## Uses a real RCS
Rather than implement its own system for storing page histories etc,
-ikiwiki uses a real RCS. 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. 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.
Instead of editing pages in a stupid web form, you can use vim and commit
-changes via svn. Or work disconnected using svk and push your changes out
-when you come online. Or use git 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]]. 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.)
ikiwiki can be run from a [[post-commit]] hook to update your wiki
-immediately whenever you commit.
+immediately whenever you commit a change using the RCS.
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 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.
[[plugins/WikiText]] formatted pages, pages written as pure
[[plugins/HTML]], or pages written in [[reStructuredText|plugins/rst]].
-## support for other file types
-
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.
-## Fast compiler
-
-ikiwiki 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)
-
-## [[blogging|blog]]
+## [[Blogging|blog]]
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
the wiki. This can be used to create a Planet type site that aggregates
interesting feeds.
-## [[tags]]
-
-You can tag pages and use these tags in various ways. Tags will show
-up in the ways you'd expect, like at the bottom of pages, in blogs, and
-in rss feeds.
-
-## valid html and css
+## Valid html and css
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.
-## [[SubPages|SubPage]]
+## [[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.
+
+## [[todo/utf8]]
+
+After rather a lot of fiddling, we think that ikiwiki correctly and fully
+supports utf8 everywhere.
+
+## Other features
+
+The above are the core design goals and features of ikiwiki, but on that
+foundation a lot of other important features are added. Here is an
+incomplete list of some of them.
+
+### [[Tags]]
+
+You can tag pages and use these tags in various ways. Tags will show
+up in the ways you'd expect, like at the bottom of pages, in blogs, and
+in rss feeds.
+
+### [[SubPages|SubPage]]
Arbitrarily deep hierarchies of pages with fairly simple and useful
[[SubPage/LinkingRules]]
-## [[BackLinks]]
+### [[BackLinks]]
Automatically included on pages. Rather faster than eg MoinMoin and
always there to help with navigation.
-## [[PageHistory]]
+### Smart merging and conflict resolution in your web browser
-Well, sorta. Rather than implementing YA history browser, it can link to
-[[ViewCVS]] or the like to browse the history of a wiki page.
+Since it uses a real RCS, ikiwiki takes advantage of its smart merging to
+avoid any conflicts when two people edit different parts of the same page
+at the same time. No annoying warnings about other editors, or locking,
+etc, instead the other person's changes will be automatically merged with
+yours when you commit.
-## [[RecentChanges]], editing pages in a web browser
+In the rare cases where automatic merging fails due to the same part of a
+page being concurrently edited, regular commit conflict markers are
+shown in the file to resolve the conflict, so if you're already familiar
+with that there's no new commit marker syntax to learn.
+
+### [[RecentChanges]], editing pages in a web browser
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]].
-## User registration
+### User registration
Can optionally be configured to allow only registered users to post
pages; online user registration form, etc.
-## Discussion pages
+### 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.
-## Smart merging and conflict resolution in your web browser
+### Page locking
-Since it uses a real RCS, ikiwiki takes advantage of its smart merging to
-avoid any conflicts when two people edit different parts of the same page
-at the same time. No annoying warnings about other editors, or locking,
-etc, instead the other person's changes will be automatically merged with
-yours when you commit.
-
-In the rare cases where automatic merging fails due to the same part of a
-page being concurrently edited, regular commit conflict markers are
-shown in the file to resolve the conflict, so if you're already familiar
-with that there's no new commit marker syntax to learn.
+Wiki admins can lock pages so that only other admins can edit them.
-## page locking
+### [[PageHistory]]
-Wiki admins can lock pages so that only other admins can edit them.
+Well, sorta. Rather than implementing YA history browser, it can link to
+[[ViewCVS]] or the like to browse the history of a wiki page.
-## Full text search
+### Full text search
ikiwiki can use the [[HyperEstraier]] search engine to add powerful
full text search capabilities to your wiki.
-## Commit mails
+### Commit mails
ikiwiki can be configured to send you commit mails with diffs of changes
to selected pages.
-## [[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.
-
-## [[todo/utf8]]
-
-After rather a lot of fiddling, we think that ikiwiki correctly and fully
-supports utf8 everywhere.
-
-## [[w3mmode]]
+### [[w3mmode]]
Can be set up so that w3m can be used to browse a wiki and edit pages
without using a web server.