What's the best way of going about creating a website that serves the purpose of being a programming language reference guide?

Question

Hi I'm a newb here who is trying to create a website (with its own domain name) that will basically be a C++ reference guide set up in a way that is similar to Wikipedia.

I would like to have the flexibility to make the webpages as visually appealing as possible, while containing these aspects:

• there needs to be a search engine that allows users to type a keyword ('pointer' for example) that will direct them to the page (or list the most likely pages if there is no direct match)

• allow privileged users who possess an account/password to edit the pages

I don't really want to use Wiki for this, as flexibility in design/layout is what I'm aiming for. I also would like to reduce&minimize the amount of programming that is required if it's possible, since time is of essence here.

I've tried installing Wordpress but I'm not sure if it's the right tool to use to fulfill these needs. Any suggestions out there?

Answer 1

WordPress will be able to do that, if you are very creative with it.

But you stated yourself that you wanted a wiki style website, so why not actually use the code that powers Wikipedia itself? The code is opensourced and is called MediaWiki, and it is pretty easy to get up and running. There are also loads of themes around, but it is also very easy to customize.

I did read that you did not want to use a wiki, but why not? It fulfill your needs to the fullest. It does not require much knowledge to make it not look like a wiki, but still function like one. A great example is nopsled.eu. You cant really tell that its a wiki, now can you?