Editing Wiki software (section)

== Data compatibility ==

In general new wiki engines have not followed the data formats ([[wiki markup]] languages) of the existing engines, making them of limited use for those who have already invested in large [[knowledge base]]s in existing software.  As a rule newer wiki projects have not succeeded in attracting large numbers of users from the existing wiki software base.

The most well-known data format arguably is MediaWiki's, and correspondingly has been reimplemented in other wikis:
* [[WordPress]] has extensions to display and edit MediaWiki-format pages, and to frame MediaWiki.
* Jamwiki<ref>{{Cite web|title=JAM wiki - Just Advertising and Marketing|url=http://fr.jamwiki.org/|access-date=2021-05-12|website=JAM wiki|language=en-US}}</ref> is a MediaWiki clone in [[Java (programming language)|Java]], that supports MediaWiki-format pages but not extensions.
* Other commercial projects or clones often (or have in the past) follow the MediaWiki format. [[BlueSpice MediaWiki]] is the only such software with a free version available.

None of these alternatives support the extensions available under standard MediaWiki, some of which extend or alter its data format.

In 2007 a project named (Wiki)[[Creole (markup)|Creole]] to create a standardized markup language for wikis was completed.  As of 2022, the effort has had significant technical success, gaining support through implementation in many engines,<ref>{{Cite web|title= Engines|url=http://www.wikicreole.org/wiki/Engines|access-date=2022-05-18|website=WikiCreole |date=14 June 2010 |language=en-US}}</ref> but limited social success as it is still relatively unused and unknown, has few cross-markup conversion tools for migrating existing [[knowledge base]]s to it and no major engines use it as their native markup syntax.