Working with MediaWiki

Working with MediaWiki is the most up-to-date guide to MediaWiki, the world’s most popular wiki software. MediaWiki is best known for running Wikipedia, but it’s also used by organizations and communities of every type and size, from fans of television shows to major companies storing vital corporate data.

In around 300 pages, and accompanied by dozens of diagrams and examples, Working with MediaWiki clarifies how to use MediaWiki effectively, from the basics like wiki syntax to topics like creating data structures, controlling spam and improving search.

Working with MediaWiki places a special emphasis on Semantic MediaWiki, an extension as well as a family of extensions, that transforms MediaWiki into something more like a full-fledged database, with the capability to have forms for users to enter and edit data, as well as all sorts of aggregation of the data, including maps and calendars. The book contains four chapters about Semantic MediaWiki; it is the first-ever book to cover the usage of SMW. But whether or not you plan to use SMW, the book in an indispensable guide to using MediaWiki to its full potential.

Foreword by Brion Vibber, lead software architect for the Wikimedia Foundation.

This book was first released in November 2012, and updated in April 2014 to cover changes to the technology.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1 About MediaWiki
Chapter 2 Setting up MediaWiki
Chapter 3 Editing in MediaWiki
Chapter 4 MediaWiki syntax
Chapter 5 Content organization
Chapter 6 Communication
Chapter 7 Images and files
Chapter 8 User registration and management
Chapter 9 Browsing and searching
Chapter 10 Monitoring the wiki
Chapter 11 Extensions
Chapter 12 Extended MediaWiki syntax
Chapter 13 Display and customization
Chapter 14 Protecting content
Chapter 15 MediaWiki administration
Chapter 16 Semantic MediaWiki
Chapter 17 Semantic Forms
Chapter 18 Displaying data
Chapter 19 Additional Semantic MediaWiki functionality
Chapter 20 External data and applications
Chapter 21 Importing and exporting
Chapter 22 Running a successful wiki
Chapter 23 MediaWiki development: a guide for the accidental developer