# Kii, a Rails based wiki with a sensible code base **URL:** \ **Category:** Rails\ **Created:** [July 18, 2009, 2:37pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/kii-a-rails-based-wiki-with-a-sensible-code-base/172279 "2009-07-18T14:37:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![leethal](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/l/e99b99/32.png) [@leethal](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/leethal)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2009, 2:37pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/kii-a-rails-based-wiki-with-a-sensible-code-base/172279/1 "2009-07-18T14:37:30Z")
[http://kiiproject.org/](http://kiiproject.org/) Kii is a young and open source Rails powered wiki. I started this project for two reasons. 1. Whenever I need a wiki, I end up using something that isn’t Rails based. The existing Rails based wikis has strange codebases, is outdated, and generally isn’t very nice to work with. 2. Wiki systems tends to look like they were made in 2001. No AJAX, etc. Kii sets out to fix this. The codebase is at the moment quite sensible, and I tend to keep it that way. The preview interface ([http://kiiproject.org/Sandbox/edit](http://kiiproject.org/Sandbox/edit)) does not look like it was made in 2001, either. AJAX, wohoo! There’s still a long way to go, and the [http://kiiproject.org/Worklist](http://kiiproject.org/Worklist) is pretty long. Accepting contributions! ---
**Author:** ![leethal](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/l/e99b99/32.png) [@leethal](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/leethal)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2009, 10:28pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/kii-a-rails-based-wiki-with-a-sensible-code-base/172279/2 "2009-07-18T22:28:46Z")
August L. wrote: > [http://kiiproject.org/](http://kiiproject.org/) > > Kii is a young and open source Rails powered wiki. This sounds interesting, and I’ll definitely check out – I’ve been looking for a Rails wiki engine. But: […] > 1. Wiki systems tends to look like they were made in 2001. No > AJAX, etc. Who wants Ajax in a wiki? I can’t see how that would be a good thing. More to the point, I can’t see how the lack of Ajax is a “problem” that needs to be “fixed”. There are some types of site where Ajax features are useful, but I am having trouble coming up with appropriate uses of Ajax for a typical Wiki. (That said, I’ll be interested to see how you’ve used Ajax in Kii.) […] > There’s still a long way to go, and the [http://kiiproject.org/Worklist](http://kiiproject.org/Worklist) > is pretty long. Accepting contributions! Do you want or need a MediaWiki markup parser? If so, please check out Rookie ( [GitHub - marnen/rookie: A Ruby parser for MediaWiki markup.](http://github.com/marnen/rookie) ). ## Best, Marnen Laibow-Koser [http://www.marnen.org](http://www.marnen.org) removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid ---
**Author:** ![leethal](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/l/e99b99/32.png) [@leethal](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/leethal)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2009, 11:57pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/kii-a-rails-based-wiki-with-a-sensible-code-base/172279/3 "2009-07-18T23:57:16Z")
Regarding AJAX: Take a look at the preview tabs on e.g. [http://kiiproject.org/Sandbox/edit](http://kiiproject.org/Sandbox/edit). Make some changes and click the preview tab. A lot easier to use than the conventional full resubmit with article on top, form on bottom, á la wikipedia. On Jul 18, 10:28 pm, Marnen Laibow-Koser \ **Author:** ![leethal](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/l/e99b99/32.png) [@leethal](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/leethal)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2009, 12:02am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/kii-a-rails-based-wiki-with-a-sensible-code-base/172279/4 "2009-07-19T00:02:32Z") Regarding rookie, the MediaWiki markup parser: That looks very interesting. I’m currently using [http://wikitext.rubyforge.org](http://wikitext.rubyforge.org), but it has a bunch of limitations. And since it’s written in C, there’s nothing I can do about it, because of my low C fu. One of the problems I’m having with wikitext is adding my own syntax to it. Can’t touch the C as mentioned. Can’t preprocess before sending it to wikitext, because of wikitext’s HTML stripping. Can’t post process it either, because the markup has been lost (newlines and such, for instance) when passing it through wikitext. There are a few things that I can see is missing in rookie, though, such as and [[page links]]. Another interesting feature of wikitext is to set the base level of the headings, so that `= Foo =` is a ## tag instead of a # tag, for instance, which is useful if your main page title is a # and you want to avoid multiple # tags on a page. Do you plan to continue hacking on rookie, or has the project stalled? On Jul 18, 10:28 pm, Marnen Laibow-Koser \ **Author:** ![leethal](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/l/e99b99/32.png) [@leethal](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/leethal)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2009, 8:08pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/kii-a-rails-based-wiki-with-a-sensible-code-base/172279/5 "2009-08-05T20:08:40Z") [Sorry about the slow response. I just noticed your post.] August L. wrote: > Regarding rookie, the MediaWiki markup parser: That looks very > interesting. > […] > There are a few things that I can see is missing in rookie, though, > such as and [[page links]]. Yes, the project is definitely in an early phase of development. Double-bracket link syntax is probably the next feature. > Another interesting feature of > wikitext is to set the base level of the headings, so that `= Foo =` > is a > > ## tag instead of a > > # tag, for instance, which is useful if your main page title is a > > # and you want to avoid multiple > > # tags on a page. I don’t think this is the job of the parser, but I’ll consider adding it as an option. > Do you plan to continue hacking on rookie, or has the project stalled? Yes and yes. 🙂 More is coming, and I’ll try to raise Rookie’s priority now that I know that you’re actually interested. In the meantime, I’d welcome contributions if you’re so inclined! ## Best, Marnen Laibow-Koser [http://www.marnen.org](http://www.marnen.org) removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid ---
**Author:** ![leethal](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/l/e99b99/32.png) [@leethal](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/leethal)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2009, 12:02am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/kii-a-rails-based-wiki-with-a-sensible-code-base/172279/6 "2009-07-19T00:02:48Z")
August L. wrote: > Regarding AJAX: Take a look at the preview tabs on e.g. > [http://kiiproject.org/Sandbox/edit](http://kiiproject.org/Sandbox/edit). Make some changes and click the > preview tab. A lot easier to use than the conventional full resubmit > with article on top, form on bottom, � la wikipedia. Ah, yes. I’ve used other wikis with Ajax preview – that’s often _very_ useful indeed. I don’t know why that didn’t occur to me earlier. ## Best, Marnen Laibow-Koser [http://www.marnen.org](http://www.marnen.org) removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid