Wikis are gaining in popularity in terms of number and use. There are several reasons why. One main reason is improved employee productivity at a lower cost. The other reason is that it much easier to start a company Wiki or a personal Wiki than it has been in the past. A Wiki also costs very little. There are numerous Wiki host providers, also called Wiki farms, that allow you to set up a Wiki easily, basically one-click installation. Learning to use the Wiki, that is posting content, is not much more difficult. One can reasonably expect an employee to learn how to post on a Wiki on their own in very little time.
Wiki Software, Hosts, and Farms
You can create your own Wiki software from scratch, but that will take some time and some online database and user interface expertise. . The other alternative is to install any one of the popular open-source Wiki packages on your own server or on your Internet Service Provider’s server. That can also be a time consuming process and it will require that your server or web hosting provider has the capability to host a Wiki package. Finally, you can opt to choose a Wiki Hosting Provider also known as a Wiki Farm.
Many web hosting providers offer the Wiki plugins that allow you to quickly install a Wiki on your web site. If you have a web hosting provider already, look through your cPanel, and check the plugin list (click the plug-in installer). More than likely you will find a Wiki package that can be installed with just one-click.
Wiki Hosting Issues
However, at this point in time, its almost September 2022, there is a good chance you will run into a problem once installed. For example, if you are using a shared web hosting service, you may find you might not get all the features the Wiki package offers. For example. Mediawiki’s Visual Editor might just not work as yet on a shared hosting provider account. However, the source editor often will. Although you can get your Wiki up and running, you will only be able to place unformatted text on your Wiki (unless you want to write the HTML that the source editor accepts). The Visual Editor is where you get the ability to upload images, sounds, create tables, and add formatting.
The shared hosting providers might overcome the problem sooner than later. The shared hosting providers want the growing Wiki business and certainly don’t want the Wiki Farms taking away any more business,
With that said, don’t let Wiki hosting and installation challenges deter you. The productivity gains will be well worth the effort. With a Wiki, anybody with permission in your company can add to or change a Wiki document quickly. All short-circuiting the documentation process. A Wiki is an open web page, that employees can add to or edit without knowing or using HTML or other markup languages. Using a Wiki is as easy or easier than using any popular word processing software. More so, the editor’s have automatic word spell and grammar checks built into them
If you are willing you can find a Wiki Farm that supports MediaWiki’s Visual Editor. For a few dollars a month you can be up and running in an hour or so with all the Wiki features you see on Wikipedia (Wikipedia is based on MediaWiki’s wiki software).
The Shared Host Problem Solved?
Even if you are using a shared hosting Wiki, without a working Visual Editor, don’t fret. The Source Editor will let your staff start collaborating on joint documents. More than likely, your shared hosting provider will soon have the Visual Editor’s working and ready to use. Reports are that there are many developers working on the Visual Editor problem and they are very close to finding a simple solution to enable all the Visual Editor’s features on shared hosting platforms.
