MediaWiki facts for kids
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Screenshot
The Main Page of the English Wikipedia running an alpha version of MediaWiki 1.40
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| Original author(s) |
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| Developer(s) | Wikimedia Foundation |
| Initial release | January 25, 2002 |
| Stable release |
Lua error in Module:Wd at line 1575: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value). / Lua error in Module:Wd at line 1571: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value).
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| Written in | PHP |
| Operating system | Windows, macOS, Linux, FreeBSD, OpenBSD, Solaris |
| Size | 110.2 MiB (compressed) |
| Available in | 459 languages |
| Type | Wiki software |
| License | GPLv2+ |
MediaWiki is a special computer program that helps create and run websites called wikis. It's free to use and anyone can see how it's made. This software was first created by Magnus Manske for Wikipedia in 2002. Later, Lee Daniel Crocker made it even better. Now, the Wikimedia Foundation helps manage its development.
MediaWiki powers many wiki websites online. This includes most websites run by the Wikimedia Foundation, like Wikipedia, Wiktionary, Wikimedia Commons, and Wikidata. These big websites help shape what the software needs to do.
MediaWiki is written in a programming language called PHP. It stores all the text content in a database. The software is designed to handle very large projects. Some projects can have huge amounts of content and millions of views every second. Since Wikipedia is one of the world's biggest websites, making MediaWiki work smoothly for so many users is a big goal for its developers.
Another important part of MediaWiki is that it works in many languages. Its interface is available in over 400 languages! The software also has more than 1,000 settings. Plus, there are over 1,800 extensions available. These extensions let people add or change many different features. Besides Wikimedia sites, MediaWiki is used by other popular wikis like Fandom and wikiHow. It's also used inside big organizations like Intellipedia.
Contents
- What is the MediaWiki License?
- How MediaWiki is Developed
- The History of MediaWiki
- Websites Using MediaWiki
- Key Features of MediaWiki
- MediaWiki Extensions
- MediaWiki Database
- Performance and Storage
- Limitations of MediaWiki
- Security in MediaWiki
- MediaWiki Developer Community
- Support for MediaWiki Users
- Comparing MediaWiki to Other Collaboration Software
- See also
- Images for kids
What is the MediaWiki License?
MediaWiki is free and open-source software. This means it can be used, changed, and shared by anyone. It follows the rules of the GNU General Public License. The instructions and guides for MediaWiki are found on its official website, www.mediawiki.org. These documents are shared under the Creative Commons BY-SA 4.0 license. Some parts are even in the public domain, meaning they are completely free to use. This helps avoid legal problems when people copy the help pages into their own wikis. MediaWiki development also prefers using open-source media formats.
How MediaWiki is Developed
MediaWiki has a very active community of volunteers. These volunteers help develop and maintain the software. People who contribute by fixing things or adding new features can get access to the project's code.
There are also paid programmers who work mainly for the Wikimedia Foundation. MediaWiki developers also help with Google Summer of Code. This program helps students work on MediaWiki projects with mentors. Before November 2012, about 200 developers were making changes to MediaWiki.
New major versions of MediaWiki are released about every six months. Smaller updates, called point releases, come out when needed. These smaller updates fix bugs, especially security problems. MediaWiki is developed using a "continuous integration" method. This means software changes are regularly sent live to Wikimedia sites.
MediaWiki also has a public bug tracker called phabricator.wikimedia.org. This website uses a tool called Phabricator. People use it to report bugs and suggest new features or improvements.
The History of MediaWiki
When Wikipedia first started in January 2001, it used a different wiki program called UseModWiki. This program stored all wiki pages as simple text files. But it quickly became too slow and didn't have enough features for Wikipedia's growing needs.
In mid-2001, Magnus Manske, a developer and student, started creating new software. He designed it specifically for Wikipedia. This new software was written in PHP and stored information in a MySQL database. Most of it was ready by August 2001. A test wiki for it was set up soon after.
The new software was first fully used on the Meta Wikipedia on November 9, 2001. Everyone wanted it on the English Wikipedia right away. But Manske was worried about bugs during his final exams. So, the English Wikipedia launch was delayed until January 25, 2002. This new software was called "the PHP script" or "phase II." The old UseModWiki was then called "phase I."
