[Mediawiki-l] Help with Basic Configuration

[Jan Steinman]

> From: Patricia Barden <webmaster at prwatch.org>
>
> Is there any downside to having the URL set up as http://www.mywiki.com/index.php
>  versus the recommended way; i.e., http://www.mywiki.com/wiki/index.php?


Possibly.

If you use aliases to make "pretty" URLs in your website root  
directory, you won't be able to access other things in your root.

For example, if you set it up so you can do:
	http://www.MyWiki.com/Wiki_page_name

which looks real nice and is easy for people to type in, then you  
cannot do
	http://www.MyWiki.com/Some_real_file.php

(for example) because it will go looking for a wiki page of that name.  
Likewise, say you want to install some other software, perhaps a photo  
browser like gallery2. You basically cannot do it, because the aliases  
used to make pretty wiki URLs will "steal" the URL, So
	http://www.MyWiki.com/Gallery

will go to a wiki page called "Gallery", whether it exists or not, and  
your real directory on your website called /Gallery/ will be  
inaccessible.

So personally, I think it's a good idea to generally have your wiki in  
its own directory. It doesn't have to be "/wiki/"; some people use the  
simpler "/w/".

On a client's insistence, I broke this rule of thumb just once  
(warning her of the implications), and it came back to bite me when  
she wanted other third-party software on her site, and we had to move  
the whole wiki back to the way I originally advised her.

:::: The income gap between the rich and the rest of the US population  
has been growing so fast, that it might eventually threaten the  
stability of democratic capitalism itself. -- Alan Greenspan ::::
:::: Jan Steinman http://www.VeggieVanGogh.com ::::