Is "wiki" the current state-of-the-art for a "virtual whiteboard?"

Tue May 23 12:24:43 PDT 2006

Jim Hickstein wrote:
> David Wolfskill wrote:
> 
>> I've been asked to set up a very low-volume, restricted-access
>> application that the requestors liken to a "virtual whiteboard."
> 
> 
> I still like TWiki for this; I just upgraded to 4.0 (which purports to 
> have WYSIWYG editing, but I haven't see it yet).  It can be set up to 
> enforce identifying users before they can edit things, and it has RCS 
> behind it, so it's suitable for places where the Wiki orthodoxy (let 
> anyone do anything, and someone will correct it) makes people 
> uncomfortable.
> 
> Strangely, the biggest problem it solves is the line-ending dilemma.  A 
> text file will only work if (a) everyone is handy with a text editor 
> (which many are not), and (b) they agree to pick one form of line ending 
> -- CR or CRLF or LF -- and stick with it.  Going over the network with 
> HTTP at once enforces this and makes the issue go away.  It's amazing 
> how big this problem really is, and how neatly this solves it.
> 
> I hear some grumbling that editing the pre-HTML markup language is still 
> "too hard", but WYSIWYG TWiki is supposed to fix that.  I'd take a look.

Hi David,
It's been a while.  TWiki with WYSWIG sounds great but I'd make sure it 
works.  The resistance to using the TWiki markup is very high amongst 
mortals.

Navigation and creating links can also be a barrier if it has many pages 
generated.  Given what you've said, it should work.

You can use the TWiki table features (TWiki has lots of add-ins) to 
simplify data entry and that should work well with tracking status on 
contacts.

The one other thing that can occur is that someone gets enthusiastic and 
creates lots of stuff and generates lots of questions for you to answer.

Be free and open,

Paul