Create a web site for free with wetpaint wiki

First choice for wiki novices

This is probably the first choice wiki for web development novices who want to create a web site that you can allow families, friends or groups of like-minded, non-technical enthusiasts to collaborate on. It has very good WYSIWYG editing. Is easy to access and navigate. Has a simple but more than adequate set of features - and what’s more the free software/web hosting package allows you to create a web site at no cost.

Wetpaint Provider statement

“Combining the best of wikis, blogs, and forums, Wetpaint is the canvas where everyone gets a brush. From personal expression to collaboration, Wetpaint empowers you to connect with others on whatever you’re passionate about.”

Free option only

Wetpaint is a free, hosted wiki; it does not have paid plans. The free plan does however allow you to create a web site with unlimited wikis and unlimited storage.

Free  Unlimited wikis - unlimited storage - unlimited bandwidth - free

You can use your own domain name

You are allocated a sub-domain name: www.yourchoice.wetpaint.com and if you like you can use a custom domain name such as www.yourchoice.com. If you want to know about domain names take a look at my articles here.

Wetpaint wikis, now public or private

All Wetpaint wikis used to be public. That means everyone can see them and add comments to your pages. You do get to control over who can add pages or edit existing ones and if some one adds a comment you do not like, you can delete it.

Recently Wetpaint has introduced private wikis, still at no cost.

View your wiki Anyone, invitation only or just your.

Insert new pages  - Anyone, invitation only, or just you

Edit existing pages   - Anyone, invitation only, or just you

Make comments on pages   - Anyone, invitation only, or just you

Security

Wetpaint does not aim to provide a service for people who want to make money from wikis. This means it doesn’t have and doesn’t need the type of security options that commercial users want. Having said that you are likely to find everything you need here to create a web site you can be proud of.

Keeps out spambots   - No

Blocks vandals   - Yes, individual user or IP address

Lockable pages   - Yes

Can review changes to pages Yes

Can revert to a previous edition of a page Yes

Can restore your site from a local back up No

Censored word list No

Privacy policy   - Available here

Secure information transfer  - No

Good language options

Good language options here although help is only in English.

Translations  - No

International characters  - By on screen keyboard

Right to left writing  - Yes

Help language   - English only

Editing with WYSIWYG

Your only editing option in Wetpaint is the WYSIWYG editor. This should not limit you too much because the editor is very good and you will be able to create a web site within minutes.

WYSIWYG  - Good WYSIWYG editor

Markup  - No

HTML  - No

Spellcheck  - Yes

Content

Wetpaint has one of the few WYSIWYG editors that handles image insertion well, not only is it easy to put images on your pages you can easily set up a slideshow.  Wetpaint pages can contain YouTube or Google video. You can use widgets, embedded flash or embedded in i-frame tags. Better still, you can develop your own. No audio is available yet but you can attach files to pages for other people to download.

Images  - Yes, can insert individual images and slideshows

Flash  - No

Audio  - No

Video  - YouTube, Google video

Chat  - Yes

Instant messaging  - Yes

Mathematical notations  - No

RSS reader  - Yes

Diagrams  - No

Attachments  - Attachments can be made to pages

Task lists  - No

Calendars  - Yes

Maps  - No

Shopping basket  - No

Content restrictions  - No

A wiki that welcomes visitors

Wetpaint is very visitor friendly. Everything is clearly laid out on a range of pleasing templates, it is easy to navigate and find what you want.  This is what the Wetpaint providers are striving for. The visitor friendliness, easy WYSIWYG editing and cost ($ zero) means that the Wetpaint wiki is ideal for the beginner who wants to create a web site to be visited by friends and family.

Search engine friendly Yes. Has search engine optimisation advice and keywords for each page

Access by mobile No

Looks match topic Range of templates provided

Easy to read   - Yes

Provider placed Ads Yes, contextual ads are placed by the wiki provider

Clear navigation  - Menu, Tag cloud

Effective wiki search Yes

Recent activity list Yes

Wanted pages list No

Custom template for new pages Yes

email pages to friends Yes

RSS feeds Yes: updated pages or new comments

Easy to make and read comments  - Yes, also ability to rate comments

Page history available Yes

Wiki management

Lack of automatic save, means that you might spend ages typing into a wiki page and then lose the last half hour’s work if you lose contact with the server.   Wetpaint has attracted plenty of venture capital and seems unlikely to go belly up in the near future.

Automatic save  - No

Site statistics  - Site meter, which puts counters on your pages, and Google analytics

email notifications  - No

Income from Ads  - Not for the user

Technical support  - No

Server support 24/7  - Not sure

Stable provider company  - Well funded company

Support

Wetpaint offers good support to its community of users. It is easy to browse through or search other Wetpaint sites and support questions on the forum are answered promptly and the answers are always useful and encouraging.

Loyal wiki community  - Community appears to be thriving

Community forum  - Yes, here it is

FAQs  - Yes

Help  - Yes

In my opinion Wetpaint is first choice for web site development novices. If its not exactly what you need it’s easy to move on.

If a free hosted website or wiki is what you want. You need to visit the Wetpaint home page.

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Tagged with: Review • Wetpaint • Wiki