As Wikipedia grew, the new software also started having speed problems. So, another rewrite began. This time, Lee Daniel Crocker did the work. This version became known as "phase III." It was also written in PHP with a MySQL database. It kept the basic look of phase II but could handle much more traffic. "Phase III" went live on Wikipedia in July 2002.
The Wikimedia Foundation was announced on June 20, 2003. In July, a Wikipedia contributor named Daniel Mayer suggested the name "MediaWiki" for the software. It was a play on "Wikimedia." The name MediaWiki was slowly introduced starting in August 2003. The similar names sometimes cause confusion.
The old logo for MediaWiki was made by Erik Möller. It used a photo of a sunflower taken by Florence Nibart-Devouard. This logo was originally part of a contest for a new Wikipedia logo in 2003. It came in third place. So, it was chosen to represent MediaWiki instead of Wikipedia. The second-place logo was used for the Wikimedia Foundation.
The double square brackets ([[ ]]) in the logo show how MediaWiki creates links to other wiki pages. The sunflower represents the many different types of content on Wikipedia. It also shows Wikipedia's constant growth and its wild, open nature.
Later, Brion Vibber, who was the chief technical officer of the Wikimedia Foundation, became the main person in charge of new releases.
Some big steps in MediaWiki's development include:
- The categorization system (2004)
- Parser functions (2006)
- Flagged Revisions (2008)
- The "ResourceLoader" for CSS and JavaScript (2011)
- The VisualEditor, a "what you see is what you get" (WYSIWYG) editing tool (2013)
A new logo contest started in June 2020. The old logo was a bitmap image, which caused problems at different sizes. After two rounds of voting, a new logo designed by Serhio Magpie was chosen on October 24, 2020. It became the official MediaWiki logo on April 1, 2021.
MediaWiki Version History
The first version of MediaWiki, 1.1, was released in December 2003.
Websites Using MediaWiki
MediaWiki is most famous for powering Wikipedia. It also runs other projects by the Wikimedia Foundation. Fandom, a wiki hosting service once known as Wikia, also uses MediaWiki. Other public wikis that use MediaWiki include wikiHow and SNPedia. WikiLeaks started as a MediaWiki site, but it is no longer a wiki.
Many other wiki encyclopedias, similar to Wikipedia, also use MediaWiki. These include Citizendium, Metapedia, Scholarpedia, and Conservapedia. Many companies, like Novell and Intel, use MediaWiki internally for their own knowledge.
Governments also use MediaWiki. Examples include Intellipedia, used by the United States Intelligence Community, and Diplopedia, used by the United States Department of State. The United Nations agencies also chose MediaWiki for their wikis. They picked it because it runs Wikipedia, so it's well-tested and will keep being developed.
The Free Software Foundation uses MediaWiki for its LibrePlanet website.
Key Features of MediaWiki
MediaWiki has many built-in features. It also allows extensions to add even more functions.
Working in Many Languages
Because Wikimedia projects focus on many languages, MediaWiki developers pay a lot of attention to internationalization and localization. The user interface has been fully or partly translated into over 400 languages on translatewiki.net. Site administrators can also customize it further.
Several extensions, especially those in the MediaWiki Language Extension Bundle, help MediaWiki work even better in many languages.
How to Install and Set Up MediaWiki
To install MediaWiki, you need special permissions on a server. This server must run PHP and a compatible database. Some users find it helpful to set up a virtual host if their main website uses a different system. Cloud hosting can also make it easier.
You use a PHP script in a web browser to start the setup. It asks for basic information. Other changes, like allowing file uploads or adding a site logo, are done by editing a file called `LocalSettings.php`. Some parts of MediaWiki can be set up through special pages or by editing certain wiki pages. For example, you can set up abuse filters on a special page. The MediaWiki community provides a detailed installation guide.
Wiki Markup Language
One early difference between MediaWiki and other wiki programs was its use of "free links." Older wikis often needed words like "WorldWideWeb" to create a link. MediaWiki creates links by putting double square brackets around words, like `[[World Wide Web]]`. Spaces between words are kept. This was important for an encyclopedia, where exact titles matter.
