Help me learn to template MediaWiki

April 10, 2009 6:44 AM

I am trying to find concise, direct instructions on how to create templates (not skins, templates) for MediaWiki and I'm coming up short. While Google has tons of hits, many incorrectly identify skins as templates, and the rest spread the information out through so many other topics that it is simply frustrating. Is there a resource out there that will help me develop MediaWiki page templates in a step-by-step fashion?
posted by arniec to computers & internet (3 answers total)

the best info I found was on the mediawiki site itself: Templates. Didn't do much google searching for the same reasons you list. Good luck!
posted by Chris4d at 1:00 PM on April 10, 2009

Ok, that page has a ton of links but is NOT nearly a step-by-step instructional on how to build MediaWiki templates. I spent about 20 minutes just now clicking through all those links and couldn't even figure out which type of template I need...it actually left me MORE confused...

Anyone else able to help?
posted by arniec at 5:53 PM on April 11, 2009

Ok, I notice a lot of people following this topic but no good web resources.

I did find what I need, however. I highly recommend this book:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1904811590?ie=UTF8&tag=reviewstarwar-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=1904811590

It is the best thing I've found for what I need. It explained templates and parameterized templates in a quick, concise fashion that has helped me get exactly what I needed.

I have no affiliation with the author, the publisher, etc. But this got me where I needed to be.
posted by arniec at 11:47 AM on April 13, 2009