No Title Provided
- MediaWiki Setup Documentation for abhiprayavedi.org**
- Version: English Journalistic Article Workflow (as of May 2026)**
- 1. Project Overview
- **Purpose**: Private wiki for editorial boards, research collectives, pre-publication workflows, and final publishing. - **Focus**: Started with **English journalistic-type articles**. Malayalam and other formats (research papers, books, scripts) to be added later. - **Core Philosophy**: Use only built-in MediaWiki + installed extensions (no heavy custom extensions beyond what's already enabled). - **Key Constraint**: Private wiki — anonymous users see only published articles (Main namespace) + login page.
- 2. Namespaces & Permissions
| Namespace | Anonymous Access | Logged-in Users | Sysop/Admin Access | Purpose | |--------------------|------------------|--------------------------|------------------------|--------| | **Submissions** | ❌ | ❌ (unless sysop) | ✅ (full) | Initial user submissions | | **Draft** | ❌ | ✅ | ✅ | Work-in-progress | | **Main** | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | Published public articles | | **Articles** | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | Alternative/organizational | | **AbhiprayaVedi** | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | Future Malayalam content |
- Global Read Disabled** — Only whitelisted pages (published Main namespace + login/special pages) are visible to anonymous users.
- 3. Installed Extensions Used
- **PageForms** — Core for structured submission forms. - **VisualEditor** — Rich editing for content and form fields. - **ParserFunctions** — Conditionals (`#if`), date formatting, etc. - **WikiEditor** — Source editing fallback. - Others: Cite, CategoryTree, etc. (minor use).
- 4. Overall Architecture & Workflow
- User Workflow (Logged-in Contributors)**:
1. Click **"Submit Article"** link in sidebar → goes to helper page with `#forminput`. 2. Fill **EnglishArticleSubmission** form (compulsory + optional fields). 3. Page is automatically created in **Submissions:** namespace with `
-->` template transcluded. 4. User can preview/save.
- Admin/Editorial Workflow**:
1. Admins visit **Admin:SubmissionsDashboard** (or use Special:NewPages + CategoryTree) to see pending submissions. 2. Review/edit article (VisualEditor or source) — check copyright, improve formatting, add images if needed. 3. **Publish** by using **Move Page** (Special:MovePage) from `Submissions:XXX` → `Main:XXX` (preserves history, simple & clean). 4. Optional: Update status, add reviewer notes, etc.
- Level of Automation**: Medium
- Form auto-creates structured page with template. - No automatic approval/publishing (manual admin step — as requested). - Categories auto-assigned. - DISPLAYTITLE for pretty titles. - Conditionals hide empty sections.
- 5. Main Components
- A. Template: **Template:EnglishArticle**
Location: `Template:EnglishArticle`
- Key Features**:
- Uses `` for clean browser tab + page title (supports complex display names). - Custom header with title, author (bold + larger), date. - Right sidebar (float) with thumbnail + highlights. - Highlighted intro box. - Direct `{{{content}}}` output for clean paragraphs (no indentation blocks). - Conditional display for optional fields (author bio, source attribution, category). - Inline CSS for layout (sober, journalistic style).
- Current Top Structure** (cleaned version):
```wikitext Warning: Display title "No Title Provided" overrides earlier display title "...".
{Template:Display name
By Anonymous
(12-06-2026)
```
- B. Form: **Form:EnglishArticleSubmission**
Location: `Form:EnglishArticleSubmission`
- Uses PageForms with clear sections (Compulsory, Images, Highlights, Source Attribution). - Fields map directly to template parameters. - VisualEditor enabled for the main `content` field. - Mandatory fields enforced on title, author, intro, content, etc. - Image upload support. - Dropdown for categories.
- Access**: Via sidebar link → `#forminput` helper page (recommended).
- C. Helper Pages
- **Project:SubmitArticle** (or similar) — Contains `#forminput` box for user-friendly title entry + namespace pre-set to Submissions. - **Admin:SubmissionsDashboard** — Lists recent submissions.
- D. Styling & Layout
- **Inline CSS** (in template): Sidebar float, intro highlight box, header compactness, highlight boxes. - **MediaWiki:Common.css** (for future):
- Category-based background colors (mild/sober tones). - Global tweaks if needed.
- VisualEditor-friendly (users can insert images manually inside content).
- 6. Current Status & Known Minor Issues
- **Working Well**: Form submission, template rendering, clean paragraphs, sidebar, intro styling, category display, publishing via page move. - **Resolved**: First-paragraph block issue, DISPLAYTITLE literal text, stray braces (after multiple brace fixes). - **Pending Fine-tuning**:
- Extra vertical space between title and "By Author" line (empty paragraph in VE). - Form field labels sometimes not showing (placeholders compensate well). - Full category color scheme.
- 7. Recommendations for Next Steps
1. Finalize header spacing (use the compact version with inline date). 2. Add category color classes in Common.css. 3. Create index/Main Page with recent articles gallery (using CategoryTree or DPL if installed). 4. Duplicate for Malayalam (new template + form). 5. Expand to research papers later.
---
- How to Maintain**:
- Always purge pages (`?action=purge`) after template/form changes. - Test new submissions end-to-end. - Backup `LocalSettings.php`, templates, and database regularly (shared hosting).
This setup gives you a clean, structured, editor-friendly workflow while keeping things simple and maintainable.
Would you like me to: - Provide the **full current code** for Template:EnglishArticle and Form:EnglishArticleSubmission? - Write a user guide for contributors/admins? - Or focus on fixing the remaining spacing issue first?
Let me know how you'd like to proceed!