The presentation on Wikis

Question: What are wikis? Critique then from a design perspective -- what are the features that work well for encouraging open use? What features need to be improved and why? Ground your discussion in specific examples.

Introduction (presenter Louis)

Traditional web design.
Why collaborate?
Previous attempts to collaborate.
The wiki vision.

What is a wiki?

A piece of software running on a web server which stores text files in a searchable database which, when requested can be rendered into tagged HTML and sent to a user for display in a web browser.
A tool for collaborative web authoring.
An online repository of knowledge.
It is fast compared to traditional web authoring – wikiwiki.
Trivia about Ward Cunningham’s first wiki – show it.
Wiki clones – show MediaWiki.

What are the features which encourage open use? (presenter Mike)

Anatomy of a wiki.
A wiki can be read and written using a standard forms-enabled web-browser (i.e. any browser today).
User types and their rights
Basic functions. Editing, linking, history (“Diff” function makes comparison easier) – mention the Recent changes function (monitor changes [watch list] function on MediaWiki), Search.
Sand Box as a guide (tutorial) into wiki. An informative way to learn.
Wiki syntax removes the need for an author to learn HTML. All of a sudden everyone is a web designer.
The palette of mark-up options is limited. Provides consistency in look and feel across the whole collection.
Wiki syntax is easier to read than conventional HTML.
Creating pages is fast and relatively simple.
Overview of wikiwiki syntax.
Overview of MediaWiki syntax.
Internal links, external links, links to empty wiki pages.
- Run through the process of creating new pages by filling in the gaps or by purposefully creating empty links yourself.
Show an identical article written in WikiWiki and MediaWiki syntax, their output in a browser and the equivalent HTML source code.

Critique from a design perspective. (presenter Nick)

WikiWiki
- Observations on the merits and demerits of the rendered output from a cognitive perspective.
- Comments on the system of writing and editing wikiwiki articles.
- WikiWords + problems. Single words.
- Interference with universally accepted language conventions.
- Complexity of some aspects of the syntax. Tabbing for example.
MediaWiki
- Observations on the merits and demerits of the rendered output from a cognitive perspective.
- Comments on the system of writing and editing wikiwiki articles.
- Improved link handling.

General Comments on both

No WYSIWYG editing.
Can lead to unsatisfying learning experiences. The diversity of wiki platforms on the internet means that what you have painstakingly learnt for one does not apply to the other system.
Since page titles have to be accurate, descriptive and logical, a system which encourages the user to write UgLy page titles can make or break a wiki.

What features need to be improved? (presenter Oliver)

WYSIWYG editing
- Is already implemented on some wiki platforms
- Show an example of a WYSIWYG editor for a wiki.
  - MoinMoin, for example, has a good WYSIWYG editor.
- Is achieved by using activeX or JavaScript. This compromises one of the original goals of a wiki. Wikis were intended to be accessible cross platform, from any browser without the use of additional plugins.
Real improvements for wiki editing need to happen with changes in HTML and browser software itself. If HTML supported formatted text in form fields creating a WYSIWYG editor would be simple, without necessarily alienating a portion of potential wiki users.
Until any changes do take place it would perhaps be a good idea to standardize wiki syntax. In this way, even though the editing system is not as intuitive as it could be, once you have learned one, you have learned them all.
- This is impractical. Each different wiki platform has been developed for different purposes. The editing requirements for the world’s largest online encyclopaedia are different than those for a wiki which deals only with a limited topic area – say programming.

Suggestions:

possible ways of developing:
- Creation of different notations for different medias, i.e. science (math and physics formulas), music (octaves, sheet music), etc. (--Rumbesht 22:08, 26 November 2006 (PST)

User:Meeshkah