Content

• Steps
• Advice
• Warning
• References

Wiki is a great way to build communities for the purpose of exchanging and learning information, and are also amazing collective works. If you have a great idea, nothing is simpler than creating a wiki page. Whether you use a wiki hosting service or create your own, this article will guide you through how to get started with a great community.

Steps

Part 1 of 4: Plan Your Wiki Page

1. 

   Determine what your wiki page is for. Knowing the purpose of the wiki page will help you decide which software and server to choose. Wiki can be a personal page, an extensive community site, or anything similar. You can use wikis to keep track of your life goals, create business product documentation, collaborate with colleagues on a project, open a local newspaper, create a discussion site. a hobby, and more.
   • Wiki works best with an open topic, so that as many people contribute to writing and editing together as possible. If you are trying to build a popular wiki that attracts the community, its focus should be rich in order to thrive.
   • For example, building a wiki about a game company and the games they create is better than just writing about their single game.
2. Check if there is already a wiki page with the same topic. It is a waste of effort to create a wiki page that matches an existing one. The goal of a wiki is to write together, instead of isolating each other. Even if you think that the other wiki has a slightly different opinion of yours, then if you are not willing to accept the viewpoint of that wiki page, why should others easily accept your opinion?
3. Prepare human resources before building the wiki page. You need advice and motivation to create a wiki, so talk about your project and get everyone's support. If they are consulted, people are more likely to contribute to the wiki, as it makes them feel like co-founders of the site.

4. 

   
   
   Decide whether to create your own server or use a wiki hosting service. If you need to control the wiki a lot, or run the wiki yourself, you should create a dedicated wiki server. If you have no technical experience, use a wiki hosting service to make it easier to build and operate a wiki site, although you won't have a lot of control.
   • If you expect the wiki page to be popular, get a lot of content, and get a lot of hits, you will find it limited to renting a server to run the wiki.Moving the wiki page content from your hosting service to later on will also be difficult.
   • Using a wiki hosting service means the wiki site address will have the name of that service. For example, if you use Wikia, your wiki page address will be yourwiki.wikia.com. If you create your own wiki site, you can purchase your own domain name and create a wiki address like this: yourwiki.com.
   • The cost of self-hosting your wiki is more or less depending on the host you choose. Make sure you find a server that has a good uptime warranty and high quality support. Read more related articles in the same section to learn how to choose your own server.

5. 

   
   
   Choose the package. Whether using a wiki hosting service or using your own domain name, you are faced with a number of different package options. Most wiki hosting services offer the software they are using, but if you have your own server then use the package that works best for you. Use services like WikiMatrix to compare package specifications.
   • MediaWiki It is the most popular wiki software out there and is running wikiHow, Wikipedia, or many other wiki sites. Many popular wiki hosting services also use the MediaWiki software.
   • TikiWiki The second most popular wiki software, and is also used to run multiple wiki sites and wiki hosting services. TikiWiki has very strong plugin support, allowing you to add widgets such as forums, photo galleries, calendars, etc.
   • UserPress - Is a wiki support program for WordPress. It has the same features as MediaWiki and other standalone wiki software, but is much easier to use.
   • DokuWiki Smaller wiki software program that is becoming more and more popular, especially in enterprises. It is designed entirely for workgroups and has multiple levels of access.
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Part 2 of 4: Building A Wiki Page Using Wiki Farm

1. 

   
   
   Select a wiki hosting service. If you decide to use hosting for your new wiki site, you need a comparison. There are a lot of options out there, both free and paid. The main benefit of using wiki hosting is the ease of creating and running your wiki site. Remember, it can be difficult to switch to another hosting service or run a private server. Some of the popular hosting services include:
   • Wikia - A popular entertainment and lifestyle wiki host. Wikia is one of the largest video game wiki hosting services out there, and also one of the fastest growing in other respects.
   • "WikiFoundry '" - A service similar to wikia and for personal pages. It is one of the wiki pages where one can issue a writer status request for editing.
   • Wikispaces - Is a wiki server designed for educational and academic purposes. This service is very popular in university web settings.
   • Wikispot - Is a server designed for the community and non-profit services, although not necessarily just those purposes. However, this service was discontinued on April 30, 2015 to focus on the local wiki project: LocalWiki.
   • Wikidot - Is a wiki hosting service for all purposes (business, personal, community, educational) allowing you to use domain names purchased with a free Wikidot account. You can also use Wikidot to create non-wiki websites.

2. 

