Wiki

A wiki is a shared source of information that anyone can contribute to. The end product combines knowledge from diverse resources, and is therefore richer than if it were the product of one author.

Thanks to their ease of use, wikis are ideal tools for collaborative writing. Anyone can create, edit, and delete content on a wiki. Users do not need to know HTML in order to use a wiki. Some wikis require user registration for more accountability, while others (like Wikipedia) allow anonymous edits. (The Zillow Real Estate Guide requires that those who contribute and/or edit articles have an account on Zillow.) There is now also a dedicated Real Estate Wiki.

Editing tools allow site visitors to format content, and previous versions (the "history") of each wiki page are maintained. Most wiki sites permit users to revert a page back to any of its previous versions at any time.

The term "wiki" sometimes refers to the software used to create a site, but usually refers to the type of Web site. The collection of pages in a wiki is called "the wiki," and each individual page is a "wiki page." Hyperlinks are often used to interconnect wiki pages.

The word "wiki" comes from the Hawaiian phrase wiki wiki, meaning "quick."