Why use MediaWiki
MediaWiki is a free Wiki software package licensed under the GNU General Public License (GPL). It is used to run Wikipedia and other projects of the non-profit WikiMedia Foundation, as well as many other wikis.
You may wonder if you should use MediaWiki for your own wiki. This depends on what kind of wiki you want to run. Wikipedia's software has many useful features that grew out of the needs of the users and the ideas of the developers - but features also mean complexity. The functionality can be overwhelming, even though things is meant to be kept easy to use. Complexity also means that there are lots of places where you may have to customize the script for your own use.
To use Mediawiki you should first of all install it on your hosting account. Your hosting plan should allow PHP scripts and have at least one MySQL database. Learn how to install Mediawiki on your account.
What can MediaWiki do for you:
Mediawiki allows change of Skins. Learn how to change the skin/template of your MediaWiki. Here you can find skins for MediaWiki.
Mediawiki allows adding of extensions such as Image gallery, Forum, Mambo, etc. File upload feature allows the upload of graphics or sound files.
Mediawiki keeps track of edits. Every page has a link "Watch this article for me".
Mediawiki syntax editing is based on UseMod, with support for mixing wiki-syntax and HTML.
Editing features in Mediawiki are well developed to meet users and editors need. Mediawiki users can edit sections of an article (separated by headlines) instead of loading the entire article; there is edit toolbar (JavaScript-based) for formatting text as bold, italic etc. and edit summary which is shown in "Recent changes".
Mediawiki has easy navigation. Learn how to edit names of pages in Mediawiki.
Mediawiki has full text search. "Go" button allows direct viewing of a specified article's contents. Users can also search images, names of users, site stats.
Find the full list of Mediawiki features here.