Wiki -- Why?

Posted by Daly de Gagne
Sep 2, 2006 at 02:15 PM

Perhaps someone can answer this question:

Why is it that with wiki we have to get into mark up language (Note Studio) or use other ways of designating formatting in an editing environment that is not wysiwyg?

This seems like a step backward from the customary approaches that have been the norm for the last 10 years.

Is there something about making a wiki work, ie. the links all over the place, that precludes having wysiwyg? Or is it a lazy way to design software? Or is it simply a blatant appeal to the geeks in the crowd?

The way that one has to do formatting in Note Studio, Connected Text, etc. is to me a real drawback from using these programs.

If I want categories and links going every which way I can do it with existing programs such as MDE InfoHandler, and I believe that TreePad also has good linking capability.

So I guess what I am looking for is the rationale for why wiki programs are designed the way they are.

Sorry if I am flogging a dead horse here, but I am really curious about this—a seeming step into the past to offer some trendy new approach that to my mind should be fully possible without stepping backwards.

Daly