Dokuwiki: Wiki software

Dokuwiki is an ideal solution if you want to host a wiki where people can share their knowledge but without the complication of using the software behind Wikipedia. It has lower system requirements and is easier to use.

Installing Dokuwiki does require some experience of hosting a website. For a start the download is a tgz compressed file, unusual in the Windows world. Support is better than you might expect though, and the free utility 7-zip can extract the files in it.

Once that's done, simply upload the files to the correct folder on your webhost. Filezilla is an excellent program for this job.

Dokuwiki is made using the programming language php. This is normally available on the cheapest hosting packages, though it is a good idea to check if you're not sure.

What makes Dokuwiki ideal for lower cost websites is that it does not require a database such as MySQL on the host.

It is possible to create a Wiki that anyone can edit but it is also possible to restrict editing to user accounts. This helps reduce unhelpful posting and means that you can always tell who has made changes. Unlimited page revisions mean that it is always simple to revert pages back the way they were.

The editor is basic, rather than What You See Is What You Get (WYSIWYG) but still quite simple to use with practice. The page can be previewed to make sure there are no mistakes. HTML and PHP code can also be inserted into documents.

Updates can be posted to subscribers using RSS, so everyone knows when an article has been updated.

As with many open source projects there are plenty of extras that can be downloaded from the plugins page on the Dokuwiki website.

The template that is supplied with Dokuwiki is basic but usable. There are other templates available or you can make and adjust your own.

System requirements:

Webhost with PHP 5.1.2 or higher. Apache is preferred but other webserver software reported to work, including IIS, lighttpd, Nginx and Abyss.