Hatrack River Writers Workshop: wiki?

This is topic wiki? in forum Open Discussions About Writing at Hatrack River Writers Workshop.

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Posted by Greenscreen (Member # 6896) on :

A while back I remeber someone, somewhere, mentioning using wiki somftware to keep track of information regarding their world. Well I'm working on a project for which wiki software may just come in handy, however I would rather keep it as a private database on my computer, does anyone know where I may be able to download wiki software? I can find the Request form for Wikia to host your wiki publicly, but as I said, that's not what I'm looking for.

Posted by AWSullivan (Member # 8059) on :

I don't have a direct recommendation but here is a good resource on which are the 'best' packages to work with.

http://c2.com/cgi/wiki?TopTenWikiEngines

Cheers,

Anthony

Posted by Elan (Member # 2442) on :

My understanding of wiki software is that the entire function is intended to make what's published public... that is, it goes up on the internet. You can password protect it, and if you are the one that sets it up you will automatically be the administrator, and if you don't invite anyone else to join, and don't give them a password, then no one else will see it.

Be aware that all things internet can be hacked or ferreted out by spiders and robots indexing the net, unless you put a code on the page to shut the spiders out. To assure privacy, keep it on your own hard drive.

Posted by mikemunsil (Member # 2109) on :

That was me, I believe. I use Dokuwiki. It adapts well to intranet and even just a PC. Do a search on "Dokuwikistick". You might also look up "Tiddlywiki". It is easier to set up and use than Dokuwiki and the entire wiki is contained in one .html file.

Please feel free to email me to discuss further.

Posted by mikemunsil (Member # 2109) on :

Dokuwikistick - http://www.splitbrain.org/blog/2007-12/01-dokuwiki_on_a_stick

Tiddlywiki - http://www.tiddlywiki.com/ - a complete wiki in one html file

See also the Getting Things Done adaptation of Tiddlywiki - http://www.checkettsweb.com/tw/gtd_tiddlywiki.htm

For a heavy-duty wiki installation on your PC (the same engine that Wikipedia runs on) see - http://lifehacker.com/software/wikipedia/geek-to-live--set-up-your-personal-wikipedia-163707.php

I prefer Dokuwiki to the rest: http://wiki.splitbrain.org/wiki:dokuwiki

Posted by Rhaythe (Member # 7857) on :

I'll echo the approval for Dokuwiki as well.

Posted by Greenscreen (Member # 6896) on :

So.... as far as appearance and editing text stuff goes do these use the same mechanics as the "real" wiki? for example would they all respond to " == subject == " the same way?

Posted by Rhaythe (Member # 7857) on :

quote:
...the same mechanics as the "real" wiki

The programmer in me was amused by that comment.

quote:
for example would they all respond to " == subject == " the same way?

If you mean if MediaWiki... the software package ran by Wikipedia... then I'll answer possibly. Every piece of software has its own convention. However, from the ones I've seen, most will interpret multiple '=' characters as a subject or subheader, yes. Check the manual or FAQ of the specific package for details on how they handle formatting.

If you absolutely prefer how MediaWiki handles article creation, then you can download that specific package and use it. That's about the only way to gaurentee your wiki will behave "just like" Wikipedia.

Posted by LAJD (Member # 8070) on :

I've been using VoodooPad on the Mac. Its a small lightweight personal wiki.
http://flyingmeat.com/voodoopad/

It has nearly all the functions of a full blown wiki but it's very simple.
Leslie

Posted by Greenscreen (Member # 6896) on :

I know, I lack so much program expertise. Is there a way to get doku to automaticly make a table of contents based on the article headings?

Also I tried your VooDoo and I can't get it to work something about my comp not knowing which program to open it with.

Posted by Rhaythe (Member # 7857) on :

quote:
Is there a way to get doku to automaticly make a table of contents based on the article headings?

Yup. On the page, Doku will generate a #tag link list based upon the order of your headers (IE: H2's will be indented beneath H1's, etc). In addition, if you utilize namespaces properly, the main index page on doku will organize your articles based upon the namespace.

Posted by Greenscreen (Member # 6896) on :

How do I get a table of contects then?

utilize namespaces properly? what do you mean?

Posted by KayTi (Member # 5137) on :

Anyone familiar with hosted wikis? I just need to do one to plan a trip with a friend and don't want to go through the rigamarole with my home server, which is a mysterious black box to me - literally. It's a black machine that used to be our home desktop but my brother-in-law AKA tech-support-in-law has converted to a linux box and it acts as our webserver which I run a small home website from. I access it 100% remotely - the server doesn't have a monitor or keyboard on it, we're such cheapskates we decided to not get a spare for the server. LOL

Anyway - my father has used wikispaces.com, I think. are there any other/better ones out there?

Posted by Rhaythe (Member # 7857) on :

quote:
utilize namespaces properly? what do you mean?

Namespaces are the fashion in which Doku organizes articles. When you create your links, you can use the colon as a namespace delimiter.

For example, if you had a namespace of dogs, you can have several articles beneath that namespace by linking the articles in such a fashion:

dogs:household :poodle
dogs:household:mutt
dogs:wild:wolf

And so on. Doku will generate a table of contents automatically after you create articles. This will be viewable on your wiki's index.

quote:
I think. are there any other/better ones out there?

It's easier to describe your needs, then see which packages out there would fit those needs. Most people do not need the full-blown mediawiki that they are used to seeing on Wikipedia. That's a user-heavy, high-traffic package (though, I admit, a fairly elegant one).

Not surprisingly, Wikipedia has a comparison list of several different packages:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_wiki_software

EDIT: Disabled smilies

[This message has been edited by Rhaythe (edited August 06, 2008).]

Posted by Greenscreen (Member # 6896) on :

I think doku will probly do it.
SO where should I post these namespaces so I don't clutter up my pages?

Posted by mikemunsil (Member # 2109) on :

The following refers to Dokuwiki.

When you create a page with a namespace, you automatically create that namespace. The namespace is created as a directory under the /data/pages/ directory. For that reason it does not take space up on your pages.

Suppose I want to have a namespace called "research" and in it I want a page called "Historical". To create the namespace AND the page, I edit an existing page to add a link, using the following syntax:

quote:
[[:research:Historical]]

Once I click on that link, I am asked if I want to create the page. When I create the page, it is created within the directory "research". Thus the absolute reference for this page would be: "http://mywiki.com/data/pages/research/historical.txt"

So, in reality, namespaces are directories (aka folders).