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Wiki recommendations

I have a project coming up which will require the installation of a Wiki on the client’s server (a shared LAMP server). The project is pro-bono from my side as the client doesn’t have a budget and works in the area of special education.

The project is to roll out a simple system to document the protocols and procedures to be followed by the staff so they are all using the same approach in their work.

The client’s organisation has a staff of about 70 working throughout the country. The staff are not technically literate so the wiki software needs to have a WYSIWYG editor.

I looked at Media Wiki but it doesn’t seem to have a WYSIWYG editor and I’m not clear if Moin Moin can be installed on a shared server.

Any/all advice greatfully accepted as always.

11 thoughts on “Wiki recommendations”

  2. I’ve only intsalled MediaWiki I’m afraid no other experience.

    It’s not that hard to follow the media wiki scripting, I have used it with a few non-techs without issue. Images are the only thing to need any real explaining, otherwise it’s very simple.

  3. Michele – thanks, from the docs though, it looks as if you would, at least, require help from your hoster to implement it.

    Robin, thanks for that. Images shouldn’t be an issue in this case but did I mention they were non-techs 😉 ?

  5. Fair enough so Michele – I read:

    Creating a wiki instance involves copying files around and setting appropriate permissions. Before you can proceed, you need to know what user and group your Apache server runs as. The easiest way to know this is to issue this command:

    > egrep “^User|^Group” /etc/httpd/httpd.conf
    User wwwrun
    Group nogroup

    and more like it in the Moin Moin help docs and that for me means I would need the hoster’s help.

  7. Ah, it is not really an issue Michele. It is just that as this is a pro-bono job I want to have it as simple as possible for me (i.e. something I can set up in a couple of hours with the minimum of dependence on others)!

  8. Does it really need to be on the client’s server Tom? If not I’d recommend Writely for the job – it’s as user friendly a Wiki as I’ve seen for computer novices.

  9. Unfortunately James, I think it does. There are issues of confidentiality involved so I don’t see them agreeing to it being on a 3rd parties server. Nice idea though.

  11. Not sure if it’s too late for this particular conversation, but I’m using Wikka , comes with a wysisyg editor and can be run in a shared environment.

    If you’re looking to run it on a PC on a client site , something like EasiePHP will give you the Apache / MySql / PHP that you need , out of the box.

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