by Dan Woods and Peter Thoeny
Get On The Wiki Track to Free and Powerful Knowledge Sharing!
Add, Share and Collaborate on Web pages in Real Time
 |
| Wiki for Dummies |
Dan Woods has a background in technology and journalism. He has a BA in
Computer Science from the University of Michigan. He was CTO of both
TheStreet.com and CapitalThinking, led development at Time Inc.’s Pathfinder,
and created applications for NandO.net, one of the first newspaper Web sites.
Dan has a MS from Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. He
covered banking for three years at The Record of Hackensack; was Database
Editor for three years at the Raleigh News & Observer; and has written more
than ten books on various technology topics, in addition to numerous white
papers and magazine articles. Dan Woods founded the Evolved Media Network
to offer services in technology communications using the Communication by Design methodology.
Peter Thoeny is the founder of TWiki, the leading wiki for corporate collaboration
and knowledge management. Managing the open source project for the
last seven years, Peter invented the concept of structured wikis, where freeform
wiki content can be structured with tailored wiki applications. He is a
recognized thought-leader in wikis and social software, featured in numerous
articles and technology conferences including LinuxWorld, Business Week,
The Wall Street Journal, and more. A software developer with more than 20
years of experience, Peter specializes in software architecture, user interface
design, and Web technology. He graduated from the Swiss Federal Institute
of Technology in Zurich, lived in Japan for eight years working as an engineering
manager for Denso building CASE tools, and managed the Knowledge
Engineering group at Wind River for several years. With StructuredWikis.com
and TWiki.net, Peter is now offering services, support, and training for enterprise
wiki deployments.
Authors’ Acknowledgments
The authors would like to thank Ward Cunningham for inventing wikis and for
his generosity in sharing the concept with the world. Ward helped us write
the book by providing his thoughts in several interviews and writing a wonderful
foreword. What the world needs now is not only more wikis, but more Wards as well.
This book was written using the Communication by Design methodology of
Evolved Media Network in which a group of people, using a wiki of course,
creates this book using a division of labor. Dan Woods and Peter Thoeny
played the role of editor/analysts who designed the book, performed the
research, and invented and captured the content. The writing team included
Dan Woods, Peter Thoeny, Noah Robischon, Deb Cameron, Deb Gabriel, John
Biggs, and Erin Schulte. We offer our sincere thanks to them all.
This book would never have happened without the support and For Dummies
wisdom of Katie Feltman, Nicole Sholly, Teresa Artman (all of Wiley), and
Keith Underdahl, who was brought in to help us. We authors bow and tip our hats to you.
Many people in the wiki world were interviewed for this book or contributed
content in various ways, including interviews and e-mail. We thank them for
their enthusiasm and positive attitude. This generous group of people
includes: Jimmy Donal Wales, founder of Wikipedia; Adam Frey and James
Beyers of WikiSpaces; Joe Kraus of Google/JotSpot; Ramit Sethi of PBwiki;
Ken Tyler of seedwiki; Matt Wiseley of EditMe; Sam Obio of BluWiki; Steven
Marder of Swicki; and several others who chose not to be named.
Many, many wikis are described in this book, but many great wikis are not.
Given that hundreds of thousands (if not millions) of wikis thrive on the Web,
covering them all would be impossible. We attempted to capture a representative
sample, but no doubt we have failed. For example, because of the deadline
for this book, we weren’t able to include screenshots from Google’s
JotSpot, which will no doubt change the world of wikis when it officially
launches as part of Google’s application toolset. We tried to include wikis in
each of the broad categories we defined: content-focused, process-focused,
community, and ease-of-use wikis. We are certain, though, that more categories
will emerge, and perhaps the ones that we have defined will morph
into new ones. If you know about good wikis that deserve attention or have
comments on the book, we do want to keep the conversation that resulted in
this book going in any way we can. Peter Thoeny would love to hear from you
at www.structuredwikis.com and Twiki.net and would be overjoyed to
help you build a wiki of your own. Dan Woods will be continuing research and
reporting on wikis at www.evolvedtechnologist.com. Please visit us in
either place to share your thoughts.
Introduction
Wikis, born in 1995, had a quiet childhood. Now, as wikis approach their
teens, they are having a heck of a coming-out party as they are used
absolutely everywhere for everything imaginable. Wikipedia, an online encyclopedia
created by using a wiki, is one of the most-used reference works on
the planet. United States (U.S.) federal intelligence agencies — the CIA, the
NSA, the Defense Department, and others — use a wiki to help gather, share,
and analyze information. Google, IBM, Motorola, SAP, Sun, Yahoo!, and tens of
thousands of other companies run important parts of their businesses with
wikis. Hundreds of thousands of families, clubs, schools, and scientists use
wikis for every sort of task. We even wrote this book with the help of a wiki.
