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For a long time I've wanted to be able to package the "scaffolding" required to author beautiful pages in MediaWiki so that the first thing you do (as an author) is create content rather than to setup scaffolding. By scaffolding, I'm referring to all the things missing from MediaWiki like "help" namespace content, Templates (with a capital T), images | For a long time I've wanted to be able to package the "scaffolding" required to author beautiful pages in MediaWiki so that the first thing you do (as an author) is create content rather than to setup scaffolding. By scaffolding, I'm referring to all the things missing from MediaWiki like "help" namespace content, Templates (with a capital T), images and icons used in interface elements or general-purpose templates and other things that would be like a "Starter Kit" to make editing the first page easy. And it's not just scaffolding really. To continue the analogy of an 'unfurnished mansion', the Page Components system would come with a library of "furnishings" that a site administrator could pick and choose to make the site more "move-in ready": a cutting board and a block of knives, pots and pans, dinner ware, utensils in the kitchen, etc. | ||
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== Goals == | == Goals == | ||
Adding a bit of focus and resolution to the goal at hand, we can look at something like the [https://designsystem.harvardsites.harvard.edu/ HarvardSites Design System] (HarvardSites is their Drupal CMS offering to the university community for building digital products. The "Design System" comes with HarvadSites.) | |||
They have (we want) | |||
# 50/50 Card | |||
# Accordion | |||
# Button-Style Cards | |||
# Call to Action Links | |||
# Columns | |||
# Hero | |||
# List Component | |||
# Quote Card | |||
# Simple Table | |||
# Stats Cards | |||
# Tabs | |||
# Vertical Cards | |||
These are all available in MediaWiki from Codex | |||
=== Stretch Goals === | === Stretch Goals === | ||
Create a re-usable [https://doc.wikimedia.org/codex/latest/style-guide/overview.html Style Guide] that is easy to tweak or re-write in an enterprise setting to make it easier to follow the best practice of having this content earlier rather than later. | Create a re-usable [https://doc.wikimedia.org/codex/latest/style-guide/overview.html Style Guide] that is easy to tweak or re-write in an enterprise setting to make it easier to follow the best practice of having this content earlier rather than later. The Codex system is designed to be easily overridden so that it can be customized locally. | ||
== Current Solutions == | == Current Solutions == | ||
As an administrator of a wiki or wiki farm, how | As an administrator of a wiki or wiki farm, how does MediaWiki provide a good editing experience? What do we need to assemble to make it available in a particular wiki? Here are some of the current solutions available. | ||
== Codex == | == Codex == | ||
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== Past Efforts == | == Past Efforts == | ||
[[Meta:Community Tech/Central repository for gadgets, templates and Lua modules|Central repository for gadgets, templates and Lua modules]] is tracked in the mega ticket [[phab:T121470]] from 2015 which further relies on major efforts like "[[mw:Requests for comment/Shadow namespaces|shadow namespaces]]" [[phab:T91162]] and Global gadgets [[phab:T153332]] | [[Meta:Community Tech/Central repository for gadgets, templates and Lua modules|Central repository for gadgets, templates and Lua modules]] is tracked in the mega ticket [[phab:T121470]] from 2015 which further relies on major efforts like "[[mw:Requests for comment/Shadow namespaces|shadow namespaces]]" [[phab:T91162]] and Global gadgets [[phab:T153332]] | ||
<references /> | |||
[[Category:UI]] | |||
[[Category:Features]] | |||
Latest revision as of 16:08, 5 December 2025
For a long time I've wanted to be able to package the "scaffolding" required to author beautiful pages in MediaWiki so that the first thing you do (as an author) is create content rather than to setup scaffolding. By scaffolding, I'm referring to all the things missing from MediaWiki like "help" namespace content, Templates (with a capital T), images and icons used in interface elements or general-purpose templates and other things that would be like a "Starter Kit" to make editing the first page easy. And it's not just scaffolding really. To continue the analogy of an 'unfurnished mansion', the Page Components system would come with a library of "furnishings" that a site administrator could pick and choose to make the site more "move-in ready": a cutting board and a block of knives, pots and pans, dinner ware, utensils in the kitchen, etc.
