Some web sites consist entirely of static pages.  Others GenerateStaticPages from infrequently changing content.  Some have static pages with a little bit of embedded dynamic content.  Many web sites today generate most or all of their content dynamically.

Most are a mix of the above.

Wikis typically generate all pages dynamically from a PageDatabase (though some may GenerateStaticPages every time a page is edited, and serve that page until the next edit; see CacheHTML).  While some dynamic websites put more effort into ''processing'' information than merely presenting it (''e.g.'', http://www.weather.com), other sites are merely a front-end for a data store (''e.g.'', [http://m-w.com Merriam-Webster] or [http://dictionary.com/ Dictionary]).

This back-end data store is the PageDatabase.  Often it is a true database; sometimes it is nothing more than a set of well-organized formatted files.  (The latter is the case for UseModWiki, which stores each Wiki page in a separate file.)

Because of its structure, a PageDatabase is typically much easier to manage and manipulate than a set of static HTML files, or even a set of dynamic scripts.  DataMining becomes a much simpler task.

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[CategoryWikiTechnology]