MediaWiki uses a simple wiki markup language. It's designed to be easier to use and learn than HTML. There are tools to convert content like tables between MediaWiki markup and HTML. The following table shows how MediaWiki markup compares to HTML:
| MediaWiki syntax (the "behind the scenes" code used to add formatting to text) |
HTML equivalent (another type of "behind the scenes" code used to add formatting to text) |
Rendered output (seen onscreen by a site viewer) |
|---|---|---|
====A dialogue====
"Take some more [[tea]]," the March Hare said to Alice, very earnestly.
"I've had nothing yet," Alice replied in an offended tone: "so I can't take more."
"You mean you can't take ''less''," said the Hatter: "it's '''very''' easy to take ''more'' than nothing." |
<h4>A dialogue</h4>
<p>"Take some more <a href="/wiki/Tea" title="Tea">tea</a>," the March Hare said to Alice, very earnestly.</p> <br>
<p>"I've had nothing yet," Alice replied in an offended tone: "so I can't take more."</p> <br>
<p>"You mean you can't take <i>less</i>," said the Hatter: "it's <b>very</b> easy to take <i>more</i> than nothing."</p> |
A dialogue
"Take some more tea," the March Hare said to Alice, very earnestly. "I've had nothing yet," Alice replied in an offended tone: "so I can't take more." "You mean you can't take less," said the Hatter: "it's very easy to take more than nothing." |
(Quotation above from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll)
Editing Pages
_source_editing_at_English_Wikipedia_screenshot.png)
Learning MediaWiki's basic editing tools can be a bit tricky at first. A study found that 24% of students using a MediaWiki site had trouble with formatting. For example, they might say, "Couldn't figure out how to get an image in."
To make editing long pages easier, MediaWiki lets you edit just a small part of a page. This is usually a section identified by its heading. If you are a registered user, you can also mark an edit as "minor." Fixing a typo is a minor edit, but adding new paragraphs is not.
Sometimes, two people try to edit the same part of a page at the same time. When the first person saves, and then the second person tries to save, an edit conflict happens. The second user then gets a chance to combine their changes with what the first user saved.
MediaWiki's editing interface is available in many languages. You can also set the language for the wiki content itself.
How the API Works
MediaWiki has an API (Application Programming Interface). This API lets other computer programs directly access the data in MediaWiki's databases. Programs can use the API to log in, get information, and make changes. This is useful for tools that help fight vandalism or for other websites that want to use wiki data.
The API can be accessed through web addresses like `https://en.wikipedia.org/w/api.php?action=query&list=recentchanges`. This example asks Wikipedia for information about the last 10 edits. A big advantage of the API is that it works with many programming languages. It can send back information in different formats like XML, PHP, or JSON.
Adding Rich Content
MediaWiki supports adding rich content using special code. For example, it can show mathematical formulas using LaTeX. You can also add other content like timelines, musical scores, or Egyptian hieroglyphs using extensions.
The software is very good at handling different types of uploaded media files. It's especially strong with images. You can easily create image galleries and thumbnails. It also supports Exif metadata (information about photos). Because MediaWiki is used for Wikimedia Commons, a huge archive of free media, it needs great image features.
For easier editing, VisualEditor is available in MediaWiki. This is a "what you see is what you get" (WYSIWYG) editor. It makes editing simpler for users and has been included since MediaWiki 1.35.
Tracking Changes
MediaWiki has features to help track edits. The "Recent Changes" page shows a list of all recent edits on the wiki. This list includes who made the edit, a short summary, the page edited, and any tags. These tags can help identify unhelpful edits. On very busy wikis, it's hard to track all changes manually. So, anti-vandalism software is often used to help.
Another important tool is the watchlist. Every logged-in user has a watchlist. Users can add any pages they want to this list. When someone edits a page on your watchlist, a summary of that edit appears on your watchlist. This makes it easy to see changes to pages you care about.
You can also see all edits made by any specific user. If you find a problematic edit, you can check that user's other contributions. MediaWiki also lets you link to specific versions of articles. This is useful for experts who want to review and improve articles. They can then link to the approved version.
