Webmaster using Wikipedia Content on my site?

Hi, I have an online store and would like to include wikipedia content to provide users with additional content (history, glossary, more info, etc.) I could write it myself but Wikipedia's articles are perfect.

I know I can use the content under the GFDL license if its properly cited, but I don't know the details of what I can do. Here a few of the questions I have...

Do I need to present it exactly as it is on Wikipedia?
Can I add my own images?
Can I separate content into multiple pages?
Can I choose only select paragraphs or sentences.
Do I need to display the content in the same order?
If I want, can I use an exact duplicate (links, images, subheaders, etc).

You are correct in that you can use Wikipedia's text according to the GFDL. You do not have to use the text exactly as it is on Wikipedia, but if you do, there are different rules in the GFDL on how it should be handled.

First, let's look at what you need to do if you don't copy it verbatim. If you do add or change the text, you have to do three things:
1. You have to license the new version under the GFDL also. Basically this is so you don't copy an article, change a few things, call it your own work and claim copyright. But this also means that anything you add you must allow to be re-used also, so that may be something to consider.
2. You have to acknowledge the authorship of the original text. Basically this means that you have to put somewhere on the page that some of the text was taken from Wikipedia.
3. You have to provide access to the original text. Basically this means that you have to include a link to the original Wikipedia article.

Another thing to keep in mind: the GFDL covers the text written by Wikipedia authors only. That doesn't include pictures, quotes, media clips, etc. All of that content may have different copyright restrictions. For example, many pictures on Wikipedia are public-domain images, so they can be re-used, but may are copyrighted and used under the fair-use provisions of copyright law. If you want to re-use those, you would have to provide your own fair-use justification. Adding your own images is fine as long as you have rights to use those images.

Since changing it (in legal terms, "creating a derivative work") is allowed under the GFDL, things like separating content, choosing only parts of pages, and reordering are fine as long as you comply with the above terms.

For more information on this, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:C...

You can copy the entire text of an article including links and subheaders, but images are again different, since they are licensed separately from the text. As before, you can only use the images as they appear in the Wikipedia article if you can license them yourself. This gets a little complicated, but if you want the details, you can read about them here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:V...

Hope that helps.