[Pmwiki-users] Pat's Wiki papers

[Dawn Green]

'Scuse me if this is coming in twice--email showed it bounced.

> On this topic, I'm working on a paper (or series of papers) that
> articulates
> some of the problems in "selling a wiki concept" to others. I would
> love to hear comments, stories (both successes and failures), or
> suggestions from others about this.
>
> I already know of several of the largest barriers:
>    (1) perceived lack of security and/or control of the wiki,
>    (2) the markup is seen as being too complex, or wiki lacks a WYSIWYG
>        editor, and
>    (3) the markup is seen as being too limiting, and cannot achieve
>        all of the functionality of a pure HTML/XHTML/XML environment.
>
Number one, as Scott says, is a non issue.  Number three is never even
considered by clients--they don't care how a site is coded, only if the site
gets them to where they are going.

I have about seven clients using PmWiki for their sites.  The sites that are
most complex in both their customization and in the code's "ugliness" are
the most successful in their use.  None of my clients are particularly savvy
with computers.

I would say that number 2 is the most difficult for me to sell, not for
others to use.  My own site is the one I use for demonstration.  But my code
is straightforward with no tables and no complexity.  I would not show a
potential user the code that is used on the most successful sites as it
would be too scary looking.  Yet if that same client becomes a user, our
training and help files for their site help them to become comforable with
their "ugly markup" no matter how complex it becomes.

So honestly, I'd say that the hurdles are very few with our users.  The onus
is on us as developers to create code that makes our users' jobs as easy as
possible.

Dawn