Gordon's WebLog

Wikipedia is a free on line encyclopedia that anyone can edit. It was created in 2001 and has grown into probably the largest reference website on the Internet.

It really is the most amazing and fascinating site to visit. All articles are fully cross referenced, and if you are not very careful you can easily spend hour upon hour browsing. Read all about it in 2 articles on the actual encyclopedia site situated here and here. Do give it a try. I can promise that you will love it.

Great site ? How do they do it ? Is it available for download ?

Well, the software used can actually be downloaded and used by anyone and there is an encyclopedia entry here which will give you some idea of its scope and capabilities. The software is available for download at the Mediawiki web site where you will find lots of hints and tips and help topics.

Important note. You will need PHP and MySQL to run the software.

Once you have downloaded the software, extract it to a suitable folder on your local PC, then upload to your server or web site. A certain amount of configuration is needed before you can begin to use the software and I suggest that you view this FAQ page for more details.

Do try it. It is great fun, and surprisingly easy to write a smart looking Wiki in a very short time.

There is also another version of wiki software called PMWiki. The home page is situated here and the installation instructions are here .