This is the first preview of a major release we’re working on for early January 2008.

We’re working on a completely new interface with brand-new features:

• New editor. We’ve improved the editor to be more responsive and have fixed a number of bugs. (My personal favorite: Bullet-pointing is now much, much easier.)

• Page-level access. If you’ve ever wanted to allow certain people access to specific pages on your wiki, now you’ll be able to.
• Page folders & folder access controls. This new feature will allow you to put pages in folders to better organize your wiki. A godsend for large wikis!
• Improved logins. A few months ago, we noted how logins on PBwiki are more confusing than they need to be. In the new release, we’ll be improving logins and making it easier to track who’s doing what — and to make sharing easier.

Beginning in early 2008, we’ll be sending you information about how to migrate over to the new interface. (If you don’t want to change, you can keep your current interface.)

Here’s a preview screenshot.

Golden Tickets: Get beta access to PBwiki 2.0
We have a limited amount of Golden Tickets to try out PBwiki 2.0 as a beta user. If you’re interested in trying out PBwiki 2.0 and giving us feedback, sign up for PBwiki 2.0 beta access.

We’re excited about the new release and will keep you updated beginning in early 2008!

The easiest way to find all the pages in your wiki is by clicking “Show all pages” at the bottom of your wiki (the middle box).

Today, we’ve made AllPages much easier to use.

Now you can easily see how many revisions each page has and you can quickly delete unwanted pages.

To see the new AllPages, click “Show all pages” at the bottom of your wiki (or visit http://YOURWIKI.pbwiki.com/AllPages).

[Update, 11/1/07]: Clarified this post.

Now everyone can use our improved Sidebar. This Sidebar lets you have three tabs:

• QuickStart: A list of simple actions to help people get accustomed to using PBwiki.

• Recent Activity: A list of recent changes on the wiki.
• SideBar: The regular Sidebar page, which is fully-editable. Most people use this to create a simple navigation tab for the wiki.

Here’s how it looks.

The classic side bar looks like this:

The improved sidebar looks like this:

How to get the improved PBwiki Sidebar
Log into your wiki and click Settings —> Skins—> click “activate new sidebar.” (NOTE: This option will only appear for one month, so make your change now!)

How do I delete some of the tabs?
To delete any of the sidebar tabs, click “All Pages” and find the page(s) you want to delete (QuickStart, Recent Activities and SideBar). Click the red “+” next to the appropriate page and click Delete. Once you do this, that tab on your Sidebar will disappear. (NOTE: Once a page is gone, all content on it will disappear, so be careful.)

I don’t like the “improved” Sidebar and I want to back to the old one.
Unfortunately, there’s no going back, so please be sure you want to switch before you do it. A quick way to play around with the new Sidebar is to create a demo wiki from http://www.pbwiki.com.

Help! I don’t have the option to turn on the new Sidebar in Settings >> Skin
We noticed a lot of questions below and dug into this. Chances are, you already have the new Sidebar. If this isn’t the case, please leave a comment with your wiki name so we can see what’s going on.

I want to force the Sidebar to appear instead of QuickStart
No problem. Check out this great solution by one of PBwiki community members.

Hey everyone, I’m excited about this new feature - it’s one that I will use often and I hope you will too.

We’ve have created a quick and easy way for you to create your own templates. A template allows you to easily replicate wiki pages from the same design or style. They save time because each wiki editor does not have to create the document format on their own.

Here’s how to create your own template:

Create a new page

Copy and paste your original template into the wiki

Tag your wiki page with the word template (in lower case). The tag feature is at the bottom left of your wiki (click on the +)

You will see your new wiki template when you create a new page

Do you have a template that you’re excited to use or think will be useful to other users?

Here’s an easy way to contact wiki owners. We recently added a new feature that lets anybody send e-mails to wiki owners without revealing owners’ e-mails directly. As an administrator, you can set this feature up, or turn it off entirely, in Settings on your wiki. Here’s how.

