Review of WardsOriginalWikiEngine (WikiWikiWeb engine), major version 1
The PortlandPatternRepository runs on major version 1 of WikiWikiWeb (wiki). Minor versions are released to production without further numbering. I could provide a script that reports the build date of the in production version if readers here would find that useful. TheWikiWay will distribute version 4.1 on cdrom under an open source license. -- WardCunningham
Adding Attributes
Please use the same attributes and the same sequence of attributes in each review. If you add an attribute to one review, please consider adding it at the same location in each review, the WikiEngineReviewTemplate and the WikiEngineReviewTemplateAnnotated.
Reviews of New Releases
Please maintain separate reviews for each version of each WikiEngine. The intent is to maintain reviews of old versions of software that might still be in use on a WikiFarm or on a specific WikiSite. See WikiEngineReviewNewRelease for the recommended approach.
Notes
See WikiEngineReview, WikiEngineReviewNotes, and WikiEngineReviewTemplateAnnotated for notes and discussion about these reviews and wikis in general.
General
- Date of Review: November 24, 2000, revised on 12/22/00
- WikiEngine and Version Reviewed: WikiWikiWeb (wiki), major version 1
-
- The PortlandPatternRepository runs on major version 1 of WikiWikiWeb (wiki). Minor versions are released to production without further numbering. I could provide a script that reports the build date of the in production version if readers here would find that useful. TheWikiWay will distribute version 4.1 on cdrom under an open source license. -- WardCunningham
- Author of WikiEngine: WardCunningham
- Review Summary: The original wiki engine (WikiWikiWeb engine) may not have all the features that some of its newer "competitors" have, but I don't think it suffers much for lack of those features. It runs the PortlandPatternRepository (aka WardsWiki) which has a strong user base, maybe the strongest of any WikiSite. Those users are familiar with WikiNature and WikiZen, and consider any missing functions to be features of the WikiNature of the site.
- Review Quality: Getting close? Do I still have errors or omissions? (Other than for the new attributes I plan to add.)
- Standard Features Missing (see WikiEngineReviewStandardFeatures): None (by definition)
Software
-
- I have not found a link to get the exact version used on WardsWiki.
-
- A version similar to the version running WardsWiki, but minus a few features (diffs and spell checker) is written in HyperPerl (wow! -- "a wiki-literate programming system that you will like"), see http://c2.com/cgi/hp?WikiInHyperPerl. Although it is labeled as the property of Cunningham & Cunningham, Inc., Ward has made the comment "It is my intention to distribute this as some variation of freeware as soon as I find and understand appropriate notices. -- WardCunningham" -- see http://c2.com/cgi/wikibase?InitialComments
WikiFarms
- Name / cost / limits / URL / backup schedule / comments: None
Content
- Display original Wiki text? Yes
- Text editing rules: See WikiEngineReviewTextFormattingTest and WikiOriginalTextEditingRules?
- Headings? No, can be simulated by applying emphasis (italic, bold)
- Allowable WikiNames: Original Wiki only (Two or more capitalized words concatenated, no adjacent caps, no numeric characters, no spaces)
- Subpages? No. Topics and Categories provide help in organizing pages by subject.
- Max Page Size: Unlimited, except by browser limitations.
- Tables? No
- Images? Included by reference, based on extension in URL (e.g. typing http://c2.com/sig/wiki.gif into the edit text of a page).
- Attachments? No
- Editing Contention Resolution: "First to save wins", if someone starts an edit and someone completes and saves an edit "in the meantime", the (first) editor is warned when he goes to save his pages. See http://c2.com/cgi/wiki?EditConflictResolution. (Note that, like all wikis, if you edit the page using an external editor and then paste your changes into an edit window, the edit contention mechanism cannot detect the collision.)
(I should write this more clearly, and describe the mechanism more clearly. If I'm not mistaken, whenever an editor starts to edit a page, something records the version (number) he is editing. When he goes to save, if the current version is still the version he started from, his save is allowed. If someone has saved in the meantime, the current version will not match the version he started his editing from, and his save will not be allowed. After I'm a little more certain this is correct, I will rewrite this section.)
Readability
- Search capabilities: Search for a word in either the title or full text of the Wiki (you choose which). There is an experimental search with some boolean capabilities. See http://www.usemod.com/cgi-bin/c2search.pl
- Email notification of changes: No
- Diffs: Yes. Two methods:
- QuickDiff -- if you click on the date at the bottom of the view page (which is highlighted like a link) you will quickly get a color coded diff.
- When you do an EditCopy (which allows you to restore (and edit) the last edit by the previous author), the differences between the current version and the previous author's version are displayed. Display uses a standard "<", ">" style markup. This is a little scary, because it is easy, while viewing the diff, to hit save and restore the previous author's version unintentionally.
Security
- Embedded HTML (risky): No
- Password protection? No
- Delete Pages: Yes. Replace all text on the page with the word "delete". When a second person does the same thing, the page is gone ("permanently" -- because the revision snapshot is gone).
- Revision Snapshots? Last edit by previous author is saved
- Rollback: Any editor can rollback to the last edit by the previous author by selecting "EditCopy from previous author" on the editing page.
- Delete Snapshots? Yes. See "Delete Pages:", above.
Working Well with Others
- Static or dynamic web pages: Dynamic
- Indexed by search engines? It can be, but the Portland Pattern Repository forum specifically (sp?) excludes searchbots (by using a robots.txt file). (And I still want to learn about the problems of searching dynamic web pages -- see CanWebSearchEnginesIndexWikis.)
- InterWiki Links? No. (Links to anywhere are allowed, but not in any special InterWiki syntax.) Also, there is a useful discussion of InterWiki at http://www.c2.com/cgi/wiki?
- Import / Export Features: Ward creates zipped files of groups of static pages weekly for import by sites mirroring the C2 Wiki. (This is more a feature of the Portland Pattern Repository WikiForum than the Wiki software.) I don't know whether he makes the scripts to do this available to others.
- Translators to/from other Wikis? ?? Also, I suspect that many Wikis can accept text using the WikiOriginalTextFormattingRules (see WikiEngineReviewTextFormattingTest).
Miscellaneous
- Extra Features: Yes. Ward makes continuing improvements without incrementing the minor version number.
- References:
- Browsers Used: (See WikiEngineReviewBrowsersUsed for abbreviations)
- IE5_rhk -- no problems
- k198_rhk -- konqueror is good and will get better, but renders some things quite differently than IE5. For this wiki, I prefer IE5. konqueror single spaces between these bullets, where IE5 doublespaces. In any event, (1) I'm not sure which browser is "right", and (2) it's not a problem with the wiki. (I suspect konqueror has some improvements to make -- kde 2.1 should be out before the end of February, I look forward to seeing what changes.)
- <add your browser and experience>
- Comments by Users
Originator / Author, Maintainer, Contributors
- Originator / Author: RandyKramer
- Contributors:
- JeffreyMiller (images)
- <add your Wiki name, move this to next line> (do we really want reviews from authors that need this sort of instruction?)
CategoryWikiEngineReview
Wiki Engine Review Wards Original Wiki One