User:HanTheGene/Tricks

A collection of random tid-bits that I've learned relating to wiki stuff, so that I can look them up again if I forget. it first checks whether the page is in the main namespace, so that it does not categorize the template itself. then it takes the year and adds the category for the year, or adds the category "Unlisted year" if there is no year given
 * the extension NamespacePreload allows you to set a text that gets loaded onto every new page. I use it to automatically load the format that all my pages follow (so an empty user box, a fill-in-the-blanks lead section, all the paragraphs I need, some blank [[Category: tags, etc.). Make sure to uncheck $wgNamespacePreloadDoExpansion
 * automatic categorization in templates. I use this to automatically categorize characters by year

SEO
(yoinked from other web sources)
 * at least 600-800 words to have something be a separate page. 1000-2500 is optimal. 5000 is getting too long
 * if something is more than 2 printed pages long, add sections
 * cool it with the redlinks
 * at least 1 cat per page, try to not have more than 6
 * have the sidebar link to actual content, not to tools or pages meant for editors (except for a general rules page)
 * make redirects for synonyms and such
 * rename your main page so it's something like "Name wiki" instead of "Main Page". you also have to set your main page to "Name wiki" on MediaWiki:Mainpage