Wikilinks
You navigate through a wiki mostly using internal wikilinks. MediaWiki's wikilinks show if a page exists. If a link is blue, the page exists. If it's red, the page doesn't exist yet. If you click a red link, you'll be asked to create a new article with that title. This makes it easy to create articles with links to other topics, even if those other articles aren't written yet.
Interwiki Links
Interwiki links work similarly to namespaces. They let you link to pages on other wikis. For example, `wikiquote:Jimbo Wales` would take you to the Jimbo Wales article on Wikiquote. Unlike regular wikilinks, interwiki links don't show if the target page exists. So, you can't tell if a blue interwiki link is broken.
Interlanguage Links
Interlanguage links are small navigation links. They usually appear in the sidebar of most MediaWiki designs. They connect an article to related articles in other languages within the same wiki family. This helps connect communities that speak different languages but share a common topic.
Wikipedia used to use interlanguage links to connect articles in different language Wikipedias. But this was replaced by Wikidata.
Organizing Content
Page Tabs and Related Pages
Page tabs are shown at the top of pages. These tabs let users do actions or view pages related to the current page. Default actions include viewing, editing, and discussing the page. The tabs you see depend on if you're logged in and if you have special permissions. For example, moving a page or adding it to your watchlist is usually only for logged-in users. Site administrators can add or remove tabs using JavaScript or extensions.
Each page also has a history page. From here, you can see every version of the page that has ever existed. You can also compare any two versions. A user's contributions are shown here and also through a "user contributions" option in the sidebar. This feature is useful for educators to see how much each student contributed to a wiki project.
Namespaces
MediaWiki offers many ways to organize content beyond just links. One early feature is namespaces. Wikipedia had a problem separating encyclopedia content from pages about maintenance, discussions, and personal user pages. Namespaces are prefixes before a page title, like "User:" or "Talk:". They describe the page's purpose. This allows different pages with the same title but different functions to exist. For example, "[[The Terminator]]" in the main namespace could be about the 1984 movie. But "[[User:The Terminator]]" could be a profile for a user with that name.
Each namespace usually has a "Talk:" namespace linked to it, like "User talk:". These discussion pages keep conversations separate from the main content. Namespaces are like folders that sort different types of information. Site administrators can add custom namespaces. By default, there are 16 namespaces for content. There are also two "pseudo-namespaces" for special, automatically generated pages and links to media files. Each MediaWiki namespace has a number. Content namespaces have even numbers, and their talk pages have odd numbers.
Category Tags
Users can create new categories. They can add pages and files to these categories by putting one or more category tags at the bottom of the content. These tags create links at the bottom of the page. Clicking these links takes the reader to a list of all pages in that category. This makes it easy to find related articles. Using categories to organize content is like a mix of:
- Collaborative tagging systems (like del.icio.us)
- Hierarchical classifications (like the Dewey Decimal Classification)
Subpages
Besides namespaces, you can organize content using subpages. This simple feature creates automatic breadcrumbs. For example, `[[Page title/Subpage title]]` links the "Subpage title" back to the "Page title."
Customizing MediaWiki
If enabled, users can change how their wiki looks using stylesheets. They can also set up client-side JavaScript to run every time a page loads. On Wikipedia, this has led to many extra tools and helpers shared among users. For example, "navigation popups" is a JavaScript tool. It shows a small preview of an article when you hover over a link. It also gives shortcuts for common tasks.
The entire MediaWiki user interface can be edited directly through the wiki itself. Users with special permissions (usually called "administrators") do this. They use a special namespace called "MediaWiki:". Each page title in this namespace identifies a specific part of the user interface message. With an extension, users can also create their own scripts. They can choose which site-wide scripts apply to them in their user preferences.
Templates
The "MediaWiki:" namespace was originally used for creating custom text blocks. These blocks could then be loaded into other pages using a special code. Later, this content was moved to its own namespace, "Template:".
Templates are blocks of text that can be loaded into another page. This happens whenever that page is viewed. A template is a special link in double curly brackets. For example, `` calls the template named "Disputed" to load its content.
