After weeks of testing, it’s ZiddlyWiki and ServerSideWiki for me

I’ve been testing ServerSideWiki and ZiddlyWiki for weeks now. In those days of heavy-duty testing I used only either service for my notes and tasks list � no jottings on paper, no reminders in my cell phone and no notes saved as e-mail drafts in GMail.

After the tests based on current versions of the two TiddlyWiki adaptations, I finally decided to use both.

I am reorganizing my ServerSideWiki account based on notes on specific topics: WordPress, the section I manage, the column I write, general web technology notes and my blog. I am reorganizing my ZiddlyWiki to host my notes for long-term projects.

Both TiddlyWiki adaptations are very good and fit perfectly my need: a.) server-side storage so that I won’t accidentally delete notes while trying to synchronize the version running at home and in the office; b.) ability to mark individual notes (or tiddlers) as private and displaying these only when I am logged on; c. fast loading time even on a dialup connection.

ServerSideWiki is a hosted service. It is scheduled to implement pricing plans on September 6, with the free account limited to only 10 tiddlers or pages. This limit fits the demand of many people. If you need more, I suggest you sign up for one of their paid accounts.

Among the TiddlyWiki adaptations out there, ServerSideWiki is probably the best. It offers you a way to change the design from the red and black GTDTiddlyWiki style to the new blue theme. The blue theme looks really great and when I saw it implemented in the main ServerSideWiki page, I immediately logged into my account to check whether I could use it in my own wiki. To change your own wiki’s design, just click on settings in the upper right portion of your page.

ServerSideWiki also loads fast. It implements private tagging: this means that when you add the word private as tag of your tiddler, the note will not be displayed to the public — only you can see it and only after you log into your account.

The disadvantage of the free account, however, is that you always have to keep in mind the number of tiddlers you are creating. In my ServerSideWiki account, I no longer use automatic tiddler generation through camel casing because of the limit. This makes the free account unusable for a mind-map style writing of notes. If I have the money, I wouldn’t think twice of signing up for one of ServerSideWiki’s paid accounts. The problem is I’m working in a Third World Country administered mostly by corrupt politicians who have made a mess out of our economy.

ServerSideWiki is also being constantly improved and among the great planned features in the site’s wishlist are multiple accounts to a wiki, e-mail notification on tiddler changes in wikis with more than one author and automatic permaview.

For the mind map style of taking notes, I plan to use ZiddlyWiki, a TiddlyWiki adaptation for Zope. I’m running it on a free Zope account with Objectis. The latest ZiddlyWiki version now supports private tagging.

If you are familiar with Zope, ZiddlyWiki is the perfect version for you. I have never tried Zope but I was able to install the ZiddlyWiki by carefully reading the instructions of Tim Morgan, the adaptation’s author.

Because ZiddlyWiki displays menu items horizontally under the wiki banner, you are limited to five or six entries in the main menu. If you exceed that, the menu items will overlap the sidebar, especially the search field.

This, however, is bound to change because Tim Morgan included in his to-do list the ability to disable ZiddlyWiki’s style and use TiddlyWiki.

ZiddlyWiki now allows anonymous editing. Among the planned features to be added are: contextual tiddlers — the display or non-display of notes based on who is logged on and the ability to allow visitors to sign up for accounts in your ZiddlyWiki log in to edit notes.

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One response

  1. I would like to add to your post that there is a .tgz file available for download with the serversidewiki.com code. It is called Solowiki and you can find the link on my Blog.

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