How to Select the Best Wiki Hosting Software for Your Website
Updated April 9, 2018
How to Select the Best Wiki Software for your Website
The navigation of a website can sometimes be very confusing and tricky if the website has a lot of information and content loaded on to it. Some websites are based on complex and sophisticated topics and niche and these types of websites might include loads of information based articles and graphics on dozens of web pages.
The visitors of a website that has poor navigation and does not help the visitors in easily finding the exact information they are looking for, have a hard time on the website and they stay confused even if the website is full of relevant and adequate info material.
What is a Wiki?
The best way to give the web audience a broad range of information along with nicely mapped navigation features that won’t waste their time and won’t intimidate them are Wikis.
All the details associated with a topic are expected by the visitors to be mentioned and explained thoroughly in Wikis. Landing upon a Wiki site while digging for information on any given topic means you have a very deep ground for digging.
Wikipedia, the most popular Wiki
Much before the famous website Wikipedia was even launched, the initial Wiki websites were created in the 90s. However, the usage and popularity of Wiki softwares and Wiki websites for serving the purpose of publicizing information increased dramatically with the recognition of Wikipedia.
Try searching for your favorite topic, industry or genre of TV shows or music. There are high chances that you might be able to find a Wiki driven website dedicatedly providing the information regarding that subject.
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What is Wiki Hosting (Software)?
What comes to your mind when we talk about a Wiki website? A website with features and properties that are usually part of the specific style of online encyclopedia. The software systems and applications that basically provide the complete framework for the features and options of a Wiki website are known as Wiki software.
There are several factors that will make you decide that you should be using a Wiki software for your website. In other words, what type of a website will you have when the best presentation and orientation of the website would be on top of a Wiki software?
Online encyclopedias are typically build on top of a Wiki software because this type of a software serves brilliantly for online encyclopedias.
Having your website developed on top of a Wiki software, instead of any other platform is the best option in the following situations:
- If you are offering a particular niche of service or product that requires sharing of knowledgebase or documentation with the target audience, then having a Wiki website is a good option for you.
- Online encyclopedias and Wiki software are made for each other. So if you have an online encyclopedia or if you are planning to have one, it should be based on a Wiki software.
- One of the most prominent features of Wiki based websites is the collaboration and contribution to the information and content by users collectively. The perfect model of community run websites and collaboration on articles is a Wiki site. So if you want to give the permission and rights to the visitors and users of your website to update information and knowledge, then Wiki software should be the ultimate choice for you.
How to select the right Wiki software for your website
When choosing the Wiki software for your website, it is recommended that you consider these features and options:
- Unconventional Editing Wizard: Editing the articles and content is a core aspect of a Wiki based website. You need to do the proper research and analysis to check out the editing features and capabilities of different Wiki software. Make sure that you select a software that involves user-friendly and robust editing features.
- Permissions and Logs: Another important aspect of a wiki website is the collaboration of different people to manage the articles. Make sure that you select a Wiki software that allows you to keep track of the changes done by the users by maintaining logs of the editing done. Also, it is important that the software allows you to give rights and permission to users according to their roles.
- Interface and functionality customization: Wiki software and Content Management Systems are two different types of software systems. However, there are Wiki software that allow the webmasters to customize their website interface with the integration of themes and templates. Moreover, some Wiki software also support the integration of extensions and plugins that enhance the functionality and features of the Wiki website.
Here is the list of some popular Wiki software:
- DokuWiki
- PmWiki
- WikkaWiki
- MediaWiki
- Confluence
- XWiki
- TWiki
- MindTouch
- TiddlyWiki
- Many more software
TikiWiki
The CMS based setup of TikiWiki offers advanced and unique options to the users, especially pertaining to collaboration between users. People in a workplace or business working in association with each other on a knowledgebase find TikiWiki an excellent choice.
TikiWiki features include:
- Custom framework of reporting and forms
- RSS feed generation
- Adequate tracking of article editing through robust tracking system
- Synchronization of language translations
- Support of plugin integration
MediaWiki
MediaWiki is another open source Wiki software that is probably most famous as the software that was developed and implemented for Wikipedia and still Wikipedia operates on MediaWiki. Thousands of extensions and configuration settings make MediaWiki one of the strongest and most flexible Wiki software that enables the users to manage their content perfectly.
Features of MediaWiki include:
- It is extremely user-friendly and no technical expertise is required to edit and manage the website
- The process of software installation on the server is fairly simple and easy
- MediaWiki allows users to save multiple versions of a single article or page
- Sandbox environment available for testing purposes
DokuWiki
An open source Wiki software that has an interface much resembling to the interface of Microsoft Office programs. DokuWiki supports editing of the text directly without using any coding work. DokuWiki applies data indexing in order to keep information organized and tracked.
DokuWiki features include:
- A wide range of extensions that effectively enhance the features and options of a DokuWiki based website
- All the old versions of an article or page are always available for tracking after editing is done
- In order to keep the editing of content restricted, DokuWiki has the locking feature that limits the access to users.
- Index based search feature make the usage convenient for visitors of the website.
Conclusion
A wiki isn’t for everyone. A wiki definitely isn’t a great fit for every website or niche. However, a wiki can be a great way of building engagement with your audience, giving you a way to share expanded content that doesn’t fit well within the ‘glossy brochure’ main pages of your website.
A wiki is a great way to answer questions before they’re asked and provide insightful resources at times when your full sales/presales/support team isn’t all on hand.
If you’re looking for a great wiki hosting experience, consider KnownHost – whether on our cloud application hosting (plans from under $5 per month) up through to SSD VPS servers and Cloud VPS solutions – even dedicated servers. It’s all down to what you need and the available budget to cover those needs. Speak with a member of our sales team for a no hassle, no obligation discussion about what we can do for you!