Templates are like structured documents. They have parameters that you can give values to when you use them on an article page. The parameter name is separated from its value by an equals sign. A type of template called an infobox is used on Wikipedia. Infoboxes collect and show key information about a topic. They usually appear at the top right of a page on desktop.
Another method is called template substitution. You add `subst:` at the beginning of a template link. This copies the template's content directly into the page, like a copy and paste action. This is different from loading the template every time the page loads. Substitution can sometimes lead to inconsistencies. But it can be useful in certain cases and often uses fewer server resources.
Templates have many uses. They help users create complex table layouts that look the same across many pages. Only the table's content changes using template parameters. Templates are often used to point out problems with a Wikipedia article. A template might create a box saying the article's content is disputed. It also categorizes the article so similar issues can be found. Templates are also used on user pages. They send standard messages like welcoming new users or warning users about inappropriate behavior.
User Groups and Access Control
MediaWiki is flexible in creating and defining user groups. For example, you could create a "ninja" group. Members of this group could block users and delete pages. Their edits might even be hidden by default in the recent changes log. You can also set up an "autoconfirmed" group. Users become members after making a certain number of edits and waiting a certain number of days.
Some groups are enabled by default, like bureaucrats and sysops. Bureaucrats can change other users' rights. Sysops have power over page protection, deletion, and blocking users from editing. MediaWiki's controls over editing rights are good enough for publishing important documents. For example, a hospital might use it for a manual of standard operating procedures.
If a page has useless content, there are several ways to remove it. The simplest way is to just clear the page. Anyone can do this. However, this can affect how page existence is detected. It also leaves the content visible in the history page. This might not be acceptable in some cases. Another option is for a sysop to delete the page. This prevents non-sysops from seeing it. A deeper level of deletion, called RevisionDelete, can be used by a special group. This group can prevent even sysops from viewing the page. With certain extensions, you can even completely remove content from the wiki's normal view or delete revisions from the database.
MediaWiki has basic features for restricting access. But its main purpose is content creation, not hiding content. So, it's not designed for strict user access and authorization controls. Developers say that if you need very secure access controls, you shouldn't rely on MediaWiki. For example, it's very hard to create a wiki where only certain users can read some pages. Other wiki programs like Foswiki, MoinMoin, and Confluence are better for advanced security.
Adding New Features (Extensibility)
The MediaWiki code has various "hooks." These are like special places where developers can add more PHP code. This makes it easy to add new features without changing the main code. Installing an extension usually means adding one line to a configuration file. Sometimes, you might need to update the database or make other changes.
Five main points were created for developers to add features. "Hooks" run every time a certain event happens. For example, the `ArticleSaveComplete` hook runs after a page is saved. An extension could use this to tell certain users when a new or anonymous user edits a page. New tags can be created to process data, like `<newtag>...</newtag>`. "Parser functions" can create new commands, like `...`. New "special pages" can be created for specific functions. These pages are created dynamically. For example, a special page might show all pages with links to an external site. Skins let users change the look and feel of MediaWiki.
MediaWiki Extensions
Tools for Developers
MediaWiki can become more advanced and useful with its extensions. These extensions vary greatly in how complex they are.
The Wikimedia Foundation runs a Git server. Many extensions store their code there. Most of them also have a documentation page on the MediaWiki website.
MediaWiki's code review used to be done through a MediaWiki extension. Since March 2012, it has been done through Gerrit. Since version 1.16, MediaWiki uses the jQuery library.
Manipulating Text
One very popular extension is ParserFunctions. This extension lets different content be shown based on conditional statements. These statements can check if a setting is empty, compare text, do math, or return one of two values depending on if a page exists. It was made to replace an old, slow template.
Another extension, StringFunctions, was made to check text length or position. Wikimedia communities really wanted this on their projects. Much of its features were later added to the ParserFunctions extension. But they are turned off by default. A developer warned that enabling string functions would let users "implement their own parsers in the ugliest, most inefficient programming language known to man: MediaWiki wikitext with ParserFunctions."
