Mediawiki experts?

[Gryzor]

Hello guys,


I was wondering if any of you have expertise with Mediawiki. The main reason I'm asking is because, frankly speaking, the wiki itself looks awful on a mobile, so I'd like to discuss some options...


Thanks!

[Morn]

I suppose you could just emulate Wikipedia and use their MobileFrontend extension ( Extension:MobileFrontend - MediaWiki ). Looks easy enough to install and works just fine on WP sites.

Wikipedia also has some nice user agent auto-detection on their Varnish servers, but please keep it overrideable because sometimes you actually want to see the destkop version on mobile devices. 

[Zoe Robinson]

I'm rather well versed in mediawiki, having used it for my own sites for years. I'd be happy to discuss options.

[Gryzor]

@Morn : actually I'm using that; I had some issues but I resolved them yesterday. It's not really great, but it does do something... the biggest drawback is that it doesn't implement the sidebar, which sucks!!!


@Zoe Robinson : thanks so much Zoe If you have some concrete ideas/thoughts, drop me a PM

[Morn]

@Morn : actually I'm using that; I had some issues but I resolved them yesterday. It's not really great, but it does do something... the biggest drawback is that it doesn't implement the sidebar, which sucks!!!

Maybe you could put some of the navigation links from the sidebar (the Hardware/Software/Scene sections) into a template and only transclude that on the mobile front page somehow.

I'm not sure I'm a fan of mixing page navigation and editing tools in the sidebar, perhaps you should rethink navigation for all users. How about a horizontal nav bar or even a "burger icon" menu? You could checkt out the Wikia wikis, e.g. All The Tropes Wiki - Wikia and see what they are using for navigation. They are supposed to be far more user friendly than the stock MediaWiki setup.

[Gryzor]

Maybe you could put some of the navigation links from the sidebar (the Hardware/Software/Scene sections) into a template and only transclude that on the mobile front page somehow.

Yes, that sounds like a good idea, and that's where I'd need a mediawiki expert


That said, the wiki is one point release behind because I haven't had the time to do it. Who knows, perhaps moving to the latest one will fix the sidebar, though I doubt it - the discussion about this method (others have the same problems as we do) is a bit lacking...

I'm not sure I'm a fan of mixing page navigation and editing tools in the sidebar, perhaps you should rethink navigation for all users. How about a horizontal nav bar or even a "burger icon" menu? You could checkt out the Wikia wikis, e.g. All The Tropes Wiki - Wikia and see what they are using for navigation. They are supposed to be far more user friendly than the stock MediaWiki setup.

No, I didn't mention editing tools on the sidebar; I don't think anyone is crazy enough to do edits on the go, so I guess what we need are the standard navigational elements. And yes, these supposedly go under the hamburger menu indeed.


I think All the Tropes is using a Metro skin which scales nicely on mobiles. But it's nowhere near as pretty. I just checked it on my phone, actually this specific wiki looks awful there; I think they must have screwed up the template a bit...

[Gryzor]

Thanks for the suggestions, btw