LRob documentation: Migrating from MediaWiki to WordPress

Replacing a wiki with WordPress: a simpler solution for documentation

At LRob, Documentation management is essential, but until recently was the responsibility of MediaWiki. Although this tool is effective for collaborative projects, it becomes cumbersome and complicated to manage when you are alone in writing and maintaining the documentation.

Working on a site WordPress to the many pages used as categories that the idea came to me: why not use WordPress to manage the documentation, without any additional plugins?

Why switch to WordPress?

WordPress, which runs portal.lrob.co.uk/, already offers all the basic functionality you need to organise your documentation, without having to install any additional plugins. Here are some of the native advantages that prompted me to make the switch:

• Page hierarchy Creating pages and sub-pages, as in a wiki, is very simple thanks to WordPress' native structure.
• Gutenberg block for the tree structure There is a block for displaying the sub-page tree of a parent page, making it easier to navigate through the documentation.

To complete this configuration, I used RankMath SEO, already present on lrob.fr, who helped me integrate two key features for a documentation site:

• Breadcrumbs A breadcrumb trail to improve navigation and referencing.
• Automatic summary An index of titles and subtitles, ideal for well-structured pages such as those in a wiki.

As a bonus, the wiki can be automatically translated into English using TranslatePress and the DeepL API, which works wonders.

The transition to WordPress

So on the evening of 17 October, I transferred the documentation to WordPress. The block editor Gutenberg made the process easy, preserving titles, lists and links when copying and pasting from MediaWiki. Next, I set up 301 redirects from the wiki to the new WordPress documentation pages, then I deactivated the old wiki.

This morning I took advantage of the migration to reorganise and improve some of the documentation, with a clearer, more modern layout, while adding internal links for easier navigation.

A simpler, more effective result

The transition to WordPress simplifies documentation management. Not only has this enabled me to eliminate the cumbersome maintenance of MediaWiki, but it's also a more flexible and easy-to-use solution for me, while offering more accessible content to my customers.

Thanks to RankMath SEO, The documentation is better structured and more optimised for SEO, which should improve its online visibility.

You can consult the new documentation here: https://portail.lrob.fr/doc/