An overview of some of ikiwiki's features:
-[[toc ]]
+[[!toc ]]
## Uses a real RCS
Rather than implement its own system for storing page histories etc,
-ikiwiki uses a real Revision Control System. This isn't because we're
-lazy, it's because a real RCS is a good thing to have, and there are
-advantages to using one that are not possible with a standard wiki.
+ikiwiki uses a real [[Revision_Control_System|rcs]]. This isn't (just)
+because we're lazy, it's because a real RCS is a good thing to have, and
+there are advantages to using one that are not possible with a standard
+wiki.
Instead of editing pages in a stupid web form, you can use vim and commit
-changes via [[Subversion]]. Or work disconnected using svk and push your
-changes out when you come online. Or use [[git]], [[tla]], or [[mercurial]]
-to work in a distributed fashion all the time. (It's also possible to
-[[plugins/write]] a plugin to support other systems.)
+changes via [[Subversion|rcs/svn]], [[rcs/git]], or any of a number of other
+[[Revision_Control_Systems|rcs]].
-ikiwiki can be run from a [[post-commit]] hook to update your wiki
+Ikiwiki can be run from a [[post-commit]] hook to update your wiki
immediately whenever you commit a change using the RCS.
+It's even possible to securely let
+[[anonymous_users_git_push_changes|tips/untrusted_git_push]]
+to the wiki.
+
Note that ikiwiki does not require a RCS to function. If you want to
run a simple wiki without page history, it can do that too.
## A wiki compiler
-ikiwiki is a wiki compiler; it builds a static website for your wiki, and
+Ikiwiki is a wiki compiler; it builds a static website for your wiki, and
updates it as pages are edited. It is fast and smart about updating a wiki,
it only builds pages that have changed (and tracks things like creation of
new pages and links that can indirectly cause a page to need a rebuild)
## Supports many markup languages
-By default, pages in the wiki are written using the [[MarkDown]] format.
+By default, pages in the wiki are written using the [[ikiwiki/MarkDown]] format.
Any page with a filename ending in ".mdwn" is converted from markdown to html
by ikiwiki. Markdown understands text formatted as it would be in an email,
and is quite smart about converting it to html. The only additional markup
-provided by ikiwiki on top of regular markdown is the [[WikiLink]] and
-[[PreprocessorDirective]].
+provided by ikiwiki on top of regular markdown is the [[ikiwiki/WikiLink]] and
+the [[ikiwiki/directive]].
If you prefer to use some other markup language, ikiwiki allows others to
easily be added by [[plugins]]. For example it also supports traditional
[[plugins/WikiText]] formatted pages, pages written as pure
-[[plugins/HTML]], or pages written in [[reStructuredText|plugins/rst]].
+[[plugins/HTML]], or pages written in [[reStructuredText|plugins/rst]]
+or [[Textile|plugins/textile]].
-ikiwiki also supports files of any other type, including plain text,
+Ikiwiki also supports files of any other type, including plain text,
images, etc. These are not converted to wiki pages, they are just copied
unchanged by ikiwiki as it builds your wiki. So you can check in an image,
program, or other special file and link to it from your wiki pages.
-## [[Blogging|blog]]
+## Blogging
You can turn any page in the wiki into a [[blog]]. Pages matching a
-specified [[PageSpec]] will be displayed as a weblog within the blog
+specified [[ikiwiki/PageSpec]] will be displayed as a weblog within the blog
page. And RSS or Atom feeds can be generated to follow the blog.
Ikiwiki's own [[TODO]], [[news]], and [[plugins]] pages are good examples
## Valid html and [[css]]
-ikiwiki aims to produce
+Ikiwiki aims to produce
[valid XHTML 1.0](http://validator.w3.org/check?url=referer).
-ikiwiki generates html using [[templates]], and uses [[css]], so you can
-change the look and layout of all pages in any way you would like.
+(Experimental [[tips/HTML5]] support is also available.)
+
+Ikiwiki generates html using [[templates]], and uses [[css]], so you
+can change the look and layout of all pages in any way you would like.
## [[Plugins]]
-Plugins can be used to add additional features to ikiwiki. The interface
-is quite flexible, allowing plugins to implement additional markup
-languages, register [[PreProcessorDirective]]s, hook into [[CGI]] mode,
-and more. Most of ikiwiki's features are actually provided by plugins.
-Ikiwiki's backend RCS support is also pluggable, so support for new
-revision control systems can be added to ikiwiki.
+Plugins can be used to add additional features to ikiwiki. The interface is
+quite flexible, allowing plugins to implement additional markup languages,
+register [[directives|ikiwiki/directive]], provide a [[RCS]] backend, hook
+into [[CGI]] mode, and much more. Most of ikiwiki's features are actually
+provided by plugins.
+
+The standard language for ikiwiki plugins is perl, but ikiwiki also supports
+[[plugins/write/external]] plugins: Standalone programs that can be written in
+any language and communicate with ikiwiki using XML RPC.
## [[todo/utf8]]
up in the ways you'd expect, like at the bottom of pages, in blogs, and
in RSS and Atom feeds.
-### [[SubPages|SubPage]]
+### [[SubPages|ikiwiki/SubPage]]
Arbitrarily deep hierarchies of pages with fairly simple and useful
-[[SubPage/LinkingRules]]
+[[ikiwiki/SubPage/LinkingRules]]
### [[BackLinks]]
Nearly the definition of a wiki, although perhaps ikiwiki challenges how
much of that web gunk a wiki really needs. These features are optional
-and can be enabled by enabling [[CGI]].
+and can be enabled by enabling [[CGI]] and a [[Revision_Control_System|rcs]].
### User registration
-Can optionally be configured to allow only registered users to post
-pages; online user registration form, etc.
+Can optionally be configured to allow only registered users to edit
+pages.
+
+User registration can be done using a web form, or ikiwiki can be
+configured to accept users authenticated with OpenID, or HTTP basic
+authentication, or other methods implemented via plugins.
### Discussion pages
Thanks to subpages, every page can easily and automatically have a
/Discussion subpage. By default, these links are included in the
-[[templates]] for each page.
+[[templates]] for each page. If you prefer blog-syle
+[[plugins/comments]], that is available too.
-### Page locking
+### Edit controls
-Wiki admins can lock pages so that only other admins can edit them.
+Wiki admins can lock pages so that only other admins can edit them. Or a
+wiki can be set up to allow anyone to edit Discussion pages, but only
+registered users to edit other pages. These are just two possibilities,
+since page edit controls can be changed via plugins.
### [[PageHistory]]
Well, sorta. Rather than implementing YA history browser, it can link to
-[[ViewCVS]] or the like to browse the history of a wiki page.
+[[ViewVC]] or the like to browse the history of a wiki page.
### Full text search
-ikiwiki can use the [[HyperEstraier]] search engine to add powerful
-full text search capabilities to your wiki.
+Ikiwiki can use the xapian search engine to add powerful
+full text [[plugins/search]] capabilities to your wiki.
-### Commit mails
+### Translation via po files
-ikiwiki can be configured to send you commit mails with diffs of changes
-to selected pages.
+The [[plugins/po]] plugin allows translating individual wiki pages using
+standard `po` files.
### [[w3mmode]]