All these examples are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to prominent use of wikis.
The number of ways how wikis are being offered and hosted is also exploding.
In October 2006, Google (the famous search engine company) purchased
JotSpot, a commercially developed wiki, which will be added to Google’s
core offerings of mail, calendar, and shared documents sometime in 2007.
WikiSpaces, wetpaint, Wikidot, Wikia, XWiki, BluWiki, seedwiki, PBwiki, Riters,
StikiPad, Central Desktop, and others offer free, hosted wikis that are ready
to use over the Internet. Companies such as Socialtext and Atlassian offer
wikis that can either be installed or hosted. By far, the largest number of
wiki sites are run by open source wiki engines, such as TWiki, MoinMoin,
MediaWiki, and a number of others.
Boggles the mind a bit, doesn’t it? You’re probably looking at this book because
you heard about wikis and wonder whether they can help you get where you
want to go. They can help you, and the how is really quite easy. We wrote this
book because wikis changed our lives and how we work. With just a bit of
effort, we suspect that wikis will do the same for you, just like they have for
millions of other people. So read on.
About This Book
In Wikis For Dummies, you will find a top-to-bottom guide to understanding
what wikis are and how to use them. Unlike many other types of technology
you might encounter, you need to realize that wikis aren’t a product or a
brand or a company. Rather, wikis are collections of Web pages that anyone
can edit — a style of Web site invented by Ward Cunningham. This book introduces
you to the basics of the style and shows how they’re implemented with
minor variations in specific products. The sorts of skills and knowledge that
you can acquire with this book include how to
Edit wiki pages by using wiki markup or WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) editors.
Format the information on a wiki page.
Link wiki pages.
Organize the pages in your wiki so people can find them.
Choose the right home for your wiki.
Attract users to your wiki.
Manage your wiki.
Foolish Assumptions
In Wikis For Dummies, we don’t assume any prior knowledge of HTML (Web
markup language), wiki markup, programming languages, or system administration
skills. However, we do assume that you have surfed the Web. We also
assume that you have a working knowledge of personal computers and have
used browsers to go to Web sites. If you’ve used a Web mail system such as
Yahoo! Mail, Gmail, or Hotmail, you’ll find that editing a wiki page is just
about the same as writing and sending an e-mail.
Conventions Used in This Book
By conventions, we simply mean a set of rules that we employ in this book to
present information to you consistently. When you see a term italicized, look
for its definition, which is included so that you know what things mean in the
context of wiki creation and maintenance. Web site addresses and e-mail
addresses appear in monofont so that they stand out from regular text. Wiki
markup and HTML appear in a separate font, set off from the rest of the text,
like this:
---+ My First Wiki Page
What You Don’t Have to Read
We structured this book modularly — that is, it’s designed so that you can
easily find just the information you need — so you don’t have to read whatever
doesn’t pertain to your task at hand. We include sidebars here and there
throughout the book that contain interesting information that isn’t necessarily
integral to the discussion at hand; feel free to skip over these. You also
don’t have to read the paragraphs marked with Technical Stuff icons, which
parse out uber-techy tidbits (which might not be your cup of tea).
How This Book Is Organized
Wikis For Dummies is split into four parts. You don’t have to read it sequentially,
you don’t have to look at every part, you don’t have to review each chapter,
and you don’t even have to read all the sections in any particular chapter.
(Of course, you can if you want to; it’s a good read.) And the Table of Contents
and the index can help you quickly find whatever information you need. In
this section, we briefly describe what each part contains.
Part I: Introducing Wikis
Part I shows you what wikis are and what they are not. You can read the history
of how Ward Cunningham created the idea of wikis and how wikis slowly
propagated from engineering departments to the mainstream. You get your
feet wet by seeing the basics of creating and adding content to a page. We
then take you on a tour through examples of what wikis are used for and
show you the most famous wiki of all — Wikipedia.
Part II: Making Your Own Wiki
Part II assumes that you’ve gotten the bug and are ready to dive into the
detailed mechanics of designing and creating wiki pages. No matter which
choice you make for creating your wiki, by putting content on a wiki, you enter
a new world. It all begins with your first page. Usually, people get started by
going to one of the many hosted wikis described in this part. Read along there
to follow the instructions on setting up your new wiki — there it is! A blank
wiki page! In this part, we also give you the details of formatting wiki pages,
linking them, and the principles of wiki design.
