Manual:Short URL overview

Overview of how to configure short URLs in MediaWiki and related considerations.

The Manual:Short URL page has become unreadable and so complex I cannot clean it up. So I'm starting new Short URL overview below, no how tos on this page but instead separate pages for discrete solutions, named and linked to below as subpages of Short URL. Eventually Manual:Short URL overview may be moved to Manual:Short URL, replacing it, but only after that page is refactored into subpages per below pagenaming scheme. Welcome to help! :-)

Overview
According to Tim Berners-Lee, good URLs should never change. Short URLs that hide PHP mechanics from the browser location bar for normal pages are good user interface.

These short URLS are not implemented in MediaWiki by default because they are done in concert with Web server configurations that can get complicated and may vary depending on the specific Web server being used.

In all the examples, it is assumed that MediaWiki is installed in the directory located at  and that you want to use   as an alias for. It is possible to use an alternative install directory and an alternative alias simply by changing these values ("wiki" and "w") in the examples below. The process is slightly more complicated if you want both to be the same, or if you want the alias to be the root directory ("" instead of "wiki"), but in both cases it is possible with a bit of tweaking (and a few usage restrictions).

Short URL how tos
Welcome to create fancy solution pages and link to them below. Please use a sensible name for the page, one that fits in with below names, eg Manual:Short URL/wiki/Page title -- name your fancy solution here. When each unique solution has its own page, readers can skip complexity they do not want. Readable wiki pages are maintainable wiki pages.

Keep it simple, readable, maintainable -- separate page per separate solution.

mysite.tld/Page_title
How to do mysite.tld/Page_title style URLs
 * Manual:Short URL/Page title -- EASY
 * Manual:Short URL/Page title -- fancy solution xxx
 * Manual:Short URL/Page title -- fancy solution yyy
 * Manual:Short URL/Page title -- fancy solution zzz

mysite.tld/wiki/Page_title
How to do mysite.tld/wiki/Page_title style URLs
 * Manual:Short URL/Page title -- EASY
 * Manual:Short URL/wiki/Page title -- fancy solution xxx
 * Manual:Short URL/wiki/Page title -- fancy solution yyy
 * Manual:Short URL/wiki/Page title -- fancy solution zzz