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One of the largest wikis is Wikipedia, an online encyclopedia with over 1 million articles in English alone, and a continuously expanding library in other languages. Wiki software can be described as coming in one of two flavors:
- Wiki only, with a minimal feature set (minimal registration process, history, page locking, and IP blocking). MediaWiki, the wiki software used for Wikipedia (http://wikipedia.org), is wiki-only.
- Full-featured management set. This includes challenged registration (visitors have to confirm their email address before modifying pages), workflow management, user permissions, image and file galleries, surveys, and a full administrative panel, plus more. TikiWiki, the wiki software used for WikiWackyWorld (http://www.wikiwackyworld.com), is a full-featured management set. Installation requires that you upload or copy files to your server, create a MySQL database and user account, and run the installation scripts. Installation packages are available for some wikis.
Be sure to read the installation requirements and any posts about problems at the wiki’s site. You do not usually need to know anything about (X)HTML, SQL, or CSS to set up a wiki, but some knowledge of PHP is required for customization.
Note: The exact skills required depend on the wiki software you use.
Most wikis allow for customization, but how this is implemented varies. In some cases, you must modify the underlying files. In others, you modify a select group of templates. Several wikis let you select from existing themes (and you can set the permissions so that users may choose a different theme if they like). When first starting, it is easier to accept as many default settings as possible, and worry about the look and feel after you are more comfortable using the software. (Of course, if this will be a public-facing wiki, then the look and feel must be finished by the time it goes live.) One strength of a wiki is its revision history. Every time someone makes a change to a page, no matter how small, the previous version is stored.
This helps prevent problems because unwanted changes (like spam) can be removed quickly by restoring the best previous version. Spam has always been an issue with wikis. However, most wiki software has been upgraded to require registration before visitors can post to prevent spamming problems. You can also set global email alerts to notify administrators when a page has been changed, and registered users can select to “watch” a page for any changes. (“Watch” means that the user is notified by email when the page is changed.) Also, some wikis have been enhanced to include content management capabilities, such as user permissions, categories, workflow management, image and file galleries, surveys, forums, newsletters, articles, and more. See Article 12, “Collaborative Software Suites.” While wikis can be installed locally, they are almost always run from a server (either Internet or intranet). Wiki farms provide hosting specifically for individual wikis. Most wikis include the following features:
- Registration. Some wikis require registration before content can be added or edited. Others are open (and require constant monitoring because of hackers). - History. Tracks changes over the life of the page and lets you revert to a previous version. You can usually choose the versions that you want to compare. - Locking pages. The wiki administrator can lock specific pages against changes. Lock pages that only an administrator should modify, such as a home page. - Search. Some wikis let you search titles only, but many include full-text search.
- Recent changes. This lists the pages that were most recently changed. A quick glance at any recently changed pages indicates which topics are the most popular.
- IP blocking. This feature prevents visitors from specific IPs from accessing the site. An administrator must add IPs to the list, although this is usually a moot exercise (hackers change their IPs too frequently for a lock to work). Some wikis include a WYSIOP (What You See Is One Possibility) editor, while others use text editors that require a custom markup language, sometimes called “Wikitext” or “wiki syntax.” However, every wiki uses slightly different syntax, which can make it difficult to switch between wikis. For example, early wikis used CamelCase (sometimes called “WordsSmashedTogether”) to create links and page names. But as wikis matured, CamelCase has been dropped for freelinks, created by using either parentheses or square brackets: - (General Questions) is a freelink to the General Questions page on It’s a Wiki Wacky World. - [http://www.wikiwackyworld.com | It’s a Wiki Wacky World] is a freelink to the Wiki Wacky World website that displays the website title and not the URL.
Today’s wikis may accept both CamelCase and freelinks, or may only accept freelinks. If you have a preference, read the documentation at the wiki site. Some sites include a style guide page that provides quick access to the specific rules. For example, the MSHelpWiki (http://www.mshelpwiki.com/wiki) includes a page called Formatting Rules, which shows examples for different types of formatting (headings, images, text formatting, horizontal rules, and so on). Each example demonstrates both the raw code (from the editor) and the final results. Many wikis do not allow the use of HTML tags. Some, like TikiWiki, leave the decision to the administrator. And others, like MediaWiki, allow for a very limited number of tags. This prevents visitors from wreaking havoc with malicious HTML. Many wiki sites include a Sandbox, which is a page where visitors can “play” with the wiki syntax. The easiest way to use the Sandbox is to open two browser windows: one for the Sandbox and one for the page that describes the wiki syntax. More detailed matrices can be found at the following sites:
- WikiMatrix (http://wikimatrix.org) lets you select from more than 60 wikis to produce a custom side-by-side comparison chart, and includes a wizard. You answer questions about the features you want in a wiki, and the wizard then lists the wikis that match the selected features so you can investigate further.
- Wikipedia (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison- of- wiki- software) includes features for more than 25 wikis.
Partial list of wiki software
| Wiki | Hardware/Software |
Features |
| MediaWiki mediawiki.org |
Apache PHP 5 MySQL or Oracle |
Administrator permissions Categories Extensible (with plug-ins) Freelinks Namespaces Right-to-left support RSS feeds Security/anti-spam Subpages Unicode support |
| Twiki http://twiki.org/ |
Apache Perl Text files |
CamelCase links (also known as WordsSmashedTogether) Extensible (with plug-ins) Freelinks Themes (customizable) Unicode support Variables Workflow management |
| TikiWiki http://tikiwiki.org/ |
Apache PHP MySQL, PostgreSQL, Oracle |
Administrator modules Articles Blogs Calendar CamelCase links (also known as WordsSmashedTogether) Categories Chat File galleries Forums Freelinks Image galleries Newsletters Role-based permissions RSS feeds Save as PDF Security/anti-spam Subpages Surveys Themes (customizable) Unicode support Workflow management |
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