Part III: Promoting, Managing, and Improving Your Wiki
Part III focuses on meeting the challenges of promoting a wiki as well as
choosing and installing your own wiki engine if that’s what makes sense for
you. You can read how to manage and protect your wiki as well as the possibilities
for adding advanced functionality by using the structured wikis concept.
(Structured wikis add advanced features to make wikis work like spreadsheets,
databases, or automated tools for managing complex step-by-step processes.)
Part IV: The Part of Tens
The Part of Tens covers wiki attitudes and roles as well as ways how wikis are
used at the office. This part also provides a list of innovative and exotic wikis
that are worth a look.
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File Size
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Pages
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ISBN
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Copyright
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Table of Contents
Foreword .....................................xvii
Introduction.......................................1
Part I: Introducing Wikis ...............................................7
Chapter 1: Understanding Wikis: From Ward’s Brain
to Your Browser . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9
Finding Your Way to Wikis ............................................................................10
What makes a wiki a wiki.....................................................................11
Comparing wikis and other communication tools...........................13
The (almost) formal definition of a wiki............................................14
You, Too, Can Wiki .........................................................................................16
Starting your wiki engines...................................................................16
Creating your first wiki page...............................................................17
Putting Wikis to Work ....................................................................................21
Who are wiki people?...........................................................................21
The lifecycle of wiki people.................................................................22
Herding a small group with wikis .......................................................23
Wide-body wikis for your company ...................................................23
Going public with your wiki ................................................................24
The History and Future of Wikis ..................................................................24
HyperCard and other wiki precursors...............................................24
Ward’s challenge...................................................................................25
Ward’s solution .....................................................................................25
The not-so-overnight success of wikis ..............................................26
Hosted wikis open the door to everyone..........................................29
Where wikis will go...............................................................................30
Chapter 2: Contributing Content to a Wiki . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .31
Basic Wiki Skills..............................................................................................32
Navigating wiki webs ...........................................................................32
Editing and creating wiki pages..........................................................38
Linking wiki pages ................................................................................44
Attaching Documents to Wiki Pages............................................................49
Printing Wiki Pages ........................................................................................51
Tracking Versions and Changes ...................................................................51
How versions keep wikis safe .............................................................51
Tracking changes in a wiki ..................................................................52
Chapter 3: The Thousand Problem-Solving Faces of Wikis . . . . . . . .55
The Many Categories of Wikis ......................................................................56
Content-Focused Wikis: The Goldmine of Shared Content.......................57
Doing research with reference wikis..................................................57
Sharpening skills with hobbyist wikis ...............................................60
Going around the world with travel wikis.........................................62
Finding technical documentation wikis.............................................64
Process-Focused Wikis: A Shared Space for a Shared Mission ................65
Managing projects and productivity with wikis ...............................66
Getting the job done with task-oriented wikis..................................66
Making it happen with advocacy wikis..............................................70
Finding educational wikis for students and teachers......................72
Community Wikis: Exploring Common Bonds............................................73
Goofing off with entertainment wikis.................................................75
Hanging around at clubhouse wikis...................................................76
Getting nerdy with technology wikis .................................................77
Ease-of-Use Wikis: Web Site Creation Made Easy.......................................77
Creating small business brochure wikis............................................78
Making connections with personal and family wikis.......................78
Hunting for More Wikis..................................................................................79
Chapter 4: Using and Improving the 800-pound Gorilla
of Wikis: Wikipedia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .81
Understanding How Wikipedia Works.........................................................82
Run by volunteers ................................................................................84
Editing Wikipedia entries ....................................................................85
Dressing up your Wikipedia entries...................................................86
Previewing and saving your changes.................................................87
Linking pages and Web sites in Wikipedia ........................................88
What Wikipedia Can Do For You ..................................................................90
Using Wikipedia as a research tool ....................................................90
Is Wikipedia reliable? ...........................................................................91
Sharing your knowledge on Wikipedia ..............................................92
Part II: Making Your Own Wiki ....................................95
Chapter 5: Finding a Hosted Home for Your Wiki . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .97
Choosing the Right Hosted Wiki...................................................................98
Exploring hosted wikis ........................................................................99
Ease-of-use wikis.................................................................................102
Community wikis................................................................................102
Process-focused wikis........................................................................103
Content-focused wikis........................................................................103
Creating a Hosted Wiki with WikiSpaces...................................................104
Creating pages ....................................................................................107
Editing pages.......................................................................................108
Linking pages ......................................................................................109
Protecting pages and wikis ...............................................................110
Inviting others to your wiki...............................................................112
Changing the look, feel, and design of a wiki ..................................113
Adding images, video, and other widgets to a wiki .......................115
Adding premium services and advertising .....................................115
Chapter 6: Creating Content for Your Wiki . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .117
Applying Markup as Content Makeup .......................................................118
Editing Pages with Wiki Markup.................................................................118
Creating hierarchy with headings ....................................................120
Inserting bullets..................................................................................121
Building tables ....................................................................................122
Formatting text ...................................................................................123
Controlling Layout and Formatting with HTML .......................................125
Choosing Wiki Page Modes.........................................................................126
Using document mode.......................................................................128
Implementing thread mode pages....................................................129
