I am a wiki lover.

I make wikis about all sorts of things, and join wikis about all manner of things. My username is generally SunshineTalia, if you were looking for me.

In this post I am reviewing 3 online wiki providers. Now, this is by no means all of the options out there, and if you would like to suggest another wiki provider to try, then do so at the bottom! Please also remember that this is my PERSONAL opinion, from a professional stand point- don’t be offended if I hate a wiki that you like. Please.

Wetpaint

Wetpaint is my free wiki of choice because of it’s looks, and ease of use. It is on wetpaint that I have my eLearning Australia wiki. The ‘look’ of wetpaint wikis is excellent. They always look ‘full’, and make sense. It is very easy to insert your own header image, which is important in terms of personalising your wiki, and making it look more ‘friendly’, professional, and inviting for readers and contibutors.

I always find wetpaint to be really clear as well. I am rarely confused about where to find something, or about what certain tabs and links do what. Its simple wiki options, directly under the header, and the pages on the left hand side are easy to use and find.

Wetpaint wikis are easy to edit- just click the button, and you’re away. They also remove adds for educational wikis.

A definite disadvantage of wetpaint though is the lack of support for a range of ‘widgets’. Widgets being embedding youtube videos, slideshare slides etc. Thankfully viddler is supported by the ‘other widgets’ option, but slideshare, where I do a lot of work, isn’t.

I’d rate wetpaint 3.5/5 stars. There’s always room for improvement.

Wikispaces

A lot of educators appear to use wikispaces. I can not fathom why. I find wikispace wikis to be generally unattractive, and difficult to use.

I have not bothered to create a wikispaces wiki because I am already part of a number of wikis that use wikispaces. The unattractiveness of them is a definite disadvantage. You can’t insert your own header, so sites that want to be a professional hub, just end up being an advertisment for wikispaces.

In terms of general editing, wikispaces is the same as all the others. It’s relatively easy to do- just click the button and start typing. A real plus of wikispaces is that it supports a real range and variety of ‘widgets’, including some more education specific ones, like teacher tube.

I would rate it 2.5/5 stars

PB Wiki

BP Wiki is where I host a wiki about my internship. Unfortunately, PB wiki doesn’t really do it for me, and so my wikis has, for lack of a better work, died.

PB Wiki is set up quite differently to other wikis, and therefore takes time to learn and understand. Time that most educators, and general people, don’t have. I was never sure if I was in editing mode, or if this was the ‘real deal’, and I was also not sure what other people saw.

No header on PB either, but at least the stock standard is not completely unattractive.

I would rate PB Wiki about 1/5 stars.

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