Mailing List Archive: Help with customizing MW 1.3

Help with customizing MW 1.3

Jul 23, 2004, 11:06 AM

Post #1 of 7 (1189 views)

Hello,
Just upgraded to 1.3 b4 Mediawiki,
And still was looking for a place (if there is one) or
some help on how to customize the menus. I found the
.css files that I can control the look, but how do I
customize which menus appear?

For example, if I wanted to remove the "discussion"
option, can I do that?

Or if I wanted to integrate my own site's menu options
into the left sided menu?

Or remove the "Toolbox" on the left hand side?
Where can I make changes (or find documentation for
this)

And also, can I make pages editable ONLY by registered
users? Or protect all pages from editing?

Thank you

Jimmy

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Re: Help with customizing MW 1.3 [ In reply to ]

evan at wikitravel

Jul 23, 2004, 11:16 AM

Post #2 of 7 (1166 views)

Permalink

Jimmy Apple wrote:

> Hello,
> Just upgraded to 1.3 b4 Mediawiki,
> And still was looking for a place (if there is one) or
> some help on how to customize the menus. I found the
> .css files that I can control the look, but how do I
> customize which menus appear?

Customization is _not_ MediaWiki's strong suit. It's primarily designed for
Wikipedia, with other Wikimedia projects coming in a distant second, and any
other wikis way off the radar screen.

Anyways: probably the easiest thing to do is create your own PHPTal template,
and use that. You'll have to disable the other skins, though. You can start with
the one in MW 1.3, and customize it.

> And also, can I make pages editable ONLY by registered
> users? Or protect all pages from editing?

It sounds to me like you don't really need a wiki engine, but a content
management system (CMS).

http://dmoz.org/Computers/Software/Internet/Site_Management/Content_Management/Open_Source/

There's some vestigial registered-only options you can turn on, but I wouldn't
guarantee that they actually work. See DefaultSettings.php for info on the
config variables.

~ESP

Re: [SA2.2] Re: Help with customizing MW 1.3 [ In reply to ]

hyperbole at uk2

Jul 23, 2004, 11:34 AM

Post #3 of 7 (1162 views)

Permalink

Evan Prodromou wrote:

>> And also, can I make pages editable ONLY by registered
>> users? Or protect all pages from editing?
>
>
> It sounds to me like you don't really need a wiki engine, but a content
> management system (CMS).

I think that's a bit harsh! It's easy to make a mediawiki locked for all
but registered users. See
http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Access_Restrictions for details. You'll
need the bit about preventing registration with WhiteListAccount as well
as the ...Edit bit, otherwise anyone would be able to register, log in
and edit.

I chose to prevent unwanted viewing of my wiki using .htaccess/.htpasswd
rather than wgWhiteListRead, on the advice of Brion Vibber.

The Wiki concept need not be reserved for open access projects. I am
trying to use it _within_ a closed community, and a little privacy will
draw the community together by allowing more private details (e.g. phone
numbers, email addresses) to be openly shared.

Re: [SA2.2] Re: Help with customizing MW 1.3 [ In reply to ]

evan at wikitravel

Jul 23, 2004, 11:54 AM

Post #4 of 7 (1170 views)

Permalink

Nick Bell wrote:

> The Wiki concept need not be reserved for open access projects.

Actually, having content editable by all is one of the key Wiki principles:

http://c2.com/cgi/wiki?WikiPrinciples

In other words: if there's no open access, it's not a Wiki.

Anyways, my point was that it's probably a -lot- easier to build up from a CMS
system than to try to disable features in MediaWiki or some other wiki engine.

You _can_ make a carburetor into a frying pan, but usually it's a lot easier to
just use a frying pan.

~ESP

Re: Help with customizing MW 1.3 [ In reply to ]

hyperbole at uk2

Jul 23, 2004, 12:01 PM

Post #5 of 7 (1165 views)

Permalink

Evan Prodromou wrote:

> In other words: if there's no open access, it's not a Wiki.

OK, but surely it's legitimate (in some other equally valid sense) to
use a Wiki for the benefit of a community, albeit a closed one?

> Anyways, my point was that it's probably a -lot- easier to build up from
> a CMS system than to try to disable features in MediaWiki or some other
> wiki engine.

I have looked far and wide for a CMS system that meets my needs.
MediaWiki seems to be the most promising at present.

Cheers,

Nick

Re: Help with customizing MW 1.3 [ In reply to ]

evan at wikitravel

Jul 23, 2004, 12:11 PM

Post #6 of 7 (1169 views)

Permalink

Evan Prodromou wrote:

> Anyways: probably the easiest thing to do is create your own PHPTal
> template, and use that. You'll have to disable the other skins, though.
> You can start with the one in MW 1.3, and customize it.

I forgot to mention that this is only a half-measure; hiding the links for
features won't disable those features. Someone familiar with MediaWiki could get
to most of them quite easily.

~ESP

Re: Help with customizing MW 1.3 [ In reply to ]

evan at wikitravel

Jul 23, 2004, 4:13 PM

Post #7 of 7 (1165 views)

Permalink

Nick Bell wrote:

>> In other words: if there's no open access, it's not a Wiki.
>
> OK, but surely it's legitimate (in some other equally valid sense) to
> use a Wiki for the benefit of a community, albeit a closed one?

I don't think it's a question of legitimate versus illegitimate. I -would- say
that it's probably not a big development priority for MediaWiki to make
restricted use features.

Anyways, WikiNature is probably off-topic for this list. Let's take this
discussion to private email if you'd like to talk further.

> I have looked far and wide for a CMS system that meets my needs.
> MediaWiki seems to be the most promising at present.

That's great! What a good endorsement.

~ESP