Since 2012, an extension called Scribunto has existed. It lets you create "modules"—wiki pages written in the Lua programming language. These modules can then run within templates and regular wiki pages. Scribunto has been on Wikipedia and other Wikimedia sites since 2013. It runs much faster than old wikitext code using ParserFunctions.
Integrating with Other Systems
A general Widgets extension exists. It lets MediaWiki connect with almost anything. Other extensions can improve a wiki. For example, there are extensions for suggesting categories. There are also extensions for including Flash Videos, YouTube videos, and RSS feeds. Metavid, a site that archives video of U.S. Senate and House proceedings, was created using code that extended MediaWiki for collaborative video editing.
Fighting Link Spam
Many spambots search the web for MediaWiki sites. They add link spam to them. MediaWiki uses the nofollow tag to discourage this. But sometimes, other websites that copy wiki content might not use the nofollow tag. So, marketers can still benefit from adding links. Anti-spam extensions have been made to fight this. They add CAPTCHAs, block certain web addresses, and allow quick deletion of pages added by a specific user.
Searching and Queries
MediaWiki comes with a basic text-based search. Extensions exist to let MediaWiki use more advanced search engines. These include Elasticsearch (used on Wikipedia since 2014), Lucene, and Sphinx.
Various MediaWiki extensions have also been created for more complex, filtered searches. These searches can be on data within the wiki or on metadata like page history. Semantic MediaWiki is one such extension.
MediaWiki Database
MediaWiki can use different database systems. These include MySQL/MariaDB, PostgreSQL, or SQLite. Support for Oracle Database and Microsoft SQL Server was removed after MediaWiki 1.34. A MediaWiki database has many tables. One is the `page` table, which holds page titles and other information. Another is the `revision` table. A new row is added to this table every time an edit is made. It includes the page ID, a short summary of the change, the editor's username (or IP address), and a timestamp.
In the 4.5 years before 2008, the MediaWiki database had 170 schema versions. The biggest change was in 2005 with MediaWiki 1.5. This update separated how metadata was stored from content. This improved performance. When Wikipedia was updated, it was locked for editing for about 22 hours while the database was converted. Some suggested software improvements have been rejected. This is because the necessary database changes would have caused too much downtime for Wikipedia.
Performance and Storage
MediaWiki's performance and scalability are highly optimized. This is because it runs Wikipedia, one of the busiest sites on the internet. MediaWiki supports Squid (a web cache), load-balanced database replication, and client-side caching. It also uses memcached or table-based caching for frequently accessed information. There's a simple static file cache and a job queue for database operations. MediaWiki developers try to make the software efficient. They avoid slow processes and cache results that are used often.
MediaWiki code is designed so data can be written to one database and read from others. Metadata, like article history and links, can be stored in core databases and cached. The actual article text is used less often. It can be stored in external storage. The software is good for running large groups of wikis, like Wikimedia. Wikimedia had about 800 wikis in August 2011. However, MediaWiki doesn't have a built-in graphical tool to manage so many installations.
Most changes in MediaWiki databases are only slightly different from previous versions. So, later versions of an article can be combined and then compressed. This leads to very high data compression, up to 100 times smaller.
For more information on how MediaWiki works, like how it stores wikitext and builds a page, see External links.
Limitations of MediaWiki
The way MediaWiki understands its own syntax is the main standard. There isn't a formal set of rules for the syntax. Because of this, it has been hard to create "what you see is what you get" (WYSIWYG) editors for MediaWiki. However, several WYSIWYG extensions do exist, including the popular VisualEditor.
MediaWiki is not designed to replace dedicated online forum or blogging software. But extensions do exist that allow for both of these features.
New MediaWiki users often make certain mistakes. For example, they might forget to sign posts with four tildes (~~~~). Or they might type a plain text signature. This is because they are not familiar with how discussions work on MediaWiki. However, some educators see the format of these discussion pages as a strength. They say it offers more detailed discussion options than traditional forums. For instance, you can link to a new wiki page from any word in the original post. This makes discussions easier to follow.
