Practical Semantic Mediawiki

From zooid Wiki
Revision as of 14:52, 25 November 2010 by DavidM (talk | contribs)
Jump to navigation Jump to search

This hands-on session for non technical users emphasizes the "need to know" aspects of Web publishing, wikis, information design and Semantic Mediawiki.

Acronyms

  • SMW = Semantic Mediawiki
  • CC = Creative Commons

Web publishing

Access models

  • Fully open
  • Require login
  • Require created accounts to edit (closed editing)
  • Require created accounts to access (fully private)

Access models can be changed over time.

Copright continuum.jpg

Terms of use

  • Creative Commons - share with options for attribution, non-commercial, changes
  • Traditional copyright - by permission only


Creating pages

  • How to name pages
    • Keep one topic per page
  • Short, avoid special symbols, sentence form
  • Code and matching brackets
  • Basic markup — [[]] , [], |, [[File]] headings, bold, bullet points
  • Linking
    • Brainstorm using links
  • Categories
  • Uploading images and files
    • What not to upload
    • Subcategories
  • Moving pages
  • Deleting pages

Accessibility

  • Mediawiki is accessible, SMW has issues (forms)
  • Making sites accessible generally increases usability
  • Value content over appearance
  • Good tags for images

Making pages look good

CSS is the style system of Web pages and can also be used in Mediawiki. Like wiki markup, learning can be progressive.

  • CSS styling <div style="background: orange">Hello world</div>
    • Avoid losing meaning (don't use <big> for headers), keep it simple
  • Re-using styles MediaWiki:Common.css

Semantic Mediawiki

SMW logo 180px.png

Used to create re-usable data, create easier to use forms.

  • Inline annotations
  • Queries
  • Creating a class (template, properties, forms)
    • Formlink {{#formlink:Comment|comment||Comment[Topic]={{PAGENAME}}}}</formlink>


Converting content or sites

Hosting

  • Export a site, modularize by category
    • Complete site export
  • Special:Version
  • Free light/startup hosting
  • Inexpensive Mediawiki with SMW option
  • Wikia
  • Self-hosting