The wikipedia template?

May 10, 2006 2:08 AM

Hi, I want to make a page on my site that mimics the wiki template, but isn't a wiki (ie: isn't editable by anyone, doesn't have their complex cross-reference page, etc...) Help?

I see four options:
1. Code it by hand. Yes, it's just one page, I can refer to the wiki source for stuff like heading style, etc.. The hick is that it'll take some time, and I'm no coder (although html isn't that challenging).
2. Download the wiki from Mediawiki. Umm, but that's an app to run a wiki-like network, and I just want one page.
3. View any given page source at wiki and start editing out the stuff you don't want. OK, like in answer 1, this will take time and patience, isn't there a faster solution?
4. The Mefi solution.
What would you do (if you weren't the sexy coder you obviously are)? Get the page source and start editing, suck it up and open notepad for yor first coding drama, ask Mefi's help, or point the way to just what I'm searching for...

posted by ruelle to computers & internet (6 comments total)

(3) is the easiest. You might be able to make it easier by creating "your" page on a hosted mediawiki, then copy and paste the html. It won't take much time or patience to edit.

Be sure to respect any relevant copyrights.
posted by b1tr0t at 2:15 AM on May 10, 2006

I honestly don't see how there could be anything faster than (3). It's really not that hard, just do it.

The only alternative I can think of would be to actually edit a page on a mediawiki somewhere to look as you want, copy the html, and then revert it. You could use the sandbox (or your personal talk page) so that it's not disruptive.

BTW, writing HTML is not coding nor programming.
posted by Rhomboid at 3:18 AM on May 10, 2006

well it depends what you want it for. If quickest is your main deal, I'd set up a mediawiki page and take a screenshot of it and put that on the main page. Alternately, you could get an account at wikipedia and mess about on your user page and screengrab/copy HTML from that. What are you trying to do? Making an HTML page will take 15-20 minutes if you copy/paste from an exiting wiki page and elide any editable bits.
posted by jessamyn at 5:03 AM on May 10, 2006

File --> Save as --> Web page (complete)

Kill the links, by redirecting them to a nonexistent or dummy page (like quonsar does here with his pseudo-MeFi page).

The edit functions won't do a thing without the back-end to support them.
posted by caution live frogs at 5:08 AM on May 10, 2006

If your site is a WordPress blog, there's a Wikipedia theme out there. Check out codex.wordpress.org, as I'm too lazy to look up the URL for you. :)
posted by WCityMike at 10:24 AM on May 10, 2006

If it's really just one page, what I suggest is head to OpenSourceCMS MediaWiki demo, and then create the page you want to (keep a copy of the text because the system deletes everything every few hours). After you created your page more or less, save it to HTML, and then edit it with some HTML editor.

I've also done recently for a few of my clients MediaWiki customizations so it doesn't look like a Wiki to the end-user, but is still easy to edit like a regular wiki, but it's probably not worth the effort if it's just one page.
posted by Sharcho at 1:11 PM on May 10, 2006