WikiViewer

WikiViewer is an unofficial, third-party client for browsing any MediaWiki-powered site - from Wikipedia to Fandom and beyond, without your web browser. It provides a clean, native, and performance-tuned experience for Windows, designed to be fast and responsive.

Disclaimer: This is an unofficial, third-party client for browsing MediaWiki sites. This app was created by MegaBytesMe and is not affiliated with, endorsed, or sponsored by the operators of any specific wiki. All article data, content, and trademarks are the property of their respective owners and contributors. This app simply provides a native viewing experience for publicly available content.

Features

• Universal Wiki Support: Connect to your favorite MediaWiki site by simply adding the URL in the settings. From Wikipedia to niche wikis, enjoy them all in one app.
• Clean & Native Interface: Experience a fast, fluid, and ad-free reading experience designed for Windows, free from the clutter of a standard web browser.
• Advanced Offline Caching: Save articles and all their media directly to your device. The intelligent caching system ensures you can continue reading even when you're without an internet connection.
• Full Account Integration: Sign in with your wiki account to edit pages, manage your watchlist, and contribute to the community directly from the app.
• Favourites & Watchlist Sync: Keep a list of your most-visited articles. When logged in, this list automatically syncs with your official wiki watchlist.
• Smart Search with Suggestions: Find articles quickly with a built-in search bar that provides instant suggestions as you type, powered directly by the MediaWiki API.
• Discover Something New: Jump to a random article with a single click and explore the depths of your favorite topics.
• Privacy-Focused by Design: Your data is your own. The app collects no personal information, and all caches, favourites, and credentials are stored securely and only on your local device.

Download

Build Guide

Prerequisites

• Windows 11 or later
• Visual Studio 2022 or later
• Workloads: Universal Windows Platform development

Installation

1. Clone the repository:

   git clone https://github.com/megabytesme/WikiViewer.git

2. Open the WikiViewer.sln solution file in Visual Studio.
3. Restore NuGet packages if prompted.

Running the Application

1. In the Solution Explorer, right-click the desired project (1809 UWP is recommended) and select "Set as Startup Project".
2. Press F5 or select Debug > Start Debugging to build and run.

Architectural Overview

This project utilizes a Shared UI Logic (MVVM-like) architecture to support multiple Windows versions from a single, reusable codebase. This design separates core logic, UI logic, and platform-specific views.

• WikiViewer.Core (Model/Services): Contains all platform-agnostic business logic, data models and API services. It has no dependency on any UI framework and as a result is highly reusable.
• WikiViewer.Shared.Uwp (Shared UI Logic): Contains abstract PageBase classes that act as a combination of View-Model and Controller. They define the UI state, event handling, and a contract of abstract properties that the concrete Views must implement.
• 1507 UWP: The UWP head for Windows 10 Version 1507 and newer. It implements the UI using the original WebView (EdgeHTML) and legacy controls for maximum compatibility on older platforms. Recommended for Windows 10 Mobile users.
• 1809 UWP: The UWP head for Windows 10 Version 1809 and newer. It implements the UI using WinUI 2, including the modern WebView2 (Chromium) for the best performance and user experience. Recommended for most users.
• App Assets: Holds shared assets used for store listings and branding.

Contributing

1. Fork the repository.
2. Create a new branch (git checkout -b feature-branch).
3. Commit your changes (git commit -m 'Add new feature').
4. Push to the branch (git push origin feature-branch).
5. Create a new Pull Request.

License

This project is licensed under the CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 License - see the LICENSE file for details.