Apple Mac OS X Server v10.6 User Manual

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There are two issues with allowing everyone to edit content:

The author might want to be aware of content updates and suggested changes to

his or her content.
Some documents shouldn’t be edited by anyone but the author, or content updates

should go through a review process.

Wiki tools solves these issues.

To stay aware of pages you’ve written or are interested in, mark those pages with a
star. You can search for all pages you’ve marked with a star and view updates and
comments on these pages in My Page, or create an RSS feed so you’re notified when
someone makes a change when you’re not looking at the wiki.

There are several solutions to making read-only content. You can leave a note at the
top of the page, or in comments, saying not to update the page without permission.
If you mark the page with a star, you’re notified if someone updates the page. You can
then use the page history feature to revert to an older version of the page.

You could also host the content in its own wiki, give yourself admin privileges, and
give everyone else reader privileges but allow them to make comments. This prevents
people from changing your content but they can help you improve your content by
leaving comments.

Maintaining Documents in Wikis Instead of Word

Processor Files

Many single-ownership issues are tied to the idea of using word processors to create
documentation. With a word processor, only a single individual should have ownership
of source files; otherwise you could have multiple versions of a document. You could
use a content management system to allow multiple authors and ensure that the
source doesn’t split off into multiple documents.

It takes substantially more effort to use a combination of word processors, content
management systems, and non-wiki distribution systems. The following require
substantial effort:

You must train people to use content management systems.

When people find issues, they must describe the issue to the owner of the

document, then the owner then must locate the document in the content
management system, update it, and convert it to PDF.
If you distribute documents on webpages that don’t support RSS, owners must

notify everyone to download the new PDF from the website.

Chapter 10

Improving Internal Documentation