The Problems with our wiki:

Overall, we've got a great wiki.  But, it needs a little cosmetic help to lower the bar to entry and make it simple enough for everyone to use.  I'll run down the problems that we've found thus far, and then below this "post" we can start posting solutions, and actually act on them.  Also, I've posted little drawings.  I'm not sure these will help...just sort of an experiment.

 

Here are some solutions to this 

Problem #1:  People don't know that you can edit a wiki

When anyone comes to a wiki page, unless they're familiar with how a wiki works (and most of our clients aren't), they have no clue that you can edit the page.  The "Edit" feature is the most important feature on our wiki page, yet we sandwich it in between "View" and "History." 

Suggestion: Make the Edit button larger 

A biger "Edit" or "Edit this page" button would go a long way, both in terms of helping people to find the button, and also in letting people know that everyone, yes everyone, can edit this page.  The "View" and "history" can move somewhere else on the the page. 
 

Problem #2: The save button in edit mode is hard to find

The Save button at the bottom of the page is low down, and not always accessible. Even when you know where it is, it's not always easy to get to.  Also, it isn't anywhere when you're editing in full-screen mode.

 Suggestions:

Put the Save button in at least two places (top and bottom)?  And, ideally, somewhere on the full-screen edit page.

 

 Problem #3: Help is nowhere to be found

The wiki tools aren't that intuitive.  People don't really know how to add pages, add pictures, add attachments (and they don't know the difference between them).  So, we need a place for some instructions/rules.  Currently, we need to explain:

• How to add a new internal page and external page, and what the difference is
• How to add an image, attachment, and what the difference is
• Adding a sidebar (pullquote)

 Suggestions:

I'm not really sure how or where we do this.  Three ideas:  1) Pop up that people can move all over the page that has the explanations (terrible idea).  2) Help in the wiki footer.  3) Wet-paint style (ie, Here's what you can do, with links to all of them).

 

Problem #4: If you navigate away without saving, your changes are lost

This needs no more explanation.  Everyone hates this.

Suggestions:

Add a "Warning box" that lets people know what will happen if they leave.  This should pop up anytime you navigate away from an edit page.

 

Problem #5: Revision notes and Manage attachments are confusing

­Revision notes and manage attachments are laying low on the bottom of the page.  It's hard to see them, and people don't really know what they do.

Suggestions:

• Get rid of revision notes, or move it next to history?
• Move attachments to toolbar?
  

 

Problem #6: Initial layout/template  

When people start out with a new page, they really have no clue how to format the page, or have no ideas how to make a page look good.  On top of that, it's really, really hard to format a page. Basically, people are either going to have boring, basic pages, or they're going to have pages that look crappy because they tried to make them look nice.  Or, they're going to know how to edit wikis (>1%), and will make something decent.

 Suggestions:

We should figure out what people want to see on a first page and put it there.  In the long term, we should have a few basic templates for people to use.