One of the advantages of using Softaculous is the ability to track updates. Softaculous can alert you when a new version is available and do the update for you. That’s a valuable perk when working with software like MediaWiki, which can be inconvenient to maintain otherwise.

We’ll go through the Softaculous MediaWiki installation, and then I’ll show you a couple of configuration options that you may want to use.

How to Install MediaWiki

If your hosting provides a direct login to Softaculous, log in there.

Otherwise, log into cPanel and go to the “Softaculous Apps Installer” section.

Click the “Wikis” link or icon.

Click the “MediaWiki” link or icon.

Then click the “Install Now” button.

On the MediaWiki installation page, configure the options to suit your installation. Most of the options can be left as-is, but you should change the following.

Unless the wiki is going to be the home page of your site, on the “Choose Installation URL” line, enter the name of the directory in which you want to install MediaWiki.

In the “Admin Account” section, make sure to change the default password.

And make sure your Admin Username is unique.

Scroll down and click the install button.

On the installation success page, click the “Administrative URL” link.

NOTE: It may take a few minutes for the URLs to propagate throughout the Internet. If clicking the link doesn’t open the MediaWiki page, wait a bit. For some web hosts and ISPs, this can take up to 48 hours. However, I’ve seen it work in less than 10 minutes.

MediaWiki Setup

Log in to MediaWiki with the username and password that you specified in the setup.

Some changes that you will make to MediaWiki are done by directly editing the program’s files. You can do that using the cPanel file editor, or an FTP program.

For this MediaWiki tutorial, I’ll be using FTP, but if you prefer a web-based file editor, check out our comprehensive guide to using the cPanel file editor.

Replacing the Default MediaWiki Logo

One of the first things you’ll want to change may be the default logo. We’ll do that by editing the LocalSettings.php file.

LocalSettings.php is located in the root directory of your MediaWiki installation. For this tutorial, I’ve installed MediaWiki in a directory called “wiki.” So the path to LocalSettings.php is: /public_html/wiki/LocalSettings.php

I’ll download LocalSettings.php to my computer and open it with a text editor. Again, you can edit the file directly using the cPanel file manager if you’re not familiar with or comfortable using an FTP program.

What we’re looking for in the LocalSettings.php file is the line that begins with $wgLogo.

When you find it, you’ll see that there’s a path to the logo image file in that line: $wgResourceBasePath/resources/assets/wiki.png

The easiest way to replace the logo is to upload your image file to that directory, /resources/assets/. But make sure your image does not have the same name as the default image, “wiki.png.”

The recommended image size for the logo is 135×135 or 150×150 pixels, so we’ll stick to one of those to avoid any forced resizing of the image.

FTP to /public_html/wiki/resources/assets.

Upload your logo. In my case, that’s wiki-logo.png.

Now we’ll go back to the text editor and change the image name in the LocalSettings.php $wgLogo line.

You can see that all I changed in that line was the image name. If you upload your new logo to a different location, you have to change the path here to point to that location.

After updating the image file name in LocalSettings.php, I save the file and upload it to /public_html/wiki, overwriting the existing LocalSettings.php file.

Now when I go back to the wiki, my logo should be there.

Additional LocalSettings.php Configuration

As you no doubt noticed, LocalSettings.php controls many aspects of the MediaWiki installation. There are a lot of other configuration settings you can add as well.

What’s Next?

As soon as your installation is complete, the wiki is up and running. If the URL is publicly accessible, visitors can edit or create pages. That’s by design, of course. That’s the purpose of a wiki; to allow anyone to contribute or improve the information.

While the initial MediaWiki install is simple and straightforward, as far as management and configuration are concerned, there is a lot of ground to cover — much more than we can address here.

In your new installation, the User’s Guide link is at the top of the Main Page, and it should be your first stop for learning more about using MediaWiki.

A Better Way to Edit Wiki Pages

A page you will probably visit often while learning the ins and outs of MediaWiki is the formatting page. Wikis use a combination of HTML and their own language for text markup. So for anyone new to contributing to a wiki, even the basics can be confusing.

Why isn’t there a visual editor?

There is!

MediaWiki’s functionality can be expanded using what they call extensions. One of the available extensions is a TinyMCE editor.

Installing MediaWiki extensions is a manual job, so let’s go through the installation for the visual editor. Once you’ve done this, you’ll be able to install most MediaWiki extensions.

Installing the MediaWiki TinyMCE Extension

Go to the TinyMCE extension page. In the “Download” section, find the link to download the .zip file.

When you unzip the download, you’ll extract a folder with a name like mediawiki-extensions-TinyMCE-0.3 (that version number at the end of the folder name may be different).

Rename that folder “TinyMCE.”

Then upload the entire TinyMCE folder to the /extensions directory.

Now go back to the LocalSettings.php file and at the very bottom, add the line:

[ht_message mstyle=”info” title=”” show_icon=”” id=”” class=”” style=”” ]wfLoadExtension( ‘TinyMCE’ );[/ht_message]

Save LocalSettings.php and upload it to the server.

Now you have a visual editor.

And as a bonus for those who prefer using wiki markup, the original editor isn’t gone. Clicking the “Edit source” tab takes you to the default MediaWiki editor.

