Do you actually need a wiki? MediaWiki is great software, but your site
looks to only have about a dozen pages; unless you have a significant number
of pages/the actual need for employees to be able to edit the site,
MediaWiki is probably more trouble than it's worth. I would hire a good web
designer, and have him create some nice, clean HTML. However, if your
company has need for an internal corporate wiki, then MediaWiki would be a
perfectly fine choice. (I'm speaking to you as though you were in charge of
your company: Since you're not, it'd probably be easier to get a
"standard"
website created.)
If you want a case study of why a company using a wiki can be a bad idea, I
would offer up the DreamHost support wiki <http://wiki.dreamhost.com/> (
wiki.dreamhost.com). DreamHost decided a while ago that it would be a good
idea to convert their "knowledge base" section to use MediaWiki, since it
would mean that their hosting customers would be able to add to it, and
hopefully make it a stronger resource. To that end, it has succeeded
somewhat, but it has been an abysmal technical failure, primarily due
DreamHost's unwillingness to devote ten minutes of manpower to upgrade the
wiki software from 1.4.0(!). I think there was a staff member who initially
served as the caretaker of the wiki, but he left a while back. The
important lesson to draw is this: Don't use a wiki for your company unless
you're willing to maintain it. An unmaintained wiki tends to look bad, and
can eventually become a security risk. MediaWiki isn't really that hard to
maintain, but someone does have to be willing to spend a few minutes every
now and then (ideally, every day) keeping it in proper shape.
On 2/28/07, Mike Maughan <mike.maughan(a)procuratum.com> wrote:
Hi all,
I'm a member of a medium-sized network of business consultants here in the
UK and our website is up for redesign (see here for your own opinion!
http://www.bcn.org.uk/ ). The tone of the group in respect of marketing &
promotions is best regarded as "staid", and as I'm a relatively new member
most are regarding my troublemaking efforts to push a good & up-to-date
web
solution as "nuisance".
I feel we can do a much better job by using a wiki, set up with suitable
templates and using an overall "look & feel" we shall probably shop out.
What I need are ideas, suggestions, dos & don'ts, plus ideally any
references to good or bad site designs of this sort both with & without
wikis.
Enough variety to get your teeth into? :)
--
Regards, Mike
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