Wikis for Dummies

Table of Contents......Page 7
Foreword by Ward Cunningham......Page 14
About This Book......Page 16
Conventions Used in This Book......Page 17
Part II: Making Your Own Wiki......Page 18
Icons Used in This Book......Page 19
Introducing Wikis......Page 22
Understanding Wikis: From Ward’s Brain to Your Browser......Page 24
Finding Your Way to Wikis......Page 25
What makes a wiki a wiki......Page 26
Comparing wikis and other communication tools......Page 28
The (almost) formal definition of a wiki......Page 29
Starting your wiki engines......Page 31
Creating your first wiki page......Page 32
Who are wiki people?......Page 36
The lifecycle of wiki people......Page 37
Wide-body wikis for your company......Page 38
HyperCard and other wiki precursors......Page 39
Ward’s solution......Page 40
The not-so-overnight success of wikis......Page 41
Hosted wikis open the door to everyone......Page 44
Where wikis will go......Page 45
Contributing Content to a Wiki......Page 46
Navigating wiki webs......Page 47
Editing and creating wiki pages......Page 53
Linking wiki pages......Page 59
Attaching Documents to Wiki Pages......Page 64
How versions keep wikis safe......Page 66
Tracking changes in a Wiki......Page 67
The Thousand Problem-Solving Faces of Wikis......Page 70
The Many Categories of Wikis......Page 71
Doing research with reference wikis......Page 72
Sharpening skills with hobbyist wikis......Page 75
Going around the world with travel wikis......Page 77
Finding technical documentation wikis......Page 79
Process-Focused Wikis: A Shared Space for a Shared Mission......Page 80
Getting the job done with task-oriented wikis......Page 81
Making it happen with advocacy wikis......Page 85
Finding educational wikis for students and teachers......Page 87
Community Wikis: Exploring Common Bonds......Page 88
Goofing off with entertainment wikis......Page 90
Hanging around at clubhouse wikis......Page 91
Ease-of-Use Wikis: Web Site Creation Made Easy......Page 92
Making connections with personal and family wikis......Page 93
Hunting for More Wikis......Page 94
Using and Improving the 800-pound Gorilla of Wikis: Wikipedia......Page 96
Understanding How Wikipedia Works......Page 97
Run by volunteers......Page 99
Editing Wikipedia entries......Page 100
Dressing up your Wikipedia entries......Page 101
Previewing and saving your changes......Page 102
Linking pages and Web sites in Wikipedia......Page 103
Using Wikipedia as a research tool......Page 105
Is Wikipedia reliable?......Page 106
Sharing your knowledge on Wikipedia......Page 107
Making Your Own Wiki......Page 110
Finding a Hosted Home for Your Wiki......Page 112
Choosing the Right Hosted Wiki......Page 113
Exploring hosted wikis......Page 114
Community wikis......Page 117
Content-focused wikis......Page 118
Creating a Hosted Wiki with WikiSpaces......Page 119
Creating pages......Page 122
Editing pages......Page 123
Linking pages......Page 124
Protecting pages and wikis......Page 125
Inviting others to your wiki......Page 127
Changing the look, feel, and design of a wiki......Page 128
Adding premium services and advertising......Page 130
Creating Content for Your Wiki......Page 132
Editing Pages with Wiki Markup......Page 133
Creating hierarchy with headings......Page 135
Inserting bullets......Page 136
Building tables......Page 137
Formatting text......Page 138
Controlling Layout and Formatting with HTML......Page 140
Choosing Wiki Page Modes......Page 141
Using document mode......Page 143
Implementing thread mode pages......Page 144
Using structured mode......Page 145
Linking, Categorizing, and Tagging Wiki Pages......Page 146
Linking WikiWords automatically......Page 147
Preventing false WikiWord links......Page 148
Free linking......Page 149
Creating pages using links......Page 150
Giving life to stubs......Page 151
Viewing all links to a page......Page 152
Renaming all links in a web......Page 153
Linking URLs......Page 154
Linking between wikis using Interwiki names......Page 155
Linking to Files, Images, and Multimedia......Page 156
Uploading attachments......Page 157
Linking to file attachments......Page 159
Inserting images......Page 160
Linking to multimedia......Page 162
Using MediaWiki categories......Page 163
Tagging content......Page 164