By default, MediaWiki has little support for creating dynamic documents. These are pages that gather data from other pages. Some research has been done to add these features directly to MediaWiki. The Semantic MediaWiki extension provides these features. It is not used on Wikipedia, but it is used on over 1,600 other MediaWiki installations. The Wikibase Repository and Wikibase Repository client are used on Wikidata and Wikipedia, respectively. They provide some semantic web features and link centrally stored data to infoboxes.
Upgrading MediaWiki is usually automatic. It doesn't require changes to the site content or templates. Historically, there have been problems when upgrading from very old versions.
Security in MediaWiki
MediaWiki developers have set security standards for both the main code and extensions. SQL queries and HTML output are usually handled by special functions. These functions check, clean, and filter data to prevent cross-site scripting and SQL injection attacks. Many security issues have been fixed after a MediaWiki version is released. So, MediaWiki.org says, "The most important security step you can take is to keep your software up to date." You should subscribe to the announcement mailing list and install security updates when they are announced.
MediaWiki Developer Community
MediaWiki developers are located all over the world. Most of them are in the United States and Europe. Face-to-face meetings and programming sessions for MediaWiki developers have been held once or several times a year since 2004.
Support for MediaWiki Users
If you need help with MediaWiki, you can find support in a few places:
- MediaWiki.org, which includes a Support Desk.
- An official mailing list called Mediawiki-l.
- Several books have been written about MediaWiki administration, including some free online books.
Comparing MediaWiki to Other Collaboration Software
People who use collaboration software are often familiar with MediaWiki. This is because of its famous use on Wikipedia. A 2006 review of social software in schools noted that "Compared to other wikis, MediaWiki is also fairly aesthetically pleasing, though simple, and has an easily customized side menu and stylesheet." However, in one assessment in 2006, Confluence was seen as better. This was because it had a very usable API and could support multiple wikis better.
A 2009 study at the University of Hong Kong compared TWiki to MediaWiki. The authors noted that TWiki was considered for developing educational papers and technical projects. MediaWiki's main use is Wikipedia. Both platforms allow discussion and tracking progress. But TWiki has a "Report" part that MediaWiki lacks. Students found MediaWiki easier to use and more enjoyable than TWiki. When asked if they recommended MediaWiki for a knowledge management group project, 15 out of 16 students preferred MediaWiki. Both TWiki and MediaWiki have flexible ways to add plug-ins.
A 2009 study compared students' experiences with MediaWiki to Google Docs. Students rated Google Docs much higher for its user-friendly layout.
A 2021 study by the Brazilian Nuclear Engineering Institute compared a MediaWiki-based knowledge management system to two others. These others were based on DSpace and Open Journal Systems. The study highlighted MediaWiki's ease of use as an advantage. It noted that the Wikimedia Foundation designed MediaWiki for the general public (Wikipedia). So, "its user interface was designed to be more user-friendly from start, and has received large user feedback over a long time." This was unlike DSpace's and OJS's focus on smaller, specific audiences.
See also
- List of content management systems
- List of wiki software
- BlueSpice
- Semantic MediaWiki
- XOWA – for viewing Wikipedia and other wikis offline
- PHP – a programming language that powers MediaWiki
Images for kids
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The Main Page of the English Wikipedia running an alpha version of MediaWiki 1.40
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MediaWiki logo
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Magnus Manske in 2012
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MediaWiki logo until April 1, 2021
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Fandom also makes use of MediaWiki.
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Editing interface of MediaWiki 1.41 with syntax highlighting, showing the edit toolbar and some examples of wiki syntax
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Images can be arranged in galleries, a feature that is used extensively for Wikimedia's media archive, Wikimedia Commons.
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An example of interlanguage links
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MediaWiki page tabs, using the "Vector 2010" skin. The red coloration of the "discussion" tab indicates that the article does not yet have a talk page. As with any other red wikilink, clicking on it prompts the user to create the page.
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Users can configure custom JavaScript that is executed on every pageview. This has led to JavaScript tools that users can "install", the "navigation popups" tool shown here displays a small preview of an article when hovering over a link title.
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A screenshot of a wiki using MediaWiki with a customized skin
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Tim Starling in 2008
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A search box showing a drop-down list
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A schematic of the MediaWiki database structure
