing what?  " MediaWiki:Sidebar" brings up "There is no page titled "MediaWiki:Sidebar". You can create this page."  Is that an error?  Do I need to be "admin" first?  Is that an okay default message, meaning that if I want a custom, non-default SideBar, I need to create a new SideBar from scratch?  Do I ... oh, too many questions.  

Any leads on a basic wiki setup-and-configure instruction manual?]

_______________________________________________
MediaWiki-l mailing list
MediaWiki-l at lists.wikimedia.org
http://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/mediawiki-l