A New Wiki Application is in Alpha

Scribbleton is a personal wiki application that is stored on your own computer rather than on a vendor’s server in the cloud.

This standalone software can be downloaded in alpha version for Mac, Windows, and Linux. A wiki created on one of the platforms can be accessed from any of the platforms.

A Scribbleton wiki can be used on your own computer or it can be put on a shared drive and accessed from any computer on the network.

The description on Scribbleton’s website (http://scribbleton.com/) emphasizes text functions, features, and benefits. Many basic text functions are available in this alpha version of the software…

Formatting options are available for:

• font style… (bold, italic, underline, strikethrough)
• font size… (smaller, larger)
• alignment… (left, center, right, justify)

A toolbar at the top of the page gives access to:

• navigate pages… (back, forward, link/unlink (to link pages))
• modify pages… (rename)
• edit content on pages… (format)
• delete pages… (trash can)

A left sidebar lists (clickable) the pages in the wiki and provides a button to create new pages.

Both individual pages and the whole wiki can be exported as HTML or TEXT. Each page is individually exported when you choose to export the whole wiki.

Additional needed text functions (e.g., page reordering, bullets, text color changing) are in the developers’ plans.

But, can text stand on its own? Web writing today is visual and interactive. I am interested to see how this application develops in those directions.

I like using wikis for multiple reasons, one of which is to help me organize tasks and content. And normally I like working in the cloud because I can have access to my information anywhere I have Internet access. But, sometimes my work is more localized and could be served by a good—and versatile—tool on my computer.

The Scribbleton personal wiki application has been released early (alpha) in the development process. The developers (on their website) encourage Scribbleton users to send feedback as the product is being created.

I do not know yet if the Scribbleton personal wiki application is a tool that will work well to help me organize tasks and content. But I do know that it is easy to use and appears to be heading in a good direction. And I plan to follow along to see if it becomes a tool I would like to use.