How to customize MediaWiki


 * Screen shots of the interface with custonizable varables labelled
 * http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:MediaWiki_screenshots

Titles

 * Mediawiki:Pagetitle: The text for the title bar


 * Mediawiki:Search

Article tabs

 * MediaWiki:Edit: Text for the edit tab
 * default is edit

Menus, lists

 * Mediawiki:Sidebar: The links and sections on the side bar (i.e. on Wikihowto main, navigation, and page list sections.
 * MediaWiki:Licenses: List of available licenses for images/files appearing in a drop-down list on file upload page.


 * MediaWiki:NavLinks: The links at the top, "Home, Forum, Random Page, Create a new article" (for Wikia's quartz skin)

Upload page

 * MediaWiki:License: the text before the license list. Default="License:"
 * MediaWiki:Licenses: List of available licenses for images/files appearing in a drop-down list on file upload page.
 * MediaWiki:Uploadtext: Text appearing on the upload page, including warnings about images without copyright information, etc.

Page name variables

 * MediaWiki:Mainpage: The page for the mainpage variable
 * Default is Main Page
 * MediaWiki:helppage: The page for the helppage variable
 * Default is Help:Contents
 * MediaWiki:disambiguationspage
 * Default is Template:disambig
 * MediaWiki:disclaimerpage
 * Default is Project:General disclaimer
 * MediaWiki:edithelppage
 * Default is Help:Editing
 * MediaWiki:faqpage
 * Default is Project:FAQ
 * MediaWiki:aboutpage
 * Default is Project:About
 * MediaWiki:bugreportspage
 * Default is Project:Bug reports
 * MediaWiki:copyrightpage
 * Default is Project:Copyrights
 * MediaWiki:privacypage
 * Default is Project:Privacy policy
 * MediaWiki:policy-url
 * Default is Project:Policy
 * MediaWiki:portal-url
 * Default is Project:Community Portal
 * MediaWiki:currentevents-url
 * Default is Current events
 * MediaWiki:sitesupport-url

Text added to specific pages

 * MediaWiki:Revertpage: Text added to the edit summary when using the rollback tool.


 * MediaWiki:Edittools: Provides list of special characters appearing below edit box and save/preview buttons


 * MediaWiki:Sharedupload: Appears on the page of any image or file used in wikibooks but actually located on commons. Most wikis use a template linking to the commons page.


 * MediaWiki:Copyrightwarning2: The copyright warning that appears below the edit window.


 * MediaWiki:Newarticletext


 * MediaWiki:Recentchangestext: The text located at the top of Special:Recentchanges

Footer
You can also customize the individual built-in items by modifying certain pages or parameters:
 * lastmod - edit MediaWiki:Lastmodifiedat. If $wgMaxCredits is enabled then edit MediaWiki:Lastmodifiedatby. You may also want to edit MediaWiki:othercontribs that shows other contributors. (6518)
 * lastmod - edit MediaWiki:Lastmodified. If $wgMaxCredits is enabled, then edit MediaWiki:Lastmodifiedby. You may also want to edit MediaWiki:othercontribs that shows other contributors. (6518)
 * viewcount - edit MediaWiki:Viewcount
 * numberofwatchingusers - edit MediaWiki:Number of watching users pageview. This only appears if you also add  to LocalSettings.php.
 * credits - If $wgMaxCredits is not zero it will display page editors
 * copyright - edit MediaWiki:Copyright. The parameter $1 on that page is replaced with a link to the details of copyright for your wiki. In LocalSettings.php $wgRightsText for the link text and set either $wgRightsPage or $wgRightsUrl with the location of a wiki page or external URL.
 * privacy - this is a link only. Edit MediaWiki:Privacy for the link text and MediaWiki:Privacypage for the wiki page to which to link.
 * about - this is a link only. Edit MediaWiki:Aboutsite for the link text and MediaWiki:Aboutpage for the wiki page to which to link.
 * disclaimer - this is a link only. Edit MediaWiki:Disclaimers for the link text and MediaWiki:Disclaimerpage for the wiki page to which to link.
 * tagline - not currently used in the footer

To remove the privacy, about and/or disclaimer links entirely, replace the link text with a single dash (" ").


 * MediaWiki:Privacy: text used for the privacy links
 * MediaWiki:Privacypage: link to privacy page
 * MediaWiki:Aboutsite: text used for the about links
 * MediaWiki:Aboutpage link to about page
 * MediaWiki:Disclaimers: text used for the disclamers links
 * MediaWiki:Disclaimerpage: link to disclaimer page

Add links
As of 1.17 you can modify the list of links in the footer using the to modify the footerlinks arrays and setting new template keys for the values.

For example, putting this in your LocalSettings.php will add a new "Terms of Service" link after the disclaimer link.

From there you can put "Terms of Service" in the page on your wiki, for the link's text and in  define the title of the page that you want the Terms of Service link to point to. Note, if you do not create these pages on your wiki, then nothing will appear in the footer.

Remember it may take a while to update due to MediaWiki caches.
 * Reference: http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Manual:Footer

Remove footer icons
You can hide the Powered by MediaWiki image by adding the following to your wiki's MediaWiki:Common.css:

The Vector skin equivalent is:

In MW 1.17 with Vector Skin:

In MW 1.18 with Vector Skin:

If you want to remove it completely in 1.17 you can use to remove it using this in your :

In 1.16 and below you will have to use a hook to remove it:

If you wish to change the icon images, urls, alt text, or add new icons please see ' documentation.


 * Reference: http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Manual:FAQ#How_can_I_edit_.2F_remove_the_Powered_by_MediaWiki_image_in_the_footer.3F
 * Reference: http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Manual:$wgFooterIcons

Text added to all pages

 * MediaWiki:Sitenotice: Text that appears at the top of every page on the site, just below the tabs
 * MediaWiki:Tagline: The text appearing just below a page title (on wikibooks, this currently reads "From Wikibooks, the open-content textbooks collection").
 * MediaWiki:Tagline/en: when language specific

Configuration for whole site
Be careful with these


 * MediaWiki:Common.css: Style sheet (CSS) defining site appearance, common to all skins


 * MediaWiki:Monobook.js: Contains scripts in JavaScript


 * MediaWiki:Monobook.css: Style sheet (CSS) defining site appearance in default skin.

Uncategorized

 * MediaWiki:AdminSkin: Default skin used for page


 * MediaWiki:Toolbox


 * MediaWiki:Namespace


 * MediaWiki:Tryexact


 * MediaWiki:Searchfulltext


 * MediaWiki:Fromwikipedia


 * MediaWiki:Linktrail


 * MediaWiki:grouppage-bot


 * MediaWiki:grouppage-bureaucrat


 * MediaWiki:grouppage-sysop


 * MediaWiki:Newmessagesdifflink

Customize in LocalSettings.php

 * http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Manual:Configuration_settings: Variables to edit