TWiki, an open source project, is a structured wiki written in Perl. Its active development community has contributed multiple
Web applications based on TWiki’s plug-in API, yielding a solution that’s flexible enough for document management, knowledge
bases, or wiki message boards.
As with similar packages, users browse to pages that are updated using an edit link. TWiki uses wiki text-markup codes rather
than WYSIWYG editing, although there are hints on the edit forms to assist newcomers with formatting.
TWiki’s functions include automatic links to other Web pages, full text search, e-mail notification when content changes,
and the ability to upload (and download) any file as an attachment. Because TWiki focuses on bringing structure to Web sites,
pages are automatically grouped into TWiki Webs, which makes it easy to create collaboration groups. Those with coding skills
can use variables to build dynamic pages, such as a table of contents or a page of embedded search results. Fine-grained permissions
allow administrators to restrict read and write access for departments.
TWiki’s straightforward template system allowed me to change the look of my pages, and I employed plug-ins to make my test
site more useful, although the latter requires some development skills. For instance, the Headlines utility allowed me to
display RSS news feeds, and the Database plug-in allowed me to read from a MySQL database to update information. Other add-on
functions include calendaring, graphs, and an action tracker for monitoring the progress of tasks.
Although there’s no formal support, TWiki has a decent corporate base, so you should be able to get assistance with just a
little research. Although not a turnkey solution, TWiki is more user-friendly than some commercial groupware software. Distributed
under the GNU General Public License.
TWiki
twiki.org
Cost: Free
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