WikiWikiWeb

WikiWikiWeb is the first wiki, or user-editable website. It was released on March 25, 1995 by its inventor, programmer Ward Cunningham, to accompany the Portland Pattern Repository page, which discussed software design patterns. The name WikiWikiWeb also originally applied to the wiki software that operated the website, written in the Perl programming language and later renamed "WikiBase". Users often refer to the site simply as "Wiki", and an established convention among users of the first network of wiki sites that followed was that the word be used with W capital letter referred exclusively to the original site.

History

The software and website were developed in 1994 by Cunningham to facilitate the exchange of ideas between programmers. The concept was based on ideas developed in the HyperCard stacks that Cunningham built in the late 1980s. On March 25, 1995, he installed the software on his company's website (Cunningham & Cunningham), c2.com. Cunningham came up with the name WikiWikiWeb because it reminded him of a counter clerk at Honolulu International Airport who told him to take the Wiki Wiki Shuttle, a bus line that runs between airport terminals. "Wiki Wiki" is a reduplication of "wiki", a Hawaiian word meaning "quick".

Cunningham's idea was for WikiWikiWeb pages to be quickly editable by its users, so he initially thought of calling it "QuickWeb", but later changed his mind and christened it "WikiWikiWeb& #3. 4;.

In April 2020, WikiWikiWeb's welcome front page, WelcomeVisitors, contained the following description in the first two paragraphs:

Welcome to WikiWikiWeb, also known as "Wiki". Many people had their first wiki experience here. This community has existed since 1995 and is made up of many people. We always accept newcomers with valuable contributions. If you haven't used a wiki before, get ready for a little CultureShock. The usefulness of wikis lies in the freedom, simplicity and power they offer.

This site focuses primarily on people projects and software development patterns. However, it is more than an informal history of programming ideas. It started there, but the theme has created its own culture and a dramatic identity. All content of wiki is a work in process. Above all, this is a forum where people share ideas! Change as people go and come. Much of the information here is subjective. If you are looking for a dedicated reference site, try WikiPedia; WikiIsNotWikipedia!

Hyperlinks between pages on WikiWikiWeb are created by capitalizing words together, a technique known as camel case. This wiki markup format convention is still followed by some more recent wikis programs, while others, such as the MediaWiki program that powers Wikipedia, allow links no capital letters.

In December 2014, the WikiWikiWeb came under attack by vandals and was placed in read-only status. On February 1, 2015, Cunningham announced that the wiki had been rewritten as a single page application and migrated to the new Smallest Federated Wiki.