Wikid Forum Review
Last Version | 2.20 (2013). | Released under | GPL License. |
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Resources |
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Price | Free. |
Last Version | 2.20 (2013). | Released under | GPL License. |
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Resources |
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Price | Free. |
Wikid Forum is an open source attempt to regroup two big worlds inside of a single application: Wikis and Forums.
It indeed really often happens that these two tools are needed, as complementary products. One for discussing, the other for writing more formal documents, but in a community process. You can of course attempt to organize a Wiki to allow conversations and so on, but anyone who already went to the Discussion tab of Wikipedia for example will admit that this is not a perfect way to organize an arguing.
On the opposite, create documents and pages using threads and topics is not easy as well: only one person can edit it (except moderators and admins, of course), the formatting rules could be limited, and the post can be easily lost in the flow of new messages coming up.
It's for this purpose that Wikid Forum try to merge this feature, and we are going to see if their efforts are worth or not.
Server Requirements | ||
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Programming Language
Required Architecture and Versions.
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Web Servers
How the forum is delivered to users.
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Databases
How Forum Data are Stored.
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Operating Systems
Systems Supporting this Software.
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Browser & Client Requirements | ||||||||
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Compatible Browsers
List of Compatible Browsers.
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Required Plugins/Technologies
Additional or Basic Requirements from Client Side.
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HTML, Javascript, AJAX, CSS. | |||||||
Localization
Languages supported by Wikid Forum.
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No.
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Compatibility with Smartphones | |
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Compatible SmartPhones
Compatible Cellphone Brands and Manufacturers.
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No. |
Application Distribution / Type
How it is distributed / App Store Availability
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No. |
Forum Threads / Topics | |||
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Forum Style | Flat | Forum Organization |
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Thread Icons | No | Topic Tags | No |
Hot Topics | No | Unread Topics | Yes |
Hidden Topics | No | Sticky Threads | No |
Related Threads | No | Detect Duplicate Threads | No |
Announcements | No |
Posting Messages / Answers | |||
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Message Editing Form
How to Post Messages.
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Post Editing Format
Supported Markup Language (HTML, Wiki, BBCode,...).
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Spell Checker
Checks typos on posts and topics.
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No | ||
Image Attachment
How Images can be Attached and Displayed in Message Posts.
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Embedded Videos
Videos and Media Websites Supported in Message Posts.
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No. |
Posting Features | |||
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Quick Reply Box | Yes | Smileys | Yes |
Attachments | No | Syntax Highlighting | No |
Message Rating
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Yes | Message Quoting | No |
Tagging a topic is planned, but not yet implement, so don't be disappointed if you see the little dialog with the message Sorry. This option is under construction. The Quick Reply Box is not displayed by default, but clicking on the Reply button will make it appear immediately.
Additional Forum Features | |
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Poll Creation | No |
Private Messages
Users Can Communicate using an Internal Messaging System.
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Yes |
Instant Messaging
Discuss with Visitors and Members in a Chat Window.
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No |
Calendar
Topic, Member Birthdays, Events are available from the perspective of a calendar.
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No |
Online Users List
Connected User List (Often Found in the Forum Footer).
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Yes |
Members List
Search and Consult the List of Members.
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Yes |
Technical Features | |
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Bundled Software
Additional Software Available with the Forum.
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RSS/Atom Syndication
Posts and Threads Exported to Feeds Aggregators
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No. |
Friendly URLs
URLs are clear and contain information about the topic (title, message,...).
Highly recommended for SEO purposes.
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Yes |
Post by Email
Post Directly From your Email Box.
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No |
Remote Control
Remote Control from External Software/Websites.
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No. |
Cache System
Cache pages to optimize bandwidth and load times.
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No |
Template Engine
It is easier to theme a forum using a known template engine (more docs & examples,...).
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No. |
Existing features are embedded inside the main page, as Wikid Forum mostly uses the single page layout, except for switching from a topic / section.
Member Options & Features | |
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Bookmark Threads
User Profiles Keep a List of Followed Posts and Topics.
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Yes |
Email Notifications
Receive Emails When New Messages are Posted in Followed Threads.
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Yes |
Export private messages
Private Messages can be Downloaded by Users.
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No |
Payment Subscriptions
Paying Membership Subscription.
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No |
User Profiles | |
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User Profile
User Information and Settings.
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Yes |
Avatars
Pictures of Members, Useful to Easily Identify their Posts.
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Yes |
Signature
Signatures Added at the Bottom of Each Message.
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No |
Ranks
Tags and Labels Identifying the Members, based on specific criteria (Total Posts Count, Credits, Moderation Level...)
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No |
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Most important features are here: you'll find the classical avatar, some useful settings, and the small biography of the user.
Moderation can be done with multiple members, that you can easily promote from the User Management panel.
Moderation & Threads Management | ||
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Moderation |
Post-Moderation
The moderation is done afterwards, if an administrator notices a problem or if a member reports something wrong. Each message is therefore directly published.
Reactive Moderation
By reporting any problems, members are reactive against moderation problems.
Moderators' main objective is to regularly check user reports, without having to follow each threads.
Distributed Moderation
By organizing the forum around moderators, who are usually power and experienced users, moderation is self-powered and only depends on the community.