Using structured mode......................................................................130
Chapter 7: Linking, Categorizing, and Tagging Wiki Pages . . . . . . . .131
Linking Wiki Pages .......................................................................................132
Linking WikiWords automatically.....................................................132
Preventing false WikiWord links .......................................................133
Free linking ..........................................................................................134
Creating pages using links.................................................................135
Giving life to stubs..............................................................................136
Viewing all links to a page .................................................................137
Renaming all links in a web ...............................................................138
Linking Outside Your Wiki...........................................................................139
Linking URLs .......................................................................................139
Linking between wikis using Interwiki names ................................140
Linking to other webs and namespaces ..........................................141
Linking to Files, Images, and Multimedia ..................................................141
Uploading attachments .....................................................................142
Linking to file attachments................................................................144
Inserting images .................................................................................145
Linking to multimedia ........................................................................147
Categorizing and Tagging Pages.................................................................148
Using MediaWiki categories ..............................................................148
Tagging content ..................................................................................149
Chapter 8: The Four Dimensions of Wiki Design . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .151
Architecting the Information in Your Wiki ................................................152
Understanding wiki taxonomy..........................................................152
Surveying common wiki taxonomies ...............................................154
Linking in patterns .............................................................................157
What’s in a page name? .....................................................................158
Plotting Navigational Paths through Your Wiki........................................159
Designing the front page....................................................................159
Designing section pages ....................................................................162
Categorizing pages .............................................................................163
Planning headers, footers, and left-hand navigation .....................165
Adding supporting pages to your wiki ............................................169
Using Templates to Design Content Pages................................................169
Adding Visual Panache to Your Wiki .........................................................172
Using themes and skins .....................................................................173
Choosing color....................................................................................174
Personalizing wikis with logos..........................................................175
Part III: Promoting, Managing, and Improving Your Wiki ..177
Chapter 9: Attracting Users to Your Wiki . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .179
Wiki Don’ts ....................................................................................................180
Don’t confuse your audience ............................................................180
Don’t fire and forget ...........................................................................180
Don’t spam ..........................................................................................181
Don’t get the Field of Dreams syndrome.........................................181
Don’t overdesign ................................................................................182
Don’t overmanage ..............................................................................182
Don’t go on wiki suicide missions....................................................182
Wiki Do’s........................................................................................................183
Seed your wiki.....................................................................................183
Remove barriers .................................................................................184
Encourage wiki-users to be bold ......................................................185
Starting a Community Wiki .........................................................................185
Focus the wiki .....................................................................................186
Advertise the wiki...............................................................................186
Assist the wiki.....................................................................................186
Promoting Wikis in the Office .....................................................................187
Living with Wiki Life Cycles ........................................................................188
Deploying the wiki..............................................................................188
Growing your wiki ..............................................................................189
Taming large wikis..............................................................................189
Ending a wiki’s life ..............................................................................190
Chapter 10: Choosing an Installed Wiki Engine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .191
Evaluating Basic Wiki Groups.....................................................................192
Assessing Your Wiki Requirements ...........................................................194
The skill level of the user population ..............................................194
The number of people who will add content..................................194
The number of people who will view the content..........................195
The wiki’s security level ....................................................................195
The wiki’s potential size ....................................................................196
Whether you need automation.........................................................196
Your technical expertise level ..........................................................197
Your willingness to become a wiki champion.................................197
Comparing Wiki Engines .............................................................................197
Making the safe choice ......................................................................198
Exploring the WikiMatrix...................................................................199
Going on a Wiki Walkabout .........................................................................202
Points to ponder on your wiki walkabout.......................................204
XWiki walkabout .................................................................................204
MoinMoin walkabout .........................................................................205
TWiki walkabout .................................................................................206
MediaWiki walkabout.........................................................................207
DokuWiki walkabout ..........................................................................207
Chapter 11: Getting Your Wiki Engine Up and Running . . . . . . . . . . .209
Finding a Home for Your Wiki .....................................................................210
Hosting on a shared or dedicated server........................................210
Hosting inside your organization .....................................................211
Contracting all-in-one hosting and consulting................................211
Finding an Internet Mechanic.....................................................................212
Starting Your Wiki Engine............................................................................215
Meeting system requirements ..........................................................215
Finding installation help ....................................................................218
Downloading and unpacking binaries .............................................219
Connecting to the Web server ..........................................................220
Running the configure script ............................................................221
Chapter 12: Managing Wikis . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . .225
Wiki Maintenance: Pruning, Training, and Making Changes...................226
Deciding what to cut and what to keep...........................................227
Training your troops..........................................................................228
Rolling back changes .........................................................................231
Avoiding wiki spam ............................................................................233