   Create your own wiki page. The process is different for each website, but usually all you need to do is create a username and click on the "Create Wiki" link on the homepage of the website. wiki hosting service. Some wiki hosting services require you to fill in information for acceptance, while others only require a title and some other basic information.
   • Instructions on how to create Wikia (see more related articles in the same category).
   • Instructions on how to create a Wikidot page (see more related articles in the same category).
   • Most other wiki hosting services are very similar to what the two tutorials above cover.
   • Once your wiki page is created you can move on to the next section of the tutorial.

3. 

   Customize the newly created wiki page. Most wiki hosting services offer a variety of customization options, including templates (formats) and built-in images. Find a template that matches your wiki, or upload banners and other images to create a unified wiki page.
   • See more related articles in the same section to learn how to customize a Wikia page.
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Part 3 of 4: Creating a Dedicated Server for Your Wiki Site

1. 

   Upload the wiki software to your server. If you decide to create your own server to host your wiki site, you will need to install the wiki software on the server. Some servers already have wiki software to install, but may not be suitable for the software you want to use (for example, TikiWiki's servers are available to install, but you want to use MediaWiki). See more related articles in this section to learn how to install MediaWiki, or TikiWiki.
   • The wiki software will be saved as a compressed file. You can extract the files from your computer or on the server.
   • Place the folder containing the extracted wiki software in the "web" path on your server.
   • Rename the directory to the wiki site name. For example, if your site has the address www.example.com, renaming the directory to "w" will create the address for the homepage of the wiki page www.example.com/w/index.php.

2. 

   Create a database (database). The MediaWiki software supports the MySQL and SQLite administration systems. If you are using SQLite, you just need to choose a name for the database and it will be installed automatically. If you use MySQL, you will need to download it to your server if it is not already installed, and create a new database using the following commands:
   
   create database wikidb;
   
   grant index, create, select, insert, update, delete, alter, lock tables on wikidb. * to 'username' @ 'localhost' identified by 'password';
   • Instead username and password with the username and password you want to use for your wiki page.
   • localhost It can be kept as "localhost" unless your database is on a server other than the one on which the wiki site was installed. In that case, please replace localhost with the database server address.
   • See more related articles in the same section to learn how to create databases on the MySQL administration system.

3. 

   Run the installer script from the browser. Once the MediaWiki files are loaded and the database is created, you can go to the server page in your browser to run the automatic installation language. After Mediawiki completes the configuration test, you will be asked to enter information about your wiki page:
   • Wiki page name - This is the name of your wiki page, which appears in the wiki's metadata and is integrated throughout the web page.
   • Contact e-mail - Is the admin email address, displayed on email notifications and some error pages.
   • Language - Use the drop down menu to select a language for the wiki layout.
   • Copyrights and Licenses - Select your license information. For example, Wikipedia uses the GNU Free Documentation License.
   • Admin username and password - It is the first admin account used to restrict users from editing or performing other administrative activities. You can create more such accounts later.
   • Database Host - A place where the database is stored. If it is also the server running the wiki software, set it localhost.
   • Database Name - The name of your database.
   • Database username / password - This is the name and password used to access the database.

4. 

   Customize your wiki page. Once the wiki page is created and running, you can change the look of the page by using a user-appropriate layout or using CSS code. Change the logo on the wiki page to suit its functionality. advertisement

Part 4 of 4: Launching a Wiki Page

1. 

   Adjust permissions. Your wiki page will be installed with the necessary default permissions, but you can change the object and content that is accessible and edited if desired. This is especially important in business web setups when you want to develop a network of collaborators working on a product page but don't want the site to be damaged by anonymous users.
   • You can use files that contain permissions to create different levels of usage, such as creating supervisor, who can edit without being logged in the recent changes log. , or system operating collaborators, who can group pages together without permission. This will help you create a strong and diverse user base, making the wiki run smoothly.

2. 

   Start building content. As soon as the wiki is up and running, it's time to get started writing articles! When your wiki was newly created, it did not have any subsites and contributors. To change that, you need to add content. Great content will attract people to your wiki page. As traffic increases, visitors start contributing their articles and editing the content of your wiki page. It will take a while but you will have a community before you get to know them!
   • Remember, when you start doing it, it all depends on how YOU are going to create the content to attract people to your wiki page. Make sure you have a firm grasp of the topic you are talking about so that you can write in-depth articles from the day the website first launches.

3. 

   Create items. The category page contains a list of related pages. In addition to the main content categories, you can create a category page called "Organization" for sites like your homepage, or a category page called "Help" for The site's help articles. Remember that the categories themselves also have sub-categories thanks to the categorization in the category page itself.

4. 