The Four Dimensions of Wiki Design......Page 166
Understanding wiki taxonomy......Page 167
Surveying common wiki taxonomies......Page 169
Linking in patterns......Page 172
What’s in a page name?......Page 173
Designing the front page......Page 174
Designing section pages......Page 177
Categorizing pages......Page 178
Planning headers, footers, and left-hand navigation......Page 180
Using Templates to Design Content Pages......Page 184
Adding Visual Panache to Your Wiki......Page 187
Using themes and skins......Page 188
Choosing color......Page 189
Personalizing wikis with logos......Page 190
Promoting, Managing, and Improving Your Wiki......Page 192
Attracting Users to Your Wiki......Page 194
Don’t fire and forget......Page 195
Don’t get the Field of Dreams syndrome......Page 196
Don’t go on wiki suicide missions......Page 197
Seed your wiki......Page 198
Remove barriers......Page 199
Starting a Community Wiki......Page 200
Assist the wiki......Page 201
Promoting Wikis in the Office......Page 202
Deploying the wiki......Page 203
Taming large wikis......Page 204
Ending a wiki’s life......Page 205
Choosing an Installed Wiki Engine......Page 206
Evaluating Basic Wiki Groups......Page 207
The number of people who will add content......Page 209
The wiki’s security level......Page 210
Whether you need automation......Page 211
Comparing Wiki Engines......Page 212
Making the safe choice......Page 213
Exploring the WikiMatrix......Page 214
Going on a Wiki Walkabout......Page 217
XWiki walkabout......Page 219
MoinMoin walkabout......Page 220
TWiki walkabout......Page 221
DokuWiki walkabout......Page 222
Getting Your Wiki Engine Up and Running......Page 224
Hosting on a shared or dedicated server......Page 225
Contracting all-in-one hosting and consulting......Page 226
Meeting system requirements......Page 230
Finding installation help......Page 233
Downloading and unpacking binaries......Page 234
Connecting to the Web server......Page 235
Running the configure script......Page 236
Finding an Internet Mechanic......Page 227
Managing Wikis......Page 240
Wiki Maintenance: Pruning, Training, and Making Changes......Page 241
Deciding what to cut and what to keep......Page 242
Training your troops......Page 243
Rolling back changes......Page 246
Refactoring your wiki......Page 248
Grinding through Routine Administrative Tasks......Page 250
Monthly tasks......Page 251
Yearly tasks......Page 252
Protecting Your Wiki......Page 254
Passion......Page 255
Mistakes......Page 257
Rolling back changes......Page 258
Tracking recent changes......Page 262
Controlling Editing Access......Page 264
Preparing for Disaster......Page 265
Backing up your wiki......Page 266
Finding a new home for your wiki......Page 267
Creating Applications Using Structured Wikis......Page 268
To structure or not: That is the question......Page 269
Using wiki variables......Page 270
Performing functions with variables......Page 271
Some favorites from the wiki variables vault......Page 272
Templating Your Wiki......Page 275
Creating a basic template......Page 276
Making new pages from templates......Page 277
Finding pages created from a template......Page 278
Simplifying page creation......Page 279
Adding Forms to Your Wiki......Page 280
Defining a form......Page 281
Creating a template topic......Page 283
Building an HTML form for topic creation......Page 285
Building a formatted topic list......Page 287
Improving the topic list......Page 288
Adding Wiki Plug-Ins......Page 290
SpreadSheetPlugin......Page 291
EditTablePlugin......Page 292
TWikiDrawPlugin......Page 293
Finding more plug-ins......Page 294
The Part of Tens......Page 296
Shared Authorship......Page 298
Bold Is Beautiful......Page 299
Structure Can Wait......Page 300
Follow the Community......Page 301
Reader/Researcher......Page 302
Editorial Quality Maven......Page 303
Policy and Process Contributor......Page 304
Champion/Founder......Page 305
Ten Ways How Wikis Work at the Office......Page 306
Reducing “To All” E-Mail......Page 307
Knowledge Management......Page 308
Web Publishing......Page 309
Project Management......Page 310
TiddlyWiki......Page 312
Central Desktop......Page 313
StikiPad......Page 314
WikiTimeScale......Page 315
Swicki......Page 316
FlexWiki......Page 317
Index......Page 318