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Supported features ·
Things PWP cannot do... ·
Scalability ·
Feature requests
Supported features
- The various text formatting rules are described on a separate page: TextRules
- PWP uses flat files to maintain the data, no database is required. Every page is one data file in the data directory. The page still contains Wiki code; HTML is created at the moment of delivery. (You can translate Wiki code into HTML but not re-translate HTML into Wiki code.)
- The file upload page lets you store additional content at your website. Upload images or other documents and link them from your Wiki files.
- Every erase operation stores the Wiki pages or uploaded files in a trash bin. If your fingers were faster than the brain, simply unerase the file from the trash bin! You can delete files from the trash physically after a certain period of time (config entry). You can view files in the trash, but not edit these files.
- PWP supports a revision history. While editing a page you decide whether your changes are big enough to create a new revision. You can view and restore the old revisions of a file. Uploaded files will also be stored in the revision history if a new file with the same name gets uploaded again. To keep the history lean, you can delete all files older than a certain period of time (config entry).
- You can view recent changes, i.e. all recently changed pages and uploaded files.
- New in 1.5.0 Now PWP offers a diff. Further, it allows to rename and copy Wiki pages.
- You can configure the number of columns and rows in list views.
- Lost some information? Now you will have to do a full text search. PWP searches in both areas, in Wiki pages and in uploaded text files! The full text search is really simple without any indexes and might become slow if your Wiki contains several hundred pages. Well, hardware speed is increasing fast and time is working for me...
- PWP supports backlinks: A list of all pages which link to the current page. PWP can also trace backlinks for uploaded files. The search for backlinks is done on the fly without indexes or similar mechanisms.
- A search for file names is available. You can type fragments like 'ag' and a list with all matching files is presented: 'Page2', 'Age'. Search searches both, the Wiki pages and the uploaded files.
- New in 1.5.0 Reports are generated Wiki pages which help you to organise your information. Available are a hierarchical table of contents, a keyword index and a trail map / teaser text report.
- A simple click on a link will generate monthly calendar pages and an annual overview. The calendar supports either the German (European?) week format or the US week format where weeks start on Sundays.
- PWP can create a table of contents at the top of each page, consisting of all H1 and H2 tags.
- Concurrent editing? With page locks! Any edit action will set a page lock which warns other editors. The lock can be forced off.
- QuickEdit lets you view a page and append, insert or prepend new text in an edit box directly on the page. (Insert requires a special editor comment: ! --(+)-- ! )
- A simple cache will speed up your operations. Changed in 1.5.0 It stores lists and search results, but not Wiki pages.
- Snippets are supported. Snippets are text fragments, which will be appended to the end of the edit box on a simple mouse click. See /wiki/conf/Snippets.inc.
- The whole appearance (colours, fonts) is controlled by a simple style sheet (CSS). You can now add your own style sheet in second place, overwriting the default settings.
- If configured, the web pages are delivered as zipped data stream, making the Wiki faster on the internet.
- Save the best thing for last: PWP can export static web pages with a different header and footer. All links on these static pages will point to HTML pages, not to a PHP script. The static files are combined with a snapshot of the uploaded files. PWP can delete and re-create only outdated static pages. This feature will speed up the process but might result in dead links if there is no full update of the static contents from time to time.
Things PWP cannot do...
The power of OpenSource: You know what you get and won't get.
- PWP doesn't provide nice WYSIWYG editing.
- External comments or discussions are not supported. You may store comments inside a Wiki page itself (see TextRules).
- There is no user management. The Wiki runs either totally open or relies on the user management your web server offers. If you are lucky, your web provider has a (simple) web based tool for user management.
- PWP does not support an e-mail notify feature.
- The concept of subpages achieved by /PageName is not supported.
Scalability
These chapters start often with 'Theoretically...unlimited...'. Well, not theory but usability is the thing which counts! Within a cheap hosting environment, PWP may be able to handle about 1,000 pages and the same amount of uploaded files. Having a local installation with full CPU power and fast HDD access, PWP will handle a few thousand pages and uploded files. At about 10,000 Wiki pages, PWP will reach the maximal capacity - the GUI is not designed to handle larger amounts of information.
Why are only so few pages supported?
Several operations like list views and search have to iterate over all files in one or even two directories. With too many Wiki pages and uploaded files, PWP will react slowly - don't forget, there is no database working behind the scenes.
If you want to manage more pages, consider using a database backed Wiki. Such a system will provide a faster full text search - a thing a database is built for!
Feature requests
I do not plan to implement various new features like user management, database support, e-mail notify, etc. PWP will stay a simple and easy to use Wiki - unless you make use of the GPL and re-write or extend the code.
