10 Things You Did Not Know MediaWiki Can Do
Hide Categories, Collapse Sections, Temporary Accounts and more
1. Hide Categories from Readers
By adding __HIDDENCAT__ to a category page you can keep the category from showing up on the bottom of every article that belongs to it. The category is still searchable and appears on Special:Categories for admins.
2. Collapse Sections on the Fly
The HideSection extension adds a tiny “‑/＋” link next to each heading, letting readers hide or show a whole section (and any sub‑sections) without leaving the page.
3. Temporary (Anonymous) User Accounts
MediaWiki 1.39 introduced the experimental $wgAutoCreateTempUser feature. When an anonymous editor saves a page a temporary account is created automatically, keeping the IP address out of the public edit history while still allowing the user to retain ownership of their edits.
4. Upload by URL (Copy‑Upload)
With the CopyUpload feature you can paste a remote file URL into the upload form. Administrators can manage the whitelist on MediaWiki:Copyupload-allowed-domains and enable it via $wgCopyUploadAllowOnWikiDomainConfig.
5. Escape the Equal Sign with a Magic Word
The new magic word {{=}} (see Help:Magic words )
6. Group‑Specific CSS
MediaWiki loads MediaWiki:Group-group.css for members of a particular user group. By putting a rule in MediaWiki:Group‑user.css you can show a feature that you have hidden globally in MediaWiki:Common.css – perfect for showing extra navigation only to logged‑in users.
7. Structured Data with the EntitySchema Extension
EntitySchema lets you store JSON‑LD or RDF data directly on a wiki page, exposing it via the EntitySchema extension. This turns a wiki into a lightweight knowledge‑graph platform.
8. Visual Diff for Page Comparisons
Since MediaWiki 1.36 the visualdiff module provides side‑by‑side, highlighted diffs that colour‑code added, removed and moved text. It can be enabled with $wgVisualDiff and improves readability of large changes.
9. Conditional Parsing with #ifexist
The parser function #ifexist (documented on Help:Parser functions) lets templates react to the presence or absence of a page, enabling sophisticated content gating without any PHP.
10. API‑Driven Page Creation
MediaWiki’s RESTful API can create, edit, and delete pages programmatically. Coupled with bot rights you can automate bulk imports, generate daily reports, or sync external data sources.
These hidden gems show how MediaWiki can be stretched far beyond a simple encyclopedia. Explore the linked documentation on mediawiki.org to start experimenting today.