Virteal| WikiExperiment Introduction

Wiki40

Simpli Wiki Manifesto v1.1
"The simple Wiki for everybody."

There exists a lot of wiki systems but none of them is simple enough to be used by "normal" people. Normal people means at least 90% of all people.

My goal is to build a very simple to use Wiki system. I want to have the best easy-of-use / power ratio. With an emphasis on ease-of-use.

Hence, my Wiki is rather radical. I understand that it is not possible to please everybody, however I do hope that you will consider that the choices that I made were reasonable to make this Wiki easy to use for most people on most devices.

For a simple Wiki to be useful it still has to provides good features:

0/ Security. Both access control and long term archiving.
1/ Edits. Visitor may modify pages, when permitted.
2/ Links. Linking pages together is the essence of the web.
It should be bi-directionnal, hence "Backlinks". This is a powerful yet easy way to structure content.
3/ Citations. Grabbing content from other pages is a nice way to build new pages.
4/ External links. Isolation is a non-sense on the Internet.
5/ Wysiwyg. No cryptic syntax. Plain text. *Well...* /almost.../ -no- _!!!_
6/ Available. On all screens, big and small, TV sets, mobile phones, exotic devices...
7/ Always on. Even off-line, until that no longer exists!
8/ Multimedia. With plain text and pictures. The rest is gadgets.

What this means in Simpli Wiki, now and on the roadmap:

0) Security

Because Wikis are not blogs, most people won't invest time and effort in Wiki pages unless there is sufficient hope that these pages will last.

For wiki pages to last, there is a need for a good backup and anti-vandalism system. Wiki pages will be sent as mail to their author/s because users already know how to archive their mail. Previous version of pages will be archived too to make it easy to roll back in time when needed.

Security matters also in terms of who can see what. Fine grain control is needed. The current "state of the art" division between you, your family, your friend and the world is a primitive insufficient way to qualify relationships.

An access log is useful for after the fact analysis (and curiosity).

Attempts to read a locked page shall not result in insulting "access denied" messages. They should sometimes be an opportunity to start conversations with visitors.

1) Edits

Because editing should be super simple, there should be no "edit mode". Pages will always be in "edit mode". Point the cursor and type. That's all. Automatic saving. Normal people just don't understand "save" buttons.

Regarding sharing, it is to be favored, but in a non obtrusive way. Small edits are annoying when signaled too often. The idea that all things get signaled automatically is bad, it is up to the author to decide when it is good to signal a change, and to whom to signal it. Also, the readers preferences and habits must be respected.

2) Links

CamelCase is an ugly way to write links, but it is dead simple. Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder. However any word or expression should be a link if so desired. And with a search feature, links can be guessed.

Deep linking is good. All linking is good. Links is freedom, so to speak.

3) Backlinks

When Ted Nelson "invented" the Hypertext in Xanadu, all links were bi-directionnal. This is good.

With backlinks navigation is easy.

Categories and tagging are two well known usages of backlinks. There are many others, as can be see in http://www.c2.com, WardCunningham's original WikiWiki.

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