Wikimedia Foundation website

The Wikimedia Foundation website (at wikimediafoundation.org and previously known as Foundation wiki) is the primary corporate website of the Wikimedia Foundation. Unlike Wikimedia projects, the website is wholly owned, developed, and operated by the Wikimedia Foundation. The website launched in July 2003, and is maintained by Wikimedia Foundation staff and contractors with translations support from the Wikimedia community.

Wikimedia Foundation website
Screenshot of Wikimedia Foundation website
Addresswikimediafoundation.org
Previously known asFoundation wiki
Available inArabic, Chinese, English, French, and Spanish
OwnerWikimedia Foundation
Managed byWikimedia Foundation Communications department
LaunchedJuly 17, 2003
Version3.1 (July 9, 2019)
Alexa rank95,993 (July 2019)
Talk page
Public mirror of code base
Phabricator project

Objectives

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The objectives for the Wikimedia Foundation website, as determined during the discovery stage of the 2017-2018 update, are:

  • Make the home page a clear starting point for external audiences
  • Introduce the Foundation, the mission, and the projects clearly and succinctly
  • Convey the impact, scale, and breadth of the work
  • Provide a starting point to understand all the different types of work and access the work product
  • Invite and direct participation from potential volunteers, partners, and donors
  • Manifest the joy of free knowledge and the generosity of the movement as a whole
  • Promote the global movement, and reflect the multilingual essence of the movement
  • Alleviate a significant portion of the external communication burden from Foundation staff

Audiences

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The audiences for the Wikimedia Foundation website, as determined during the discovery stage of the 2017-2018 update, are:

  • Potential partners
  • Potential volunteers
  • Jobseekers
  • Donors
  • Press and media

Development and maintenance

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The website is managed by the Wikimedia Foundation Communications department and maintained by Wikimedia Foundation staff and contractors with support from the Organization communications translators group.

Content

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Content on top-level pages across all languages will be updated at regular intervals, rather than on an ongoing basis. Please provide feedback on future content updates on the talk page.

If you have suggestions for future facts to be featured on the site, or feedback on existing facts featured on the site, please visit the Facts sections page.

Translations

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Translations into target languages are made possible thanks to partnerships with Wikimedia movement affiliates and translators primarily from the Wikimedia community.

Currently, the website's target languages are:

  • Arabic
  • Chinese
  • English
  • French
  • German
  • Russian
  • Spanish

Additional languages are made available based on interest, resource availability, and interest of affiliates and translators focused on that language.

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The interwiki link for the Wikimedia Foundation website is foundationsite:

Example: foundationsite:About

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These templates will need to be updated as additional languages are translated and made available:

WordPress theme usage

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The WordPress theme developed for the Wikimedia Foundation website, known as Shiro, is available for download and use by movement groups and affiliates. Documentation on implementing the theme is available on Meta-Wiki.

History

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Wikimedia Foundation website soft launched in July 2018
 
Wikimedia Foundation website in September 2017
 
Wikimedia Foundation website in January 2004, according to Internet Archive

The website was originally launched as a redirect to Wikimedia.org in July 2003 - shortly after the founding of the Wikimedia Foundation. Soon after, a simple HTML based page was launched.

The next version of the website, using the MediaWiki platform and also known as Foundation wiki, was proposed in 2004 and launched in July of that year. In May 2013, administrator access was limited to staff, contractors, and the Board.[1] At one time, it housed most documentation related to the Wikimedia Foundation. However, that documentation has increasingly been shifted to Meta-Wiki to better support community engagement.

In 2017, the Wikimedia Foundation Communications department began work to improve and update the Foundation’s website. A new version of the website, using the WordPress platform, was soft launched on 30 July 2018. At that time, the previous website was repurposed for the Wikimedia Foundation Governance Wiki. On 9 July 2019, the department deployed an updated design of the site, in collaboration with the Product Design team.

In late 2022, the Digital Media team of the Foundation's Communications department officially took over management of the organization websites initiative encompassing the Wikimedia Foundation website. A web manager was hired to oversee multiple website operations, including those related to the Wikimedia Foundation website.

More historical information

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See also

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Notes

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  1. Announcement: "At this time, we are formalizing a new requirement, which is that administrator access is given only to staff and board. I am having administrator access to accounts that are neither staff nor board be disabled, effective immediately."