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Moderator per section | No | |
Global Moderator | Yes | |
Move Threads
Move Threads from Topics
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Yes | |
Shadow Topics
When a thread is moved, the previous position is kept in order to inform users of this modification.
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No | |
Close/Lock Threads
Close/Lock Problematic Threads
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Yes |
Users Management | |
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User Groups
Organize and define groups of users, and apply different actions and settings on them.
Common Groups: Guests, Members, Moderators, Administrators,... |
No |
User Registration |
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Limit Features For New Users
Features are limited if a user has created a small number of posts.
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No |
Guest Posting | No |
Multiple Administrators | No |
Send Warnings to Users
Inform users by email or PM that they infringe the board rules, and could be excluded for such behavior.
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No |
Forum/Section Restricted Access
ACL could be use to determine if a user or a group of users can access (in read only, post message) to some sections
and topics.
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No |
User Banishment | Yes |
Administration interface is effective: a list of tabs will define the actions the administrator can call.
Database Management | |
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Backup Database
Backup forum datas that you could store somewhere else.
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No |
Prune Database
Remove old and unused datas from your forum.
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No |
Restore Database
Restore a backup of your database if the previous install crashed.
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No |
Administration Tools | |||
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Statistics
Statistics about posts count, users, traffic...
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No |
Error/Notice Log Viewer
Forum Logs could be consulted.
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No |
Tasks Scheduler
Maintenance tasks are regularly launched and could be scheduled.
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No |
Mass Mailing
Send an email (newsletters, advertisements, information,...) to all users.
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No |
Installation & Upgrading | |
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Installation Method
How this forum software could be installed.
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Installation Wizard |
Upgrading Method
How this forum software could be upgraded.
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Manual Upgrading |
Updates Notifications
The Admin Panel informs you when a new version is released.
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No |
Forum Migration
Convert an existing forum to Wikid Forum.
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No. |
Security & Spam Protection | ||
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CAPTCHA
Captcha protects your forum against spam bots.
e.g.,
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Yes
Complexity:
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Abnormal Behavior Detection
Detect users or request strange behaviors, and try to process proactive actions.
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Yes | |
Words Filtering
Offensing Words are automatically replaced.
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No | |
User Blacklist
Prevent specific user accounts to register (based on email address, name,...) and disable potentially harmful members.
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Yes | |
IP Blocking
Prevent access to spam robots and other scripts that could attempt
DDOS or Brute Force attacks on your forum.
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No |
Wikid Forum is able to automatically detects bad posts, and provides several actions to execute against them: either banning the post or banning the user who wrote it. This is very practical and useful in the everyday task of removing spams.
Customization | |||
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Plugins
Add new features to your forum installation.
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No.
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Themes
Modify the style of your forum easily.
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Yes.
~3 Available Themes. |
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Custom BBCodes | No | Smiley Packs | No |
Custom Thread Icons |
No |
Additional User Profile Fields
Ask more about your members with custom fields.
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No |
Integration with Applications, Social Networks, Intranet... | |
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Social Networks
Users can share information from their social network account...
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No. |
CMS / Blog Bridges
Integration with existing Web publishing tools.
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No. |
User Accounts Integration
Do users be able to log in with their corporate, Google, Facebook,... accounts?
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No. |
Content Aggregation
Forum allows to integrate news and content from other website,
using an aggregation protocol (RSS, RDF, Atom,...).
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No. |
As Wikid Forum is very young, there is not yet any third party tools to connect with.
Norms & Accessibility | |
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HTML / XHTML Markup
See W3C HTML Definition.
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XHTML 1.0 Transitional.
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Click to see if it respects HTML norms.
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CSS Stylesheets
See W3C CSS Definition.
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CSS 2. ![]()
Click to see if it respects CSS norms.
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Accessibility (WAI)
Web Accessibility ensures that the forum is usable by people of all abilities and disabilities.
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Conformance to A level.
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UTF-8 Support
Default encoding used to support all locales and countries.
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Yes |
Conformance to W3C Norms
Does Wikid Forum correctly follow (X)HTML and CSS norms?
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Yes. |
Nothing special here, except maybe that the AJAX interface defined by Wikid Forum is practical and ergonomical, but maybe it should be checked with some accessibility rules to see if blind or partially sighted people can navigate easily.
Key points and major differences that make Wikid Forum unique:
This attempt of merging a Wiki with a Forum is a really good idea, because a Wiki can be a lot of thing, including the basic fondation for creating a website. You will not find a product similar to Wikid Forum, and that is clearly a unique feature!WikidForum is a really really young project, and for the time being, one has to admit it misses support from a base community.
However, this project was a really good surprise, and the basic idea of merging a forum and a Wiki, by reinventing a bit what it could be, is a really good idea, moreover in the Web 2.0 world where everybody wants to put his comment somewhere.
So, we wish all the best for the future for WikidForum, which is without no fear going to be really positive!
Comments (2)
Hi. It's not secure. See
Hi.
It's not secure. See it:
http://www.darksecurity.de/advisories/2012/SSCHADV2012-005.txt
http://osvdb.org/show/osvdb/80838
Developer don't respond suports tickets.
Hi. the last version is 2.20
Hi.
the last version is 2.20 not 1.0 beta. correct it!
thanks.