Wikis Are Awesome

But they are also very nerd-like contraptions, requiring a lot of learning and memorization of arcane commands. So don’t be discouraged if very little of it makes sense to you right off the bat. Lean on the MediaWiki User’s Guide; it can answer most of your questions.

What do you use a wiki for on your site? Do you make use of any extensions? Let me know which ones in the comments.

The post How to Install MediaWiki with Softaculous appeared first on GreenGeeks.

However, since there is a wiki page for just about everything nowadays, the process has been simplified considerably from the early days. This means that just about anyone can do it.

Today, I will demonstrate how to create a MediaWiki page using three methods.

How Creating a MediaWiki Page Works

It is important to understand that there are multiple ways to create a MediaWiki page.

The first method is the traditional way that pages are created in other CMS platforms, but for MediaWiki, it’s usually a rare event. This includes logging into your MediaWiki website and creating the page. This method will most likely only be used upon installing MediaWiki for the first time to create the main page.

For example, if you wanted to make a Witcher wiki page, you would want to start off with a basic description of the plot, important characters, media forms, reception, etc. The main page will lead visitors to a lot of the other wiki pages on more individual characters or events. It will usually be the page with the most traffic as well.

The second method is to search for a page that does not exist. Upon doing so, you will be prompted to create such a page. This method is great for filling your wiki with lots of content or find where your wiki is lacking in said content.

Continuing with our Witcher example, you would want a page dedicated to just about every single character across the series. So for example, if you searched for Geralt and didn’t turn up a page, you can immediately make one for him.

The third method is to create an internal link. Upon doing so, a page will automatically be created for that specific word. Similar to the second method, this is a great way to fill out your wiki with more pages.

Understanding the different methods for creating MediaWiki pages will speed up the creation process significantly.

Method 1: Manually Creating A Page

This is the method you will use upon installing MediaWiki because you won’t have any pages, with the exception of the “you have successfully installed MediaWiki” page.

You really have two options here. The first is to delete the dummy main page and create a new one or to simply edit the page itself.

To delete the dummy page, click on More and select the “Delete” option.

Upon doing so, you will be asked why you are deleting the page. You can add a reason if you like, but it is not necessary. Click on the “Delete Page” button.

Upon doing so, the page will be deleted and you will see an Action Complete page. Whenever you delete a page, you will have the  “Create” option appear. Click on “Create”.

Here you will find yourself on the MediaWiki create page area, where you can enter all of the information you want. Click on the “Save Page” button when you are done.

This is how you can create the main page of your wiki at the start. You will never see the “Create” option again unless you delete a page. As such, this will not be a popular method, but it is worth mentioning for fresh installs.

For all future MediaWiki page additions, you will use the following methods.

Method 2: Searching For A Page

This method involves searching for a page that doesn’t exist and using the prompt to create such a page. This may sound counter-intuitive, but I assure you it makes perfect sense once you get started.

In the search box, search for the page you wish to create.

As long as the page does not exist already, you should see a “Create the page “example” on this wiki!” message. Click on the “example” to create the page.

In this case, I searched for Geralt, so I will click on Geralt.

You will now be able to create a page for that search term. Click on the “Save Page” button when you are done.

This method is ideal for filling out your wiki based on what it does not have. Don’t be afraid to create a page and leave it blank for now. It can be a useful reminder to fill it later on.

Method 3: Creating An Internal Link

The third method you should use to create a MediaWiki page is to create an internal link. Doing so will actually create a page for that term. This is because the entire point of a wiki is for it to link internally as a detailed knowledgebase of the subject.

External links should only be used as supporting evidence or where necessary.

To get started, go to an existing wiki page. Once there, click on the “Edit” option.

Adding an internal link is quite easy. To do so, simply surround the word or phrase with double brackets.

So for example, if I wanted to make “Geralt of Rivia” an internal link, I would need to write it as [[Geralt of Rivia]].

Once you have done so, click on the “Save Changes” button.

Now when you view that page, the internal link you created will be in red text. Click on the internal link.

You will now be on the page creation screen. Enter all of the information and click on the “Save Page” button.

This method is what I consider the heart and soul of the MediaWiki. What it does is prevent you from having to track down internal links like on other CMS.

For example, if you already have a page called “Geralt of Rivia” when you add the brackets, MediaWiki will automatically link to it if the spelling is the same.

This is meant to help you connect your wiki to itself as fast as possible. Again, the entire point of a wiki is that it is a self-contained knowledgebase.

When Should I use Each Method?

You know have three options to create pages may seem a bit tricky at first, but it isn’t hard once you get used to it.

Method 1 is really meant for when you delete a page. The actual “Create” option won’t be there otherwise.

Method 2 is optimal when you are searching for something and realize a page doesn’t exist.

Method 3 is the bread and butter of MediaWiki. You should be adding tons of internal links and if you think something deserves its own page while writing, just add two brackets. The red text helps you identify why an internal link doesn’t have a page created.

Be As Detailed As Possible

Learning how to create a wiki is not as easy as it seems. Even if you are passionate about the topic, some topics are too vast for one person to cover. Luckily, that’s where your visitors and contributors can help.

The more detailed your wiki is, the better it will perform. Just remember there is no topic or character too obscure for most wiki pages.

Which method do you use to create MediaWiki pages? How do you expand your wiki on a regular basis?

The post How to Create a MediaWiki Page appeared first on GreenGeeks.