> I hope I am emailing this to the right group. My concern was about mediawiki > and it's limitations, as well as it's outdated methods. As someone wo runs a > wiki, I've gone through a lot of frustrations. >
This is likely the right list. > If Wordpress is like Windows 7, then Mediawiki is Windows 2000. Very outdated > GUI, outdated ways of doing things,for example using ftp to edit the settings > of the wiki instead of having a direct interface like Wordpress. Mediawiki > makes millions more than Wordpress does too, why can't the money be put into > making a modern product instead of in pockets of the people who run it? I > know Wordpress and Mediawiki serve two different purposes, but that's not the > point. The point is, one is modern and user friendly (Wordpress), and the > other (Mediawiki) is not. Other complaints: > -Default skins are boring Are you aware of the Wikipedia usability initiative? Have you seen the new skin they are creating (Vector), or the awesome new features they are adding? If not, please see the usability wiki: http://usability.wikimedia.org/wiki/Main_Page The skin system is also likely to have a major update in a very future version of MediaWiki. Look through this list's archives, the discussion was fairly recent. > -Very limited in being able to make the wiki look nice like you could with a > normal webpage. Minus making new skins (which is fairly difficuly), I think this is a matter of opinion and skill. > -A major pain to update! Wordpress upgrades are so simple. I don't really find updates to be terribly difficult. You mostly just check out (or download) the newest version, and run update.php. This is probably more difficult without shell access. I'd like to mention that from a security perspective, I like the fact that by default MediaWiki does not allow Wordpress style upgrades and code modifications. MediaWiki exploits may lead to vandalism, but Wordpress exploits generally lead to shell or root access, and compromise of all of your other applications. > -Better customization so people can get a wiki the way they want. It should > be more like the wikis on wikia, except without me having to learn css and > php to make those types of customizations. Give me some option, some places > to put widgets. Not every wiki is going to be as formal as the ones on > wikimedia sites. And don't the people at Wikimedia commons get tired of > always having to make changes so it actually suits their site? If they had > some of the options from the get go, i'm sure they'd appreciate it too. > -I don't want to go to my ftp to download my local settings file, add a few > lines then reupload it. This is caveman-like behavior for the modern internet. Get a host that supports SSH. Use VI, Emacs, nano, pico, etc. > -Being able to manage extensions like wordpress does. > It looks like someone may try to tackle this as a summer of code project: http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/User:Jeroen_De_Dauw/GSoC2010 > In short, it's time to spend some money from those millions of dollars from > donations to make this software more modern. Being stubborn in modernizing it > will only make this software less relevant in the future if other wiki > software companies are willing to do things the people at Wikimedia aren't. > MediaWiki is written primarily for use for Wikimedia foundation sites. They generously make the software usable for third party sites, but they have no obligation to do so. If the users of Wikimedia foundation sites are happy with the software, and end-users are happy with the Wikimedia foundation sites (and I'd say thats a resounding yes), then the millions going to the Wikimedia foundation are well spent. You are more than welcome to submit patches, and/or help develop the features you want. I maintain a number of extensions, and have worked with the MediaWiki code base for a number of years. I've found the Wikimedia foundation, and the core developers to be very welcoming of improvements to the software. Respectfully, Ryan Lane _______________________________________________ Wikitech-l mailing list [email protected] https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikitech-l
