2.1 What is a namespace?
A namespace defines an area in your knowledge base. You can recognize a namespace by the namespace prefix in the page title:
<namespace>:Page title
We sometimes use shelves and closets to illustrate the concept of namespaces:
There are shelves that everyone can access. Then there are glass cabinets with locks that everyone can look into, but not everyone can edit everything. There are also closed wooden cabinets with a lock, so only selected people can look into that space and work. And every closet can look different.
In your knowledge base, you will find predefined namespaces. In addition, administrators can create custom namespaces as needed. There are certain aspects of namespaces that are important to consider before creating a namespace. It is therefore important to understand the characteristics of namespaces and the reasons for using a custom namespace.
2.1.1 Characteristics of a namespace
- Activation of features: Different functions can be activated in each namespace (e.g., page approvals or read confirmations).
- Search function: Search can be limited to individual namespaces (namespace filter).
- One namespace per page: The same page name in a different namespace creates a new page.
- Flat structure: Namespaces cannot contain other namespaces.
- File associations: Uploaded files can be assigned to a namespace.
2.2 Standard namespaces
The system uses, among others, the 15 standard and the two so-called pseudo namespaces from MediaWiki base:
| ID | Namespace | Function |
|---|---|---|
| Media | Pseudo-namespace for uploaded images and files. Will be replaced by path of the files. | |
| special | Pseudo-namespace for special pages. | |
| 0 | (pages) | These are given without a prefix. |
| 1 | Talk | talk page. Is created in addition to each article (also in the following namespaces) to speak about its contents. Additional tab (+). |
| 2 | User | User page. Will be created for every logged in user. |
| 3 | User talk | Cf. talk |
| 4 | [knowledge base-Name] | Information about the knowledge base or the current project. |
| 5 | [knowledge base-Name]_Talk | Cf. talk |
| 6 | Image | Description of a picture and other files. Is automatically supplemented with version information and information about the occurrence of the file |
| 7 | File_Talk | Cf. talk |
| 8 | MediaWiki base | system messages. A complete list can be found under Special: AllMessages. Can only be changed by registered users. |
| 9 | MediaWiki base_Talk | Cf. talk |
| 10 | Template | Templates can be integrated into other pages. |
| 11 | Template_talk | Cf. talk |
| 12 | Help | Help pages describe how to perform actions in the knowledge base. No clear separation from the [knowledge base name] namespace. |
| 13 | Help_talk | Cf. talk |
| 14 | Category | Pages can be assigned to categories, which are then accessible in this namespace. |
| 15 | Category_talk | Cf. talk |
Standard namespace: A page is assigned to the "Main" namespace, as long as no other namespace is specified.
Pseudo namespaces: The two pseudo namespaces (Media, Special) are used like normal namespaces, but you cannot edit them or add pages to them.
Most pages in the namespaces are created automatically:
- Special pages are generated by the system during installation.
- Media and image pages are created during file uplad.
- User pages are created whenever a user acts on the knowledge base.
- Discussion pages are also created with the corresponding pages.
This leaves only the default namespaces (Main), [knowledge base name], Template, Help and Category namespaces where pages can be freely created.
2.3 Creating a new namespace
You can create additional namespaces by using the Namespace manager under Global actions > Management > Namespace manager. The menu item "Category manager" loads the page Special:NamespaceManager.
2.4 Accessing pages in a namespace
To access or create a page in a specific namespace, its name is simply placed in front of the page title and separated by a colon:
[[Setup:Installation|]]
In the example, the pipe symbol (straight line) was also added. It has the effect that the namespace won't be displayed for the link label.
If you provide a namespace that is not known to the knowledge base, the page is created in the standard namespace Main. The portion of the reference specified as the namespace is then added to the title of the item instead and is not recognized as a namespace label.
2.5 Organizing content without namespaces
If you simply want to group pages in your knowledge base without the need for controlling access rights, you can use the syntax of the namespaces to simulate a namespace in the namespace Main. Simply prefix the pages that belong to a group with a name and a colon. If no namespace with this name exists, the prefix simply becomes part of the page name.
That way, it is possible to use pages with the same name in the main namespace and thus let different groups work on content "sets". Since these own "namespace" prefixes are part of the page name, you can now display all pages in a simulated namespace by searching for the prefix in the search field.
Since you can also organize pages with categories and subpages, you should start by planning how you would like to organize the content in your knowledge base.
After installing your knowledge base, you can visualize this with the BlueSpice draw.io Plugin directly in your knowledge base and discuss it with your team.
2.6 Viewing all pages of a namespace
You can view all pages in a namespace:
- Go to the Special page "All Pages"
- Leave the input field empty
- Select a namespace from the Namespace drop-down menu. Newly added namespaces will appear at the bottom of the list.
- Click Go