• Click Settings on any page. Log into your wiki if necessary.
• Simply change the settings under Contact E-mail. You can change the e-mail destination or hide the form entirely from your users.

The link to the contact form appears on the bottom of every wiki page and on the login page for private wikis. The form can be used to request access to private wikis, simply for comments, or for anything else. To protect the privacy of wiki owners, the owner’s e-mail address is never displayed.

• Choose Contact Wiki Owner from the login page, or from under Wiki Information on any wiki page.
• Fill out the form with your e-mail address and message.
• Click Send.

Now that you’ve created your PBwiki, here’s a 60-second overview on how to create pages and upload files.

Uploading a file
To upload a file to your wiki, click “Edit page” and then “Attach file.” Free wikis have 10MB of storage space, while Premium wikis have up to 10GB of space.

Creating a new page
To create a new page, click “Edit page” and type in some words. Then highlight the words you’d like to link to (like “Schedule of Events”), click “Insert link,” and create a link to the new page.

See this process about 10% of the way through the video below:

Click To Play

You can also create a new page by clicking “New page,” but be sure to link to it so it’s not an orphan page! (If you accidentally create an orphan page, find all pages by clicking “All pages” at the bottom of your wiki.)

Bonus tip: Power users may want to click “Classic mode” to get a wiki-style editor. This will let you embed embed HTML and control formatting more closely.

[Note: PBwiki's top priority is improving access controls. We'll be releasing a new system in early November. Stay tuned for more details.]

PBwiki offers a number of ways to share your wiki with others.

To share your wiki using a single wiki password
Why you might do this

• You want the simplest way to let users in and are not concerned about keeping track of users

• You don’t need sophisticated access controls, just quick access to the wiki

How to do it
Email the wiki URL to your friends and include the password. For example, “Hi all, to get to the planning wiki, visit http://yummy.pbwiki.com — the password is fantasia”

Free or Premium users
Your wiki-wide password is the password you created when you signed up. Note that if you have a free wiki and you share the password, visitors will effectively be administrators of the wiki, with the ability to add pages, delete pages, and more. (They will not be able to delete the wiki. Only the wiki creator can do that.)

Premium users only
For more sophisticated access controls, upgrade to a Premium account. Premium users, click “Settings” >> “Passwords and access” to set passwords for readers, contributors, moderators, and administrators (Compare access levels here). For example, to give access to your co-workers to edit your wiki (but not delete pages), share the contributor password with them.

To share wiki access without requiring a password

Why you might do this

• You want to invite lots of users to PBwiki (e.g., by sending a single link to a mailing list)

• You don’t want to bug users with a password prompt
• You don’t need sophisticated access controls, just quick access to the wiki

How to do it
Copy the magic link in your wiki and paste it.

Anyone who clicks the link will be given instant access without requiring a password. Note that…

• If the link is released publicly (without your consent), we recommend you change your password

• Using the magic link does not allow you to remove specific users from your wiki. To do so, change the wiki-wide password (Settings >> Passwords and Access)

To add specific users (with the ability to uninvite them)

Why you might want to do this
* You only want to invite specific people
* You want to keep track of who has access and who edited what
* You need the ability to immediately remove users

How to do it

1. Ask your users to create a PBwiki Identity at http://my.pbwiki.com. (This involves setting up a username/password of their own.)

1.a. (For Premium wikis) Log in to your wiki, click “Settings” >> “Passwords and access” and set the level of password you want: Reader, Contributor, Moderator, Administrator (Compare access levels here).

2. Click users and invite them by email.

To add specific / mass amounts of users (without the ability uninvite them)
Why you might want to do this

• You want to email large amounts of users from your address book

• You don’t need sophisticated access controls, just quick access to the wiki

How to do it
Click “Share this wiki” at the bottom of your wiki. You’ll be able to email large amounts of users, including directly from your web-based address book (e.g., Gmail, Yahoo). Free wikis will send full access to invitees, while Premium users can select more granular levels of access controls.

