You do NOT need to use a WIKI for EVERYTHING!

Posted by: J. R. Lenz [Views: 324]
Wednesday, February 20, 2008 4:23:50 am UTC

Those of you who know me should also know that I spend the vast majority of my waking hours in front of a computer.  This is primarily because I like to research my field, as well as waste time on IRC.

Over the past 2 years or so, I've noticed a trend on the Internet among the Open Source community in particular:  MediaWIKI and its clones have become the CMS of choice for EVERY SINGLE WEBSITE I VISIT.  It seems as though it's a stupid fad that the Internet is going through. 

Let's get the 'objections' to this post out of the way.  I have nothing against the people who run Wikis.  Wikis are an excellent means of providing documentation, while allowing many users to edit content on the fly.  They're especially good for large projects in which many developers collaborate via the Internet.  But there is one thing that web site admins seem to have forgotten:

WIKIS ARE F*CKING UGLY AND UNPROFESSIONAL.

Using a Wiki in lieu of having a REAL web page is NOT an acceptable solution for a project that wants to be seen as a player in *ANY* market.  Wikis are designed for PROJECT DOCUMENTATION.  As a presentation CMS, you would be better off with something like PHPNuke, PostNuke, CMSMadeSimple, Joomla, or something along those lines.  All of these applications are free, and while I don't recommend any of them (as I have developed my own CMS which is not GPL, so you can't have it unless you pay me), many people and organizations have used/modified them and even written PROFESSIONAL-LOOKING THEMES for them. 

Seriously, if your Wiki appears on www.yourdomain, then your site sucks and you need to hire a web designer.