MediaWiki Design

Design considerations for the Semantic MediaWiki

We are using the Skin:Chameleon

For the menu use MediaWiki:Sidebar

The information below is old information, superseeded by CSS per namespace

CSS per namespace

Information still to come

Chameleon Skin

Our Wiki uses the Chameleon Skin, see [1]

• have established custom-layout.xml for editing
• use MediaWiki:Common.css for e.g. removing page names

see customisation on Github [2]

Obsolete, as breaks upgrades

The main principle is to have a skin per namespace. The skin BIF contains the settings for the Basic Internet, and the main page BasicInternet:Basic_Internet contains the following elements:

Menu: Template:BIF_Navbar
Picture: Template:BIF_Slideshow
Template:BIF_About	BIF_News
Footer

Accordingly, the links for CWI (Main page) are

Menu: Template:Main_Navbar
Picture: Template:CWI_Slideshow
Template:Main_About	News
Footer

In order to create a new skin for a namespace, do the following

1) copy the BIF skin, as well as the BIF*.php files into a new skin, e.g. GravidPluss

2) edit the css accordingly ... more info required

3) Upload a logo and a banner

4) Create templates and pages (see example of BIF in the table)

Open issues

• Q: how to have a specific footer?

A:

• how to have a slideshow for multiple banners/pictures?

Old: Design suggestions for the Semantic MediaWiki

Ongoing skin development (in german)

• http://blog.hallowelt.biz/2012/09/04/mediawiki-skins-das-auge-liest-mit/

Free skins

• http://mediawiki2u.com

vertical and horizontal menus, and more info

• http://www.paulgu.com/wiki/Mediawiki_Skins

Creating a custom skin for Mediawiki

• tutorial at http://blog.redwerks.org/2012/02/08/mediawiki-skinning-tutorial/
• Custom skin extensions: http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Category:Skin_extensions

Nice design with drop-down: http://en.openei.org/wiki/Main_Page

• http://www.richardcarterconsultancy.com/2011/12/stunning-mediawiki-skin-design/
• clean Blogg: http://en.openei.org/community/content/energy-blogs
• latest content http://en.openei.org/community/ (**** preferred format *****)

Should contain the possibility for "mobile device viewing".