When it comes to building a collaborative wiki, there are certain elements that significantly increase your chances for getting others to contribute to your wiki. Here are the PBwiki best practices for getting participants to be fully engaged in your wiki.

Avoid Blank-Page Syndrome: Pre-fill your wiki with content.
Most people get scared by blank pages. We call this “blank-page syndrome,” which causes users to flee and never return. There’s a way around this: Just add some content to your wiki before inviting users. Consider adding an “About Me” page, a “What’s this wiki about?” page, and a few more welcoming pages. Not only will this help new users get situated, it will help you get experience editing your new wiki. We find the learning curve of successful wiki editors to be about 12-15 minutes.

Make the front page a landing page for navigation.
Your front page should have a short explanation of the purpose of the wiki and links to appropriate pages, not one long scrolling page. This helps in two ways: First, users tend to get overwhelmed when they first come to a wiki, so this approach lightens up the content on the page and directs them to the next step. Second, if you get large amounts of users on one page, they won’t be able to edit it at once. With multiple pages, the chances of two people trying to edit a page at the same time is lower. So keep a short front page with links to other pages.

Give users something concrete to do.
One user, “Michelle,” had trouble getting co-workers to participate in her wiki for over a year. Then she changed her approach: She asked users to change one line of the Frontpage. Participation skyrocketed and continues to be strong a year later. Consider creating a soft request, like asking users to add their name or to fix a single spelling error on the wiki page. They’ll be much more likely to try editing if they have a small nugget to accomplish first.

Making logging in as easy as possible.
The problem is not access controls – it’s creating something compelling enough to get people to contribute to your community in the first place. Make your wiki easy to access and worry about access controls after getting a few regular participants. (If you absolutely need ironclad business security, we do offer the PBwiki Small Business Edition.)

Get everyone to participate.
When you start a new wiki, you’ll find that some people will cling to old methods of communication. For example, some of our users report that their co-workers continued emailing them or asking others to “please put this on the wiki.” When people email you, point them to the wiki. The beauty of PBwiki is that the most current information is always on the wiki, so direct them to your PBwiki URL and encourage them to add it themselves. After 2-3 reminders — and seeing their co-workers actively using it — they’ll be much more likely to contribute to your wiki.

Remind your users that it’s ok to play.
Your wiki users will be nervous the first time they come to PBwiki, wondering if they’re going to mess something up or cause an irreversible change. Assure them that it’s ok to edit pages — PBwiki automatically tracks changes and allows you to reverse changes, so they should feel free to edit an existing page or create a new page. In fact, one of your goals might be for each user to create their own page!

Make PBwiki part of your day.
One of our most successful wiki editors added “It’s on the wiki! http://wikiname.pbwiki.com” to his email signature, instant-message window, and on his website. When users messaged him, it was the first thing they saw. Consider putting your daily schedule or important notices on your wiki. When others see it used regularly, they’ll buy in, too.

Plugins allow you to add interactive widgets to your wiki like collaborative calendars, chat rooms, YouTube videos, photo shows, and more (full list here).

• To add a plugin, click “Edit” on any page in your wiki.
• Then click “Insert plugin” (the button with the funny-looking green icon).
• Then move your mouse over the different categories to add a plugin.

Bonus how-to videos: Insert voice chat, event planning, and general plugins (skip to 1:15).

Here’s a great new feature especially handy for our businesses, education, and government users: Access-via-email lets you set an email domain, and anyone with an email under that domain can grant themselves Contributor access to your wiki. An example will make this a lot more obvious - here at PBwiki we run a bunch of internal wikis and this feature makes it easy to set up self-service — no more “hey, what’s the password for that wiki?” with new employees and new wikis. I set ‘@pbwiki.com’ in the ‘Access via email’ section of the wiki settings and now anyone on the PBwiki team can let themselves in using their name@pbwiki.com address. Easy!

The “Access via email” feature is available for all Silver, Gold, and Platinum wikis (it depends on the wiki being configured with a Contributor user level).