Wiki software

Wiki software (also known as a wiki engine or wiki application) is collaborative software that runs a wiki, i.e., a website that allows users to create and collaboratively edit web pages via a web browser. A wiki system is usually a web application that runs on one or more web servers. The content, including all current and previous revisions, is usually stored in either a file system or a database. Wikis are a type of web content management system, and the most commonly supported off-the-shelf software that web hosting facilities offer. There are currently dozens of actively maintained wiki engines, in a variety of programming languages, including both open source and proprietary applications. These vary widely in their platform support, their support for natural language characters and conventions, and in their assumptions about technical versus social control of editing.

History

The first generally recognized 'wiki' application, WikiWikiWeb, was created by American computer programmer Ward Cunningham in 1994 and launched on c2.com in 1995. "WikiWikiWeb" was also the name of the wiki that ran on the software, and in the first years of wikis' existence there was no great distinction made between the contents of wikis and the software they ran on, possibly because almost every wiki ran on its own customized software. The WikiWikiWeb software was later renamed "WikiBase".