Refactoring your wiki.........................................................................233
Grinding through Routine Administrative Tasks .....................................235
Daily tasks ...........................................................................................236
Weekly tasks........................................................................................236
Monthly tasks .....................................................................................236
Yearly tasks .........................................................................................237
Chapter 13: Protecting Your Wiki . . . . . .. . . . . . .239
Evaluating Threats to Your Wiki.................................................................240
Vandalism ............................................................................................240
Passion.................................................................................................240
Enthusiasm..........................................................................................242
Mistakes...............................................................................................242
System failure......................................................................................243
Running Your Own Change Patrol..............................................................243
Rolling back changes .........................................................................243
Tracking recent changes ...................................................................247
Controlling Editing Access..........................................................................249
Preparing for Disaster .................................................................................250
Backing up your wiki..........................................................................251
Finding a new home for your wiki ....................................................252
Chapter 14: Creating Applications Using Structured Wikis . . . . . . .253
Reviewing Structured Wiki Basics..............................................................254
To structure or not: That is the question........................................254
Using wiki variables ...........................................................................255
Performing functions with variables................................................256
Some favorites from the wiki variables vault .................................257
Searching Your Wiki .....................................................................................259
Templating Your Wiki...................................................................................260
Creating a base topic .........................................................................261
Creating a basic template..................................................................261
Making new pages from templates...................................................262
Finding pages created from a template ...........................................263
Simplifying page creation ..................................................................264
Adding Forms to Your Wiki .........................................................................265
Creating a database home page .......................................................266
Defining a form....................................................................................266
Enabling a form...................................................................................268
Creating a template topic ..................................................................268
Adding a form to the template topic................................................270
Building an HTML form for topic creation ......................................270
Building a formatted topic list ..........................................................272
Improving the topic list .....................................................................273
Adding Wiki Plug-Ins ....................................................................................275
CommentPlugin ..................................................................................276
SpreadSheetPlugin .............................................................................276
EditTablePlugin...................................................................................277
InterwikiPlugin....................................................................................278
TWikiDrawPlugin ................................................................................278
Finding more plug-ins ........................................................................279
Part IV: The Part of Tens ............................................281
Chapter 15: Ten Essential Wiki Attitudes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .283
Shared Authorship.......................................................................................283
Easier Is Better .............................................................................................284
Throw It Up There........................................................................................284
Unfinished Is Okay .......................................................................................284
Bold Is Beautiful ...........................................................................................284
Set an Example .............................................................................................285
Let It Happen ................................................................................................285
Structure Can Wait .......................................................................................285
We Don’t Need No Stinkin’ Rules................................................................286
Follow the Community ................................................................................286
Chapter 16: Ten Roles People Play When Using Wikis . . . . . . . . . . .287
Reader/Researcher ......................................................................................287
Contributor ...................................................................................................288
Evangelist ......................................................................................................288
Editorial Quality Maven...............................................................................288
Administrator ...............................................................................................289
Operations and Hosting Engineer ..............................................................289
Wiki Engine Developer.................................................................................289
Policy and Process Contributor .................................................................289
Critic ..............................................................................................................290
Champion/Founder......................................................................................290
Chapter 17: Ten Ways How Wikis Work at the Office . . . . . . . . . . . .291
Shared Repository .......................................................................................292
Reducing “To All” E-Mail..............................................................................292
Simple Databases .........................................................................................293
Knowledge Management .............................................................................293
Training .........................................................................................................294
Intranet ..........................................................................................................294
Web Publishing.............................................................................................294
User Documentation....................................................................................295
Shared Spreadsheets ...................................................................................295
Project Management....................................................................................295
Chapter 18: Ten Innovative Wikis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .297
TiddlyWiki .....................................................................................................297
wetpaint.........................................................................................................298
Central Desktop............................................................................................298
StikiPad..........................................................................................................299
wikiCalc .........................................................................................................299
WikiTree ........................................................................................................300
WikiTimeScale ..............................................................................................300
Swicki.............................................................................................................301
Kwiki ..............................................................................................................302
FlexWiki .........................................................................................................302
Index........................................................................303
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