[Mediawiki-l] Namespace Question

[roger at rogerchrisman.com]

>  What goes in the main page for a namespace?  Should it be a normal page,
>  i.e. www.domain.com/index.php/Illinois or shout it be
>  www.domain.com/index.php/Illinois:Main_Page?

Up to you. Something predictably consistent across your whole wiki is
best for usability.

>  Do all pages in the namespace have to be defined as Illinois:mypage?  I am
>  assuming that for now.

That's the sensible user friendly approach.

>  Is there a way to have a page in multiple namespaces?

Templates

> i.e.say I have Chicago
>  Illinois which is under  Illinois:Chicago.  But, Chicago has a group that
>  wants to make Chicago look different so it becomes its own namespace so I
>  can do a skin for it.  How would I handle that since it needs its own
>  namespace, yet it is still apart of Illinois?

Instead of unnecesary namespace complexity, why not keep most pages in
a main flat namespace? Simplicity is the key to maintainability. You
may be interested in studying how Wikitravel.org is organized. Note
their flat namespace -- the whole Earth fits into the main namespace.
It is after all one World. Subpages are kept to a minimum but used to
divide large city pages into districts.

Geographical bread crumbs are another interesting feature on Wikitravel.org.
http://wikitravel.org/en/Wikitravel:Breadcrumb_navigation

Per namespace skins? Such complexity may do a project more harm than
good over time.

Happy trails,

Roger