Storing and displaying a glossary of terms on the web

Question

I am in the process of developing a reference guide for a project's variable names and their usage. I would like it to be easy to update and maintain. I would like to be able to view the guide with a web browser. This guide will be for internal use so large audiences and multi-browser support is a low priority.

My current approach consists of a simple web page that loads a XML file and organizes the data to be presentable.

While this works, I can't shake the feeling that there's a better way. I considered using a static text file, but I felt like that was less than what I need. I considered using a wiki, but I felt like that was more than what I need.

Any suggestions are welcome.

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EDIT:

Thank you for your responses. I will likely re-evaluate the use of a wiki for my situation.

However, I am still interested in hearing any solutions that do not require much in the way of installation. As a newbie, I would also appreciate hearing reasons why my current approach is likely to be a wrong approach.

Answer 1

There are tools that will automatically build html (or other formats) of documentation based on the code and comments within the code. It is a little bit of work to get setup initially, and to get used to adding applicable comments to declarations, but after you get over the initial shock of how to use the tools they become more or less self-maintaining documentation.

Which one would work best for you is highly dependent upon your development environment and personal preferences. Doxygen is a big one, but a quick search of recent questions on SO should turn up a few discussions over different tools.

Answer 2

A wiki is actually very good for this. It is easy to edit, searchable, and the result looks nice. Mediawiki is a good candidate, as it is easy to install and many people know the syntax.

Answer 3

I would also recommend a Wiki, since its text format can be easy to be automatically produced, and then inserted in the Wiki.

However, I would rather suggest DokuWiki, which support a pure text file database (instead of a SQL one):
Your text documentation files can simply be copied in the appropriate data directory and their are instantly available.

Example of such a "variable documentation": Dokuwiki config
(just to give you an idea to what it could look like), like the config variable title:

====== Configuration Setting: title ======

This is the name of your Wiki installation. Change it to whatever you like. If you want to run multiple installations of [[:DokuWiki]] on the same server they need to have different titles!

  * Type: String
  * Default: ''DokuWiki''

Note: If you have an ampersand (&) in your title, you should write it as ''&''.

===== See also =====

  * [[config:|Configuring DokuWiki]]