Collapse and expand wiki page content
This page contains notes on using MediaWiki features that allow you to collapse and expand content sections.
MediaWiki default capabilities
For a block that starts collapsed:
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed">
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">
This content is hidden initially.
You can put normal wikitext here:
* Item one
* Item two
* Item three
</div>
</div>
mw-collapsible makes the element collapsible, while mw-collapsed makes it start collapsed. MediaWiki then supplies the Expand/Collapse control. MediaWiki
For something more useful, with a visible title:
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed">
My additional information
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">
Here is all of the additional information that I don't
want displayed until the reader expands it.
* Item one
* Item two
* Item three
</div>
</div>
You can also change the words used for the control:
Additional information
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">
This is the hidden content.
</div>
</div>
That functionality is built into MediaWiki's jquery.makeCollapsible module. MediaWiki
MediaWiki Details extension
There is now an Extension:Details extension that I think is particularly worth considering for your personal wiki. It lets you write:
<details>
<summary>My additional information</summary>
Here is the information.
* Item one
* Item two
* Item three
</details>
The result behaves like the familiar disclosure/accordion control on modern websites: click the summary and the content opens underneath it.
You can also make it initially open:
<details open>
<summary>My additional information</summary>
Content here.
</details>
The Details extension is currently marked stable, supports MediaWiki 1.39+, and uses the browser's semantic <details>/<summary> mechanism. One advantage is that browsers understand the hidden material as actual page content; things such as links to anchors and Find-in-Page can interact with it more intelligently. MediaWiki
Installation is simply:
wfLoadExtension( 'Details' );
after putting the extension in the extensions/Details directory. MediaWiki
MediaWiki CollapsibleSections extension
CollapsibleSections can make entire MediaWiki sections collapsible, which is useful if you want something like:
=== Travel Plans ===
Lots of content...
=== Books to Read ===
Lots more content...
and want each section to collapse from its heading. It can be configured for desktop use and whether sections start collapsed. MediaWiki
MediaWiki Spoilers extension
Provides {{#spoiler:...}} https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Extension%3ASpoilers?utm_source=chatgpt.com
Its purpose is specifically hiding spoiler-like content. MediaWiki
MediaWiki custom template
One other possibility is creating your own {{Collapse}} template around MediaWiki's built-in functionality. MediaWiki.org itself has a Collapse template with parameters such as title, content, background, alignment, and initial state. MediaWiki