here

here

For quick information:

• ScreenShots -- some examples, of course this website also uses ProWiki
• DownloadAndInstall or Download from sourceforge.net

• HelpDesk -- ask questions
• OnlineReference -- read the documentation
• DownloadAndInstallation -- learn how to set up your own ProWiki
• WikiFaq & ProWikiFaq -- read what other people wanted to know

User interest (red=writing / blue=reading) User interest (red=writing / blue=reading) OnlineReference LeafName Recursive DbFiles Admin/Template/SB HelpDesk ForumPage BugReports ContactUs GuestBook

What is a wiki?

A wiki is a website where users can create and edit pages very easily. This means that is 10-20 times cheaper to create and update wiki pages than normal web pages. Sometimes wiki is called http://nas-server.org/

• a "authoring system for websites" or
• a "simple content management system" or
• "social software",

Invite people to an open wiki and you get an OnlineCommunity. A closed, private wiki gives you an "personal information system" that you can access from any place in the world. Use a wiki to teach in a classroom or to manage a project. There are dozens of interesting WikiApplications. Users just open their favourite web browser and start to use the wiki. There is no download of special software. Users don't have to spend money. Wiki is fun.

A short wiki history

The first wiki site was created by Ward Cunningham in 1995. He invented the software concept, used it to found the Portland Pattern Repository online community, and he named the system WikiWikiWeb ("wiki wiki" means "very quick" in the Hawaiian language).

The wiki became very popular and a lot of people wrote similar software and created sites and online communities for various topics. The wiki idea began to spread. Now there are thousands of wikis containing millions of pages.

WikiService & ProWiki

WikiService was started in early 2001 to support wiki projects and became a high-quality wiki provider. We concentrated on the German countries (Germany, Austria and Switzerland) and made WikiService and ProWiki #1 in the German wiki community market. In 2006 we went OpenSource and now also offer our services to English and international users.

Wiki features

The fundamental wiki features are:

• RecentChanges -- shows the pages that have changed
• DiffFunction -- shows the parts of a page that have changed
• PageEditFunction -- allows any user to edit any page
• AutomaticalLinking -- converts names of pages, images and websites into links
• PageCreateFunction -- allows any user to create new pages
• BackLink -- shows which pages link to the current page
• SearchFunction -- searches titles and page content
• TextFormatting - simple markups let users contribute without knowing HTML
• PageArchive -- stores all revisions of all pages
• IndexFunction -- lists all pages of the wiki
• TestPage -- a test page

Wiki applications

There are many ways to use a wiki. Some typical WikiApplications are:

• CommunityWiki -- grow an online community for some special topic
• ProjectWiki -- an open or closed collaboration platform for a distributed project group
• OrganisationWiki -- support a non-profit organisation to unfold
• PersonalWiki -- get a PIM, a personal information system.
• CityWiki -- build information systems for tourists and citizens

English ProWiki Examples

• Wiki4D:FrontPage -- a wiki supporting the development of the new programming language D
• TolkienWiki:FrontPage -- discusses the literary works of JRR Tolkien
• WikiIndex:Category:ProWiki -- list more than 40 open ProWiki systems
• FractalWiki:action=FrontPage -- a wiki for experimenting with WikiFractality

ProWiki is flexible

Each Option that is used to configure a ProWiki is inherited by the child pages and may be redefined on any level and for any number of levels of the PageHierarchy:

Imagine the colors signifying access rights, layouts or user interface languages.

See: WikiFractality, OptionScope and WikiContextuality.