wiki on a stick: TiddlyWiki

There's something intriguing here -- a simple tool (basically a single .html file you store on your computer and open with your browser) that creates the ability to organize small chunks of information you find useful.

Like many wiki-ish things, it seems to take pride in a funny name:  "TiddleWiki."

From Wikipedia:

TiddlyWiki From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

TiddlyWiki is a wiki-modeled client-side application written by Jeremy Ruston that is well suited for use as a personal notebook. It is a self-contained HTML file that includes CSS and JavaScript code. When it is downloaded to a user's PC, TiddlyWiki has the unusual ability, when brought up in some browsers, of being able to overwrite itself on the user's disk at the user's request. So following TiddlyWiki conventions, users can make a new entry, called a Tiddler, in their local copy of the TiddlyWiki file and save it for future reference by saving the TiddlyWiki file. Existing Tiddlers can also be modified or deleted in the same way.

TiddlyWiki is published by Osmosoft under a BSD open source license, which makes it freely available. Jeremy Ruston describes it as experimental, and in that spirit many people have used the original HTML file to create TiddlyWiki Adaptations. These fall under two general categories; those that retain the client-side write only feature, and those that add server-side file writing to make TiddlyWiki more like a true wiki. Links to both these kinds of Adaptations are put in the original TiddlyWiki file as they become known. TiddlyWiki Adaptations typically add features that were not originally envisioned by Ruston, and some of these features have been included in newer versions of TiddlyWiki.

A feature that sets TiddlyWiki apart from a standard wiki implementation is its content presentation.

Jeremy Ruston had this to say about it:    

A TiddlyWiki is like a blog because it's divided up into neat little chunks (tiddlers), but it encourages you to read it by hyperlinking rather than sequentially: if you like, a non-linear blog analogue that binds the individual microcontent items into a cohesive whole. I think that TiddlyWiki represents a novel medium for writing, and will promote its own distinctive WritingStyle. Although a TiddlyWiki is ideal for keeping notes, it can also be used as the foundation for a complete Web site. Its single file structure makes it easy to manage while providing an elegant Web experience. 

External links

TiddlyWiki homepage:
http://www.tiddlywiki.com/

TiddlyWiki Tutorial:
http://www.blogjones.com/TiddlyWikiTutorial.html

Comments

[Tim]

Jeremy Ruston will speak about TiddlyWiki at this week's Wiki Wednesday in Palo Alto (August 2): http://www.socialtext.net/wikiwed/index.cgi?palo_alto