Wiki Engine Review Template Annotated

-12-21: Tentative revision -- added section "Extendability (better word?) -- see WikiEngineReviewTemplateAnnotated (soon)

The WikiEngineReviewTemplate is intended to provide a checklist of attributes to consider in evaluating a WikiEngine. It also discusses WikiFarms which use that WikiEngine.

This annotated copy is intended to clarify the intent of each attribute to avoid confusion and minimize the need for notes on each individual review.

As new attributes are added they should be added in a consistent manner to all current reviews, the WikiEngineReviewTemplate, and this WikiEngineReviewTemplateAnnotated.

New versions of WikiEngines previously reviewed should trigger the creation of a new review page. Reviews of old versions of WikiEngines will be kept because WikiFarms or public WikiSites may continue to use old versions of software rather than upgrade. See WikiEngineReviewNewRelease for the recommended approach to creating a review for a new version of a WikiEngine.

JuergenHermann has developed a naming convention to include the version number in a review. See WikiMoinMoinReview and WikiMoinMoinReviewZeroFive. The approach is self explanatory.

See WikiEngineReview and related pages (CategoryWikiEngineReview) for notes and discussion about these reviews and wikis in general.

General

Date of Review: The date of this review.

WikiEngine and Version Reviewed: The WikiEngine name and version, for example "UseMod Wiki 0.88".

WikiEngine Author: The author of the WikiEngine.

Review Summary: A not strictly objective summary of what the reviewer thinks of this wiki, probably evaluated in terms of his needs. (The more objective the better.)

Review Quality: An assessment by the reviewer of how reliable this review is. Did the reviewer test every feature, rely on things he read, or make assumptions based on general knowledge of wikis? Is the reviewer counting on experienced users of the package to find and correct his errors or omissions, or does he believe that he has done enough research and testing to be 99% sure of the facts?

Standard Features Missing: See WikiEngineReviewStandardFeatures for a list of attributes that I believe all wikis have. Only if an attribute is missing or defective will it be mentioned here. If no features are missing, this will say "None".

Software

Server OS: Operating systems on which this WikiEngine can run. Usually Linux will mean Linux and any version of Unix or BSD -- any exceptions should be noted if known.

Language: The programming language the WikiEngine is written in.

Database: The name of the database program if one is required.

Required Software: A list of the major software packages required to run this WikiEngine. If possible to run on more than one operating system and the major software required is different, the requirements for each operating system should be described separately.

Installation Difficulty: Comments about the difficulty of installation. I thought the assumption should be that the installer can handle a normal installation of the required packages other than the WikiEngine, but I'm not entirely sure? Is there an installation tool available? What is entailed in the installation of the Wiki engine? Untar and compile files? Is a precompiled RPM available? Must configuration files be created or modified? Where are the instructions that describe this? Are the instructions understandable by a newbie? by an expert? Must anything be changed in the normal installation of the other required packages (like the database, webserver, etc.)?

License: Is the WikiEngine licensed under a free license, an open source license, or a commercial (proprietary) license?

Standard Features Missing (see WikiEngineReviewStandardFeatures): See WikiEngineReviewStandardFeatures

WikiFarms

Name / cost / limits / URL / backup schedule / comments: Is there a WikiFarm that uses this WikiEngine? If so, what is its name, cost, and what limits are there on size or bandwidth? Is the site (content) backed up on a regular schedule? What is that schedule? Other comments?

: If there is more than one WikiFarm, list each as a separate paragraph.

Content

Display WardsWiki text? Will this wiki properly display text marked up with the WardsWiki text formatting rules? Include a reference to the WikiEngineReviewTextFormattingTest. With the cooperation of the owner of a WikiForum run by this WikiEngine, cut and paste the test page to a page on that forum, link to that page, and suggest that the reader read that page.

Text formatting rules: A brief overview of any enhancements or differences to the text formatting rules for WardsWiki.

Headings? Do the text formatting rules provide a means of defining headings of different levels? (The WardsWiki rules do not, but headings can be simulated by applying varying using italics or bold face type.)

Allowable WikiNames: Any enhancements or differences to the original allowable WikiNames? WardsWiki names are created by concatenating two or more capitalized words, without any adjacent capital letters. Numbers and spaces are not allowed. (This is also tested on the WikiEngineReviewTextFormattingTest.)

Finegrained Linktargets? Is there a way to address arbitrary locations of a page as link targets?

Subpages? Is there a way to create subpages of a page with local WikiNames?

Max Page Size: I will only specify this if I know something specific. Otherwise, be aware of the limit on edit box size which is sometimes 32,000 characters. (Learn about ExtremeProgramming and Refactoring, and convert your learnings to invent ExtremeWriting. -- I know, I need to follow my own advice.)

Tables? Is there a way to create a table using the text formatting rules? In wikis that support this feature, a common approach is to insert "|"s at the beginning and end of each line and between the contents of each cell.

Images? Is there a way to insert an image on a Wiki page so that it is viewable on that page, as opposed to providing a link to an image that can be called up separately via the browser?

Attachments? Is there a way to attach a file to a wiki page? (I know one wiki claims to do this, I don't really know what the result is.)

Editing Contention Resolution Is any mechanism provided to prevent or resolve the problems of simultaneous editing? Even if not, describe how the software reacts, for example, "first to save wins, second to save is warned", "last to save wins", or ?

Readability

Search capabilities: Some comments on the search capabilities. Can one search for words in the titles and text of the wiki, including * and ? wildcards. Can one search for regular expressions? Can one search for phrases, boolean combinations of words, or words within x words of each other?

Email notification of changes: Can an author, editor, or reader request that he be notified by email when a specific page (or group of pages) is edited.

Diffs: Does the wiki provide a diff to show the changes from the last edit (or perhaps between the current version and any existing previous version, or even between any two previous versions)? How is the diff displayed. (Aside: Somewhere I want to explain what CliffordAdams explained to me about the format of diffs in his UseMod Wiki -- what things like 3c5 mean.)

Security

Embedded HTML (a risk): Can HTML be embedded in a WikiPage? Is it limited to a safe subset of HTML tags and attributes? A safe subset excludes ,