Best Opensource Wiki Apps for Website & their Features
A wiki is a hypertext publication collaboratively edited and managed by its own audience directly using a web browser. A typical wiki contains multiple pages for the subjects or scope of the project and may be either open to the public or limited to use within an organization for maintaining its internal knowledge base.
Wikis are enabled by wiki software, otherwise known as wiki engines. A wiki engine, being a form of a content management system, differs from other web-based systems such as blog software, in that the content is created without any defined owner or leader, and wikis have little inherent structure, allowing structure to emerge according to the needs of the users. Wiki engines usually allow content to be written using a simplified markup language and sometimes edited with the help of a rich-text editor. There are dozens of different wiki engines in use, both standalone and part of other software, such as bug tracking systems. Some wiki engines are open source, whereas others are proprietary. Some permit control over different functions (levels of access); for example, editing rights may permit changing, adding, or removing material. Others may permit access without enforcing access control. Other rules may be imposed to organize content.
MediaWiki
MediaWiki is an open source wiki application. MediaWiki was initially released in 2002 after being developed to power Wikipedia.
MediaWiki is a feature-rich wiki implementation, and is used to power Wikipedia and many other wikis.
Features:
- Look and feel: MediaWiki’s user interface is customizable through the use of skins.
- Keeping track of edits: With MediaWiki, it’s easy to revert an entry to a previous state. MediaWiki keeps track of all edits.
- Structures and syntax: A full set of commands are supported which enable elements such as sortable tables to be embedded into entries.
- Spam and vandalism: Prevent link spamming, and other forms of abusive editing.
- Discussions: Each user (including every anonymous user) and every article has an associated page where messages can be posted.
- Permissions and user groups: Multiple user groups and editing permissions for each are supported.
- Search: Full search capabilities and numerous special report pages are available.
- Multimedia and extensions: Multimedia files can be uploaded and attached to wiki entries.
DokuWiki
DokuWiki is an open source wiki application that is extremely lightweight.
DokuWiki is a standards compliant, simple to use wiki, mainly aimed at creating documentation of any kind. It is targeted at developer teams, workgroups and small companies. It has a simple but powerful syntax which makes sure the datafiles remain readable outside the Wiki and eases the creation of structured texts. All data is stored in plain text files–no database is required.
Features:
- Built-in Access Control Lists
- Large variety of extensions
- Device independent
PmWiki
PmWiki is an open source wiki application that is extremely lightweight. PmWiki was initially released in 2004.
PmWiki is a wiki-based system for collaborative creation and maintenance of websites.
PmWiki pages look and act like normal web pages, except they have an “Edit” link that makes it easy to modify existing pages and add new pages into the website, using basic editing rules. You do not need to know or use any HTML or CSS. Page editing can be left open to the public or restricted to small groups of authors.
Features:
- Custom look-and-feel: A site administrator can quickly change the appearance and functions of a PmWiki site by using different skins and HTML templates. If you can’t find an appropriate skin already made, you can easily modify one or create your own.
- Access control: PmWiki password protection can be applied to an entire site, to groups of pages, or to individual pages. Password protection controls who can read pages, edit pages, and upload attachments. PmWiki’s access control system is completely self-contained, but it can also work in conjunction with existing password databases, such as .htaccess, LDAP servers, and MySQL databases.
- Customization and plugin architecture: One principle of the PmWikiPhilosophy is to only include essential features in the core engine, but make it easy for administrators to customize and add new markup. Hundreds of features are already available by using extensions (called “recipes”) that are available from the PmWiki Cookbook.
WikkaWiki
WikkaWiki is an open source wiki application. Forked from WakkaWiki in 2004, WikkaWiki today powers hundreds of websites worldwide and is known for its lightweight engine.
WikkaWiki is a mature project aiming to remain faithful to WakkaWiki’s heritage of a lightweight engine with readable and accessible code. Easy extensibility/hackability (without sacrificing performance) are among Wikka’s most prominent and appreciated features.
Features:
- Standards compliant – Wikka is based on the latest W3C standards, RFCs as well as some others.
- Designed for speed, extensibility, and security.
- Easily adaptable to a number of different uses.
- Chosen by hundreds of users, projects and organizations to power their websites.
- Released under the GPL license.