WetPaint Wiki – The Easiest Way To Create Your Own Wiki Page

Reports say there are more blogs authored on Internet these days than ever. Even though I am the only student in my institute who runs a blog, every third Internet user either writes a blog or is a daily reader of some blog. My colleges need to get more technical and a bit less lazy I guess. People are actively commenting on blogs and expressing there views for or against the author’s articles.

But same set of users who favor the idea of blogging also favor the idea of wikis. Wikipedia being a live example. It is sometimes necessary to give the reverse chronological order of blogs and give the website a website kind of look. That is when wikis come into play.

What is a wiki?

The simplest online database that could possibly work.

Wiki is a piece of server software that allows users to freely create and edit Web page content using any Web browser. Wiki supports hyperlinks and has a simple text syntax for creating new pages and crosslinks between internal pages on the fly.

Wiki is unusual among group communication mechanisms in that it allows the organization of contributions to be edited in addition to the content itself.

Like many simple concepts, “open editing” has some profound and subtle effects on Wiki usage. Allowing everyday users to create and edit any page in a Web site is exciting in that it encourages democratic use of the Web and promotes content composition by nontechnical users. [via wiki.org]

WetPaint wiki is a similar free service which lets its users create wiki websites for free. Creating your own personal wiki takes 3 quick steps. No technical stuff and no need to be a hardcore Internet user. Just like public blogs you can share your wiki with your family friends and anyone who has access to Internet.

Starting is Easy
Start by choosing what topic you want your site to be about, then pick from a variety of site styles, whether you want your wiki to be public or private, and who you want to contribute (everyone, or just a few friends?).

Building is a Snap
Once your site is launched, adding content is easy with the EasyEdit Toolbar. You’ll see that editing a Wetpaint wiki page works very much like a word processor: You can “click” on any open page and start typing. Even better, you can also add photos, YouTube videos, polls . . . it’s all as simple as “click and type.”

And if you think you are not yet ready to create your own wiki than why not start reading other wiki pages and see if they motivate you to start your own wiki page. Visit wetpaint.com and search for a Wetpaint wiki that’s right for you. Join the site and add your two cents to the conversation.

Some mouth watering features which they offer are:

• RSS updates and Email notifications for readers.
• Lockable Pages, Move/Delete Pages, Rename/Restore Pages
• Site stats with Google Analytics and SiteMeter.
• Custom Domain Mapping
• Pre-Populated Templates for various kind of looks.
• Page Level Discussion Threads
• Cross-browser Consistency
• Menu of Popular Widgets

Still if you are confused with wikis then Internet has more information for you. I have added wetpaint to my watch-list of websites who can dare and I will revert back to you in a month with the kind of changes and upgrades these people bring in.

Tags: general news