   Create policy documentation for the wiki site. Policy documentation are the general rules for writing articles on your wiki page. This document will guide collaborators on how to present information on a wiki page. You should not be rigid when making these regulations. Be flexible as it is difficult to work with or contribute to the wiki if the rules are too strict.
   • You may have to create standards for how links are made, or for quality articles.
   • Not all contributors follow the style guide, but this guide will assist with post monitoring and editing.
   • A guide that sounds more friendly than verbal reprimand. It is more comfortable to be corrected by one statement than by another.

5. 

   Let's learn some wiki syntax. You will find article creation more effective if you learn some basic wiki syntax. This lets you edit pages directly without using editors, it also helps you to adjust layout and style to your liking.

6. 

   Copied from other wiki sites. If duplicating content is plagiarism, reusing the styles and templates of the wiki pages is recommended. Templates are pages that can be easily assigned to other pages. Templates can be used for selecting posts to delete, marking new posts, or simply memorizing something; But you can also use the template for other creative things. Wiki, the open community, is an example. See how these sites work, people communicate with each other, reuse their habits and understand why another wiki is successful. Compare your site to another wiki of the same size, not Wikipedia. Wikipedia is a big website and needs more rules than you.

7. 

   Monitor your website. The appeal of a wiki site is that anyone can edit, but that is also the biggest challenge. The more people accessing it, the higher the risk of a post being messed up. Fortunately, most wiki software allows immediate revert to an earlier version of an article. You need to be patient. If your post and the edit are both correct then choose the contributor's edit. Doing this will broaden the view of the wiki and welcome contributions from other contributors.

8. 

   Encourage active members of the community. If your wiki page is interesting, you will see some visitors coming back regularly to create content and take care of it. If you find them enthusiastic about your website, give the most passionate people more control over the site. Please support and be kind to your editors. It is important to always be willing to guide and motivate them to write on the wiki. By creating administrators from your online community, you reduce the burden you face when monitoring and maintaining website content.
   • Create forums and discussion pages for community members to talk about on your wiki's rules and style of writing.
   • Allows the administrator to comment on changes in general rules and post style.
   • Host community events like editorial exams to inspire your loyal writing contributors.

9. 

   Promote the wiki page. Do whatever it takes to let everyone know about the site's existence. Describe it on wikiindex.org. Look for small wiki sites and pointers to them only. Your wiki page is a node in the wiki network. Don't be afraid to ask questions on other wiki sites. The more you communicate, the more people will know you. Promote your wiki on social media, talk about it with people you know so they tell people they know, post on forums related to your wiki page, and link to it. wiki in blog comments. Anything you can do to attract people to your website will increase your chances of success for your website.

10. 

    Expand website. As your wiki becomes more familiar to everyone, keep adding new features to the site. Things like forums, chat rooms, polls, calendars, and more will add interesting functionality to your wiki page. Get creative with wiki page content! Make sure you are updating to the latest version of the wiki software package whenever possible to get the latest features and security fixes.

11. 

    Enjoy the results together! A wiki is a collaborative, community endeavor. Enjoy the community you have created on the wiki, and always try to make it grow. The Internet was created to promote communication, and wikis are one of the most efficient environments for gathering and sharing information. Congratulations on creating your own wiki page! advertisement

Advice

• If you learn PHP (the scripting language) and a little bit of Javascript, you can create dynamic content on the wiki page. If you have a deep knowledge of the programming language, don't be afraid to update the software that runs your wiki yourself.
• As you learn HTML, CSS, and even Javascript, try adding / updating a new layout to your wiki page.
• A wiki page should be easy to use. Any page on your wiki is independent, which means you don't need to read another page to understand and edit a page. The encyclopedia is a prime example because each article on this site can stand alone. Whereas Wikibooks, which have content that links to many other wiki sites, is less independent.

Warning

• Some people will delete content that you put in a lot of effort to put on the wiki page. So be sure to handle these situations and keep an eye on the page that keeps "recent changes" on your wiki, if the wiki software supports that feature. In this case, please backup your website information elsewhere.
• As stated above, please support contributor writing. If they get confused, or over-control your website, don't get frustrated and don't tell them things you wouldn't tell anyone in real life.
• If you are using wiki hosting, be sure to read the terms of these services so that your website does not conflict / violate those rules.
• Posting pirated information on the wiki page will put you in a legal face if your wiki is publicly accessible.
• Try are not use the wiki for unethical purposes.
• Comply with regulations to prevent frauds and violations of the law.

References

• Making a successful wiki
• Starting and Running a Wiki Website