| − | MediaWiki is a [[free software]] [[wiki]] engine, licensed under the [[GNU General Public License]], or GPL.. The software was originally created to power Wikipedia, and, as it is [[free software]], is now used to power many other sites of varying size, including [[CreationWiki]], Conservapedia, the various projects of the [[Wikimedia Foundation]], and [[Jimmy Wales]]'s [[for-profit company]], [[Wikia]], as well as being applied in small wikis for a single group. A notably different use of the MediaWiki software is by the company [[Novell]], which uses it to power several of its high-traffic websites, which are only editable by a select group, not the general public. As Wikipedia is an extremely high-traffic website, MediaWiki is highly optimized for preformance. | + | MediaWiki is a [[free software]] [[wiki]] engine, licensed under the [[GNU General Public License]], or GPL.. The software was originally created to power [[Wikipedia]], and, as it is [[free software]], is now used to power many other sites of varying size, including [[CreationWiki]], Conservapedia, the various projects of the [[Wikimedia Foundation]], and [[Jimmy Wales]]'s [[for-profit company]], [[Wikia]], as well as being applied in small wikis for a single group. A notably different use of the MediaWiki software is by the company [[Novell]], which uses it to power several of its high-traffic websites, which are only editable by a select group, not the general public. As Wikipedia is an extremely high-traffic website, MediaWiki is highly optimized for preformance. |
| | MediaWiki allows a high degree of customizability to websites it powers, often by directly editing the PHP of the site, although users are often able to edit a personal [[JavaScript]] or [[CSS]] (Cascading Style Sheets) file to customize large portions of the interface to their own preferences. An example of a common interface element primarily changed through direct editing of the PHP is the site logo, defined by the $wgLogo variable. | | MediaWiki allows a high degree of customizability to websites it powers, often by directly editing the PHP of the site, although users are often able to edit a personal [[JavaScript]] or [[CSS]] (Cascading Style Sheets) file to customize large portions of the interface to their own preferences. An example of a common interface element primarily changed through direct editing of the PHP is the site logo, defined by the $wgLogo variable. |