Disclaimer: I'm not an active editor in any wiki community so I'm sure I am lacking in the knowledge of how its done across various wiki communities.
Beginner experience in a new wiki[edit]
The out of the box experience is that you need to first create (a lot) of templates and come up with your own system for authors to follow. - especially if you want new authors to take advantage of the stuff MediaWiki has under the covers. Simple built-in facilities like 'collapsible' sections, or 'sortable' tables require knowledge since they are not immediately visible in some "quick reference" editor's handbook but rather "buried" in the enormous reference that is mediawiki.org's Help[1]. It is obviously great that the enormous reference exists, but the goal here is to find good ways to surface the most common editor tools in a way that doesn't require a deep dive or training on wiki syntax, Template syntax, parser functions, Vue.js, CSS, Lua scripting, or other technologies.
Goals[edit]
Adding a bit of focus and resolution to the goal at hand, we can look at something like the HarvardSites Design System (HarvardSites is their Drupal CMS offering to the university community for building digital products. The "Design System" comes with HarvadSites.)
They have (we want)
- 50/50 Card
- Accordion
- Button-Style Cards
- Call to Action Links
- Columns
- Hero
- List Component
- Quote Card
- Simple Table
- Stats Cards
- Tabs
- Vertical Cards
These are all available in MediaWiki from Codex
Stretch Goals[edit]
Create a re-usable Style Guide that is easy to tweak or re-write in an enterprise setting to make it easier to follow the best practice of having this content earlier rather than later. The Codex system is designed to be easily overridden so that it can be customized locally.
Current Solutions[edit]
As an administrator of a wiki or wiki farm, how does MediaWiki provide a good editing experience? What do we need to assemble to make it available in a particular wiki? Here are some of the current solutions available.
Codex[edit]
Codex is the design system in MediaWiki. Actually it is available to any project, and MediaWiki is the primary use case. Codex has components like accordion that can be used by Skin or Extension developers; and also in Javascript. The components are for building usable, accessible, translatable applications.
Templates[edit]
Templates are one fundamental building block in MediaWiki that allows for consistently presenting information. The prime example is the 'infobox' ubiquitous to Wikipedia articles. There are many "problems" with templates. The polished result found on Wikipedia is dependent on a huge number of interconnected templates, CSS style pages, and Lua modules - all of which are not available in a "starter pack" that would be suitable or easily customizable for a 3rd-party wiki.
The Wikipedia infoboxes use CSS pages and Lua modules for the presentation and functionality.
On a page like WWE Championship there are over 100 templates and modules in use such as:
- Template:Infobox
- Template:Infobox pro wrestling championship
- Template:Infobox professional wrestling championship
- Module:Infobox
- Module:Infobox/styles.css
- Module:InfoboxImage
- Module:InfoboxImage/data
Gadgets[edit]
One of the first gadgets I ever used was wikEd by User:Cacycle, a tremendous enhancement for editors back in the days of FCKeditor when WYSIWYG editing was a big deal for all web products. In 2025 wikEd still offers features not included in CodeMirror and VisualEditor. In any case, other Gadgets such as mw:ProveIt for easier citations are indispensable but also "impossible" due to the litany of templates required that are not easily installed to a 3rd-party wiki. What Gadgets are recommended to enhance the out-of-the-box editing experience for 3rd-party wikis? This wikis gadgets are at Special:Gadgets.
Lua Modules[edit]
SemanticMediaWiki[edit]
SemanticResultFormats takes structured data and presents it in a multitude of compelling ways. SRF sits between structured data, and presentation. At the highest level, Page Components could allow for composability of SRF into a final page layout and visual presentation.
Page Forms[edit]
say something
Page Exchange[edit]
Page Exchange is a mechanism for publishing and syndicating wiki content plus the scaffolding that puts it all together - with an emphasis on the templates and functionality. Page Exchange uses the term packages. An example is the SkillsMatrix package.
Past Efforts[edit]
Central repository for gadgets, templates and Lua modules is tracked in the mega ticket phab:T121470 from 2015 which further relies on major efforts like "shadow namespaces" phab:T91162 and Global gadgets phab:T153332
- ↑ https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Help:Contents is the main page for Help and is actually quite good. Many wikis simply link to that page as their local wiki's "help".
