Gone are the days when a wiki site is primarily filled with text and hyperlinks to other pages, with more text.

As posted on YouTube by wpseattle

Wikis can be created by practically anyone who uses a Web browser and has access to the Internet. Content on wikis no longer must be text-based. Many wikis use plug-ins which allow you to design what features will be included on your site. For example, plug-ins are often used to display a visitor counter, calendar, spreadsheet, or tasklist to a site. Using widgets, additional cool features may be added to your wiki. A widget is a web-based tool or gadget from other web sites that you can embed directly on your page. Like any application on the Web, you should only use those developed by trusted sources. Widgets are often used to add an online chat function, poll, video, slideshow, or music player to a website. Hosted wikis sometimes offer multiple widgets, but also allow you to add the code for additional widgets that may not be supported directly by the wiki host. There are often some restrictions on what the type of code that can be added to a wiki. For example, Wetpaint supports widgets that are either embedded Flash or that are contained within an IFRAME tag. Your wiki hosting service will likely give you some pointers when code is added to the site. Some widgets have code tailored for specific sites (e.g., MySpace, Blogger) and often have multiple versions available for use (e.g., Java script vs. Flash).

Here are some examples of the types of popular widgets:

Calendar

You may add a calendar to your site, to show scheduled events, your travel schedule, etc.

Feeds

It is often simple to automatically add content (e.g., headline news, sports news) from other sites to your wiki

Images

It is often very easy to add images or graphics to your wiki page. You can use images from your computer or search images that are available on the Internet.

Instant Messaging

It is often easy to add your instant messaging status or to add an online chat feature to your site.

Map

You may add a map to your site to show your current location, to show where you've traveled, to show the location of your site visitors, etc.

Music

It is often very easy to add music to your page. Perhaps you'd like a specific song to play as the page is displayed. Or, perhaps you have a playlist of selections that you'd like for the site to play. Just a note, some people don't like music to automatically play as the page opens because they may already be listening to something and would like to choose to start your music. Also, if your music is automatically playing, before viewing a video, the visitor will need to pause your default music.

Polls

It's very easy to add a poll to your wiki site. The features (e.g., number of selections allowed, preventing multiple votes from a visitor, displaying results on the same page, number of votes allowed, setting a time limit) often vary though.

Product Recommendations

Do you have a list of recommended books or resources? a wish list? If you're an Amazon Associate, you can add a widget to your site,. permitting your visitors to search Amazon for related products, to view suggested products, to view your wish list, etc.

Video

It's often very easy to add a video to your wiki page. You may want to show a video demonstration, a music video, something funny that you found related to your topic, etc. This wiki has several videos on it to hopefully help explain the concepts and to make the site more entertaining.


If you're interested in adding widgets to your wiki, there are many places on the web to find them. However, we've included a page to link you to many Widget Resources.