Wiki Engine Review Terminology

Category: On some WikiForums, a keyword added to a WikiPage to help classify pages. It is a WikiWord keyword, prefixed by "Category", like (on CLUG) "CategoryLvlug?". Usually, a WikiPage with the WikiWord keyword as title is created to serve as an aid to finding the pages in that category. By going to that page and clicking on the title, you can find all the WikiPages which include that keyword. See also Topic, which is very similar. At one point a distinction between Topic and Category was intended, but that has not always been achieved in practice. See FaqForCategories and related pages.
wiki: An informal general term that might refer to a WikiEngine, a WikiForum, or the combination of the two, but not a WikiFarm or a WikiSite). I will use it in general discussion or when I think the precise reference is clear from the context.
Wiki: An informal term to refer specifically to the wiki (WikiForum) at http://www.c2.com, the WikiEngine which powers that site, or both. Ward Cunningham refers to the WikiForum as the Portland Pattern Repository. Other people sometimes call it WardsWiki or the C2 Wiki. Ward refers to the WikiEngine as the WikiWikiWeb. Other people sometimes call it WardsOriginalWiki, WardsWiki, or the OriginalWiki. All of these terms sometimes refer collectively to the WikiForum and WikiEngine.
WikiEngine: The software running a WikiForum. Sometimes referring to just the "custom written" stuff, sometimes including the infrastructure, like the database and webserver.
WikiFarm: A computer on the Internet which runs a WikiEngine and allows one, for free or for a fee, to host WikiForums. Most WikiFarms run a specific WikiEngine.
WikiForum: A "discussion forum" on an intranet or the Internet, run using a WikiEngine. This wiki, the Portland Pattern Repository, at http://www.c2.com/cgi/wiki?FrontPage, is a WikiForum.
WikiPage: A page in a WikiForum, designated by the WikiWord that is its title.
WikiPortal: A WebPortal?, linking to WikiSites (possibly a special purpose WikiEngine). -- fp (a potentiality)
WikiSearchEngine?: A WebSearchEngine?, specialized to searching over all WikiSites -- fp (a potentiality)
WikiSite: A Web site running at least one WikiForum or offering a WikiEngine for download.
WikiWeb: All or a collection of many WikiForums, perhaps with InterWiki links connecting individual pages from one wiki to pages in another wiki. (I'm not sure how many people will agree with this definition. I've sensed that other people sometimes use WikiWeb to refer to what I call a WikiForum.)
: The following is quoted from a page I added at the TWiki forum (http://twiki.sourceforge.net/cgi-bin/view/TWiki/TWikiSubWeb), trying to explain their concept of multiple webs within a wiki. Once I let it "settle out", I may modify other definitions on this page as appropriate to be consistent with the following.
: A wiki forum is a web site where a (an instance of a) wiki engine supports a set of wiki pages. A wiki farm is a web site where multiple instances of a wiki engine each support a set of wiki pages (or, possibly, multiple wiki engines each support a set of wiki pages). TWiki allows one instance of a wiki engine to support multiple sets of wiki pages, with some functions (for example, search) common to all sets of pages. (See http://www.c2.com/cgi/wiki?WikiForum, http://www.c2.com/cgi/wiki?WikiFarm, and http://www.c2.com/cgi/wiki?WikiEngineReviewTerminology .)
: Or, maybe, a wiki farm is a web site with multiple independent sets of wiki pages. (And, a set of wiki pages is a WikiForum.)
WikiWikiWeb: The name of the original wiki engine written by WardCunningham.
WikiWord: An "artificial" word, usually formed by scrunching two or more capitalized words together, and used as the title of a WikiPage or WikiTopic? discussing a subject represented by the WikiWord. WikiWord is a WikiWord.

-- RandyKramer (with help from FridemarPache)

CategoryWikiEngineReview