Center for Teaching & Learning - Stanford University

Wiki trials hosted by CTL


CTL is trying out various free, open-source wiki tools. Below is a list of a few that we're exploring, with some features to help you compare which might be best for your situation. We have "test" wikis running for each of these tools, and the links to these test wikis are also given below.
If you're interested in using a wiki for your courses or for a project, let us know!
If you have comments about these wikis, or know about another wiki tool that you think we should try, let us know!

Wikipedia's fairly comprehensive comparison of wiki tools: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_wiki_software

Swiki Swiki homepage: http://minnow.cc.gatech.edu/swiki

Swiki is the simplest, bare-bones wiki. It's very easy to install, and very easy to learn how to use.

Pros:
- extremely simple interface
- doesn't need a server
- works on any Mac or PC desktop, as well as Linux/Unix
- allows uploads
Cons:
- very little functionality
- not very attractive
- very limited access rights/permissions (hard to make one area's access different than another's)

pmWiki pmWiki homepage: http://www.pmwiki.org/

pmWiki is fairly easy to install, with a little CTL help, and fairly easy to learn how to use. It's a step up from Swiki, both in its features and the effort needed to get it going.
Pros:
- very flexible
- has many different "looks" or "skins"
- doesn't need a database
- runs on Stanford's servers
- allows uploads easily
Cons:
- harder to set up than a Swiki
- doesn't work (so far!) with Stanford's webauth security system

Wikka Wikka homepage: http://wikkawiki.org/HomePage

Wikka is also easy to use, and not much more difficult to install or configure from pmWiki, but it doesn't run quite as well on Stanford servers.

Pros:
- very flexible
- has many different "looks" or "skins"
- simple "double-click to edit" feature
Cons:
- allows uploading, but not that easy to use
- requires database
- doesn't run easily on Stanford servers
Mediawiki Mediawiki homepage: http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/MediaWiki

Mediawiki is easy to use, and is a familiar interface for those that have used Wikipedia, the most famous wiki on the Internet.

Pros:
- has interesting built-in tab structure for "primary" articles and "secondary" related discussion
- very stable and well-known tool
- uploads are possible, but not easy to configure initially
Cons:
- built-in structure is confusing or unnecessary if the project/course needs don't match up with the structure
- requires database
- doesn't run easily on Stanford servers