MediaWiki is a totally free solution originally created for Wikipedia and is used by all projects of the Wikimedia Foundation and many others as a content management system . Some of them make it of use in operating websites with thick traffic.
Though it is in the PHP language, it can accommodate both the MySQL and PostgreSQL. MediaWiki is an open source solution.
The present was originally developed for Wikipedia at the University of Cologne with a small wiki tool. It later switched to PHP-based and then to scalable MySQL database backend to offer better functionality.
Previously, it was known in different names at different stages of creation-"the PHP script", "phase II", "phase III", "the new codebase"- without any brand name. Soon after the take over by the Wikimedia Foundation in 2003, "MediaWiki", the name was introduced. Today, "MediaWiki" is a confident brand, and produces millions of results with a Google search.
Main features
- MediaWiki offers quality features and a viable system to accommodate extensions to provide extra activities.
- Wikimedia projects, both international and local have attracted significant attention by developers due to its multilingual capabilities. The translation into more than 100 languages can be further customized by site administrators.
- Wikipedia is one of the largest websites and hence attaining scalability through multiple layers of caching and database replication turns out to be a matter for anxiety for developers. Wikipedia and other Wikimedia projects contribute to the requirements for MediaWiki.
- MediaWiki has effected certain logical change for the purpose of creating an encyclopedia having accurate titles. Editing long pages of Wikipedia articles has been made easier by allowing the editing of a subsection of a page of Mediawiki.
Additions
MediaWiki is progressing day by day and has become so popular to other targets through its additions. Most of the extensions are plain scripts to permit the fixed contents. With additions, it can be improved further. Some extensions that might improve a wiki are mentioned below:
a) Extension of ratings. b)Extension of category suggestion. c) Inclusion of RSS feed. d) Inclusion of flash. And e) Inclusion of You tube.
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