MediaWiki book

By Deane Barker
From Issue #14

I read a wonderful book on MediaWiki, the open-source software behind Wikipedia. More valuable than the actual instruction was a deep-dive into a CMS platform which has tended away from UI. Rather, MediaWiki is driven by a “secret menu” of text commands you can insert in the body of a page.

Truth: MediaWiki is the Emacs of CMS. (I actually Googled for the phrase “the emacs of cms,” and I’m proud to report that we just broke new ground…)

Additionally, MediaWiki has depth of functionality you probably don’t know about. Did you know you can model content beyond just pages? Did you know you can embed forms and external data? MediaWiki can emulate a traditional CMS to a much greater degree than you expect.

The book is here – you can order it or read it for free online.

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