Wikid Forum Review

(December 18, 2010 00:53)
Last Version 2.20 (2013). Released under GPL License.
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What is Wikid Forum?

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.

Review Updates:

  • December 16th, 2010: First Review.

Wikid Forum is recommended for Medium Community.

(and supports smaller communities perfectly as well.)

Server & Client Requirements

Server Requirements
Programming Language
Required Architecture and Versions.
  • PHP 5
Web Servers
How the forum is delivered to users.
  • Apache 1.3
  • Apache 2.0/2.2
  • Microsoft IIS
Databases
How Forum Data are Stored.
  • MySQL
Operating Systems
Systems Supporting this Software.
  • GNU/LinuxGNU/Linux
  • Microsoft WindowsMicrosoft Windows
Browser & Client Requirements
Compatible Browsers
List of Compatible Browsers.
Mozilla FirefoxMozilla FirefoxInternet ExplorerInternet Explorer
Google ChromeGoogle ChromeOperaOpera
Apple SafariApple SafariKonquerorKonqueror
Mozilla SeaMonkeyMozilla SeaMonkey
Required Plugins/Technologies
Additional or Basic Requirements from Client Side.
HTML, Javascript, AJAX, CSS.
Localization
Languages supported by Wikid Forum.
-.
No.
Compatibility with Smartphones
Compatible SmartPhones
Compatible Cellphone Brands and Manufacturers.
No.
Application Distribution / Type
How it is distributed / App Store Availability
No.

Forum Threads & Posts

Forum Threads / Topics
Forum Style Flat Forum Organization
  • Forum Categories
  • Sub Sections
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
Message Editing Form
How to Post Messages.
  • WYSIWYG Editor
Post Editing Format
Supported Markup Language (HTML, Wiki, BBCode,...).
  • Wiki
Spell Checker
Checks typos on posts and topics.
No
Image Attachment
How Images can be Attached and Displayed in Message Posts.
  • Use BBCode or HTML. Need to type the URL of an already hosted image.
Embedded Videos
Videos and Media Websites Supported in Message Posts.
No.
Posting Features
Quick Reply Box Yes Smileys Yes
Attachments No Syntax Highlighting No
Message Rating
Yes Message Quoting No

Thread List

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 & Technical Features

Additional Forum Features
Poll Creation No
Private Messages
Users Can Communicate using an Internal Messaging System.
Yes
Instant Messaging
Discuss with Visitors and Members in a Chat Window.
No
Calendar
Topic, Member Birthdays, Events are available from the perspective of a calendar.
No
Online Users List
Connected User List (Often Found in the Forum Footer).
Yes
Members List
Search and Consult the List of Members.
Yes
Technical Features
Bundled Software
Additional Software Available with the Forum.
  • Website Home Page
  • CMS
  • Wiki
  • FAQ
RSS/Atom Syndication
Posts and Threads Exported to Feeds Aggregators Syndicate.
No.
Friendly URLs
URLs are clear and contain information about the topic (title, message,...). Highly recommended for SEO purposes.
Yes
Post by Email
Post Directly From your Email Box.
No
Remote Control
Remote Control from External Software/Websites.
No.
Cache System
Cache pages to optimize bandwidth and load times.
No
Template Engine
It is easier to theme a forum using a known template engine (more docs & examples,...).
No.

Advanced Search

Existing features are embedded inside the main page, as Wikid Forum mostly uses the single page layout, except for switching from a topic / section.

User Profiles & Options

Some details about Wikid Forum features regarding members.
Member Options & Features
Bookmark Threads
User Profiles Keep a List of Followed Posts and Topics.
Yes
Email Notifications
Receive Emails When New Messages are Posted in Followed Threads.
Yes
Export private messages
Private Messages can be Downloaded by Users.
No
Payment Subscriptions
Paying Membership Subscription.
No
User Profiles
User Profile
User Information and Settings.
Yes
Avatars
Pictures of Members, Useful to Easily Identify their Posts.
Yes
Signature
Signatures Added at the Bottom of Each Message.
No
Ranks
Tags and Labels Identifying the Members, based on specific criteria (Total Posts Count, Credits, Moderation Level...)
No
User Profile User Avatar User Settings

Most important features are here: you'll find the classical avatar, some useful settings, and the small biography of the user.

