What is MediaWiki? — Try Wikipedia Before You Build One

In this tutorial, you'll learn what MediaWiki is by doing something real — you'll create a Wikipedia account, make your first edit, and see how a wiki works from the inside. This is Lesson 1 of our project: Build Your Own Documentation Wiki.

What You'll Build Today

By the end of this lesson, you will have:

• A Wikipedia account
• Your first wiki edit (on a test page called a "sandbox")
• A clear understanding of what a wiki is and why MediaWiki matters

What is a Wiki?

Think of a wiki as a living document — like a whiteboard that anyone can write on, but every change is saved forever. Compare that to a printed book:

Printed Book	Wiki
One author writes, everyone reads	Anyone can edit
A new edition comes out once a year	Changes appear instantly
If there's a mistake, it stays until the next printing	Mistakes can be fixed in seconds
You can't see what the book said last year	Full history of every change

MediaWiki is the software that runs wikis. The most famous wiki is Wikipedia, but thousands of companies use MediaWiki for internal documentation, project wikis, and knowledge bases. DodaTech uses a wiki internally — every team member updates technical specs, and changes are tracked with full history.

Step-by-Step: Your First Wiki Experience

Let's not just read about wikis. Let's use one.

Step 1: Open Wikipedia

Go to https://en.wikipedia.org. This is the largest wiki in the world — over 6 million articles, all created and edited by people like you.

Take a moment to look around. Search for any topic you're interested in — maybe your favorite programming language, a movie, or a historical event.

Important: Notice the URL. Every page has a clean URL like https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Python_(programming_language). In MediaWiki, page titles become URLs directly. This is how wikis work — the title IS the address.

Step 2: Click "View source" or "Edit"

Find a page and look for the "View source" tab at the top. Click it. You'll see something like this:

'''Python''' is a high-level, general-purpose [[programming language]].
Its design philosophy emphasizes [[code readability]] with the use of
[[indentation (programming)|significant indentation]].

That strange text with the triple quotes and double brackets — that's wikitext, the language of MediaWiki. You don't need to understand it all right now. Just notice:

• '''bold text''' — three single quotes make text bold
• ''italic text'' — two single quotes make text italic
• [[Page Name]] — creates a link to another wiki page

You're looking at the raw source of Wikipedia. This is what every wiki editor sees.

Step 3: Create a Wikipedia Account

Click "Create account" in the top-right corner of Wikipedia. Fill in:

• Username: Pick something you'll remember (it doesn't have to be your real name)
• Password: Use a strong password
• Email: Optional, but recommended so you can reset your password

Step 4: Find the Sandbox

Every Wikipedia user gets a personal test page called a sandbox. It's a place to practice editing without affecting real articles.

Click your username in the top-right corner, then look for a link that says "Sandbox" or go to:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:YourUsername/sandbox

(Replace YourUsername with your actual username.)

Step 5: Make Your First Edit

Your sandbox is empty. Let's change that.

1. Click the "Edit" tab at the top of the page
2. You'll see a text editor with a blank page
3. Type the following:

== About Me ==

This is my '''sandbox''' page. I'm learning <a href="/cms/mediawiki/">MediaWiki</a>.

== Things I Like ==

* Programming
* Wiki editing
* Learning new things

4. In the "Edit summary" box below, type: Creating my sandbox page
5. Click "Publish changes"

Congratulations! You just made your first wiki edit.

Step 6: View the History

After publishing, look at the top of the page again. You'll see a tab called "View history". Click it.

You'll see a table showing every change ever made to this page. Right now it shows just one entry — your edit. Each entry shows:

• When the change was made
• Who made it (your username)
• A link to see what changed (called a "diff")
• The edit summary you wrote

This is one of the most powerful features of a wiki — nothing is ever lost. Every version of every page exists forever.

What You Learned

Let's recap what happened:

1. You saw a Wikipedia article and its wikitext source
2. You created a Wikipedia account (which is also a MediaWiki account)
3. You edited your personal sandbox page
4. You saw the revision history

You now understand the core wiki concept: anyone can edit, and every change is saved.

In the next lesson, you'll install MediaWiki on your own computer and create a wiki that's all yours.

Common Errors

Error	Why It Happens	How to Fix
"Your edit could not be saved"	Wikipedia blocked the edit as suspicious	Wait a few minutes and try again. Make sure you're logged in.
Can't find the sandbox	Your account is too new	Go directly to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:YourUsername/sandbox
Another user reverted your edit	You edited a real article instead of your sandbox	Always use your sandbox for testing. Real articles have rules about what content is accepted.
Forgot your password	It happens	Use the "Forgot your password?" link on the login page — if you provided an email, you can reset it

FAQ

Do I need a Wikipedia account to learn MediaWiki?

No, but it helps. Creating an account is free and gives you a sandbox to practice in. If you prefer, you can skip to Lesson 2 and install MediaWiki directly — you'll have your own wiki to experiment on.

Is Wikipedia the same thing as MediaWiki?

No. Wikipedia is a website (a collection of content). MediaWiki is the software that runs the website. Think of it like this: WordPress is the software, and a blog running on WordPress is the website. MediaWiki is the software; Wikipedia is one website running it.

Do I need to learn wikitext to use MediaWiki?

Yes, but it's much simpler than HTML or Markdown. You'll learn the basics in Lesson 3, and within a few pages you'll write it naturally.

Can I make my wiki private?

Yes. MediaWiki has built-in user permissions. You can make your wiki readable only by logged-in users, or even limit editing to specific groups. We'll cover this in Lesson 7.

What's Next

You've experienced a wiki from the user side. Now let's build one.

Continue to Lesson 2: Installing MediaWiki — you'll download MediaWiki, set it up with XAMPP, and see your own wiki for the first time.