Gallery of Wikid Forum Themes

Moderation & Users Management

Users

Moderation can be done with multiple members, that you can easily promote from the User Management panel.

Moderation & Threads Management
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.
Moderator per section No
Global Moderator Yes
Move Threads
Move Threads from Topics
Yes
Shadow Topics
When a thread is moved, the previous position is kept in order to inform users of this modification.
No
Close/Lock Threads
Close/Lock Problematic Threads
Yes
Users Management
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
  • Free Registration
Limit Features For New Users
Features are limited if a user has created a small number of posts.
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.
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.
No
User Banishment Yes

Administration & Support

Category

Administration interface is effective: a list of tabs will define the actions the administrator can call.

Database Management
Backup Database
Backup forum datas that you could store somewhere else.
No
Prune Database
Remove old and unused datas from your forum.
No
Restore Database
Restore a backup of your database if the previous install crashed.
No
Administration Tools
Statistics
Statistics about posts count, users, traffic...
No Error/Notice Log Viewer
Forum Logs could be consulted.
No
Tasks Scheduler
Maintenance tasks are regularly launched and could be scheduled.
No Mass Mailing
Send an email (newsletters, advertisements, information,...) to all users.
No
Installation & Upgrading
Installation Method
How this forum software could be installed.
Installation Wizard
Upgrading Method
How this forum software could be upgraded.
Manual Upgrading
Updates Notifications
The Admin Panel informs you when a new version is released.
No
Forum Migration
Convert an existing forum to Wikid Forum.
No.

Security & Spam Protection

Security & Spam Protection
CAPTCHA
Captcha protects your forum against spam bots.
e.g., Syndicate
Yes
Complexity: [++[ Easy
Abnormal Behavior Detection
Detect users or request strange behaviors, and try to process proactive actions.
Yes
Words Filtering
Offensing Words are automatically replaced.
No
User Blacklist
Prevent specific user accounts to register (based on email address, name,...) and disable potentially harmful members.
Yes
IP Blocking
Prevent access to spam robots and other scripts that could attempt DDOS or Brute Force attacks on your forum.
No

Bad Posts

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 & Social Networks

Customization
Plugins
Add new features to your forum installation.
No.
Themes
Modify the style of your forum easily.
Yes.
~3 Available Themes.
Custom BBCodes No Smiley Packs No
Custom
Thread Icons
No Additional User Profile Fields
Ask more about your members with custom fields.
No
Integration with Applications, Social Networks, Intranet...
Social Networks
Users can share information from their social network account...
No.
CMS / Blog Bridges
Integration with existing Web publishing tools.
No.
User Accounts Integration
Do users be able to log in with their corporate, Google, Facebook,... accounts?
No.
Content Aggregation
Forum allows to integrate news and content from other website, using an aggregation protocol (RSS, RDF, Atom,...).
No.

As Wikid Forum is very young, there is not yet any third party tools to connect with.

W3C Norms & Accessibility

Norms & Accessibility
HTML / XHTML Markup
XHTML 1.0 Transitional.
XHTML 1.0 Transitional
Click to see if it respects HTML norms.
CSS Stylesheets
CSS 2.
CSS 2
Click to see if it respects CSS norms.
Accessibility (WAI)
Web Accessibility ensures that the forum is usable by people of all abilities and disabilities.
Conformance to A level.
A
UTF-8 Support
Default encoding used to support all locales and countries.
Yes
Conformance to W3C Norms
Does Wikid Forum correctly follow (X)HTML and CSS norms?
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.

Unique Features

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!

Final Words


Good.

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!

Additional Resources:

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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.

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Hi. the last version is 2.20

Hi.

the last version is 2.20 not 1.0 beta. correct it!

thanks.

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