Ensuring compliance with standardized resources

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Businesses in the finance sector can use wikis to store crucial company SOPs such as customer requirements and processes for different financial services, financial reporting policies and auditing requirements. Financial institutions are governed by strict regulatory requirements, so knowledge-sharing plays an important role in keeping team members aligned on regulatory needs and how to minimize risk.

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Keeping faculty aligned and informed

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Educational institutions can use an internal wiki to centralize resources for faculty members, like curriculum plans, administrative policies, and employee handbooks. A team wiki helps educators reduce redundant work by staying up to date with evolving curriculum needs, best practices, and institution guidelines.

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Fixing siloes in product development

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Companies in the technology industry can use a wiki to improve knowledge management on topics like product development roadmaps, engineering guidelines, handoff processes between technical and non-technical teams, and more. A wiki bridges information siloes in technology companies, which allows all team members to stay informed and aligned with what engineering and product teams are building.

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Enhancing patient care with quality-assured protocol

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A healthcare facility can use a wiki to store guidelines on clinical procedures, facility SOPs, patient care guidelines, regulatory protocols, and more. Like organizations in the finance sector, healthcare institutions must adhere to strict regulatory requirements and vetted processes. A wiki allows medical staff to document operational procedures and training resources to increase the quality and safety of patient care.

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Accelerating vendor onboarding

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Companies in the retail industry use team wikis to streamline vendor management processes, cut down ramp-up time, and deliver consistent onboarding across the entire vendor network. A wiki streamlines essential resources for new vendors, such as invoicing requirements, step-by-step guides for using internal apps, employee directories, and documentation on quality standards, KPIs, and compliance.

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Softr: Best for no-code, customizable wikis

Softr is a no-code platform that empowers teams to build and maintain collaborative knowledge bases and internal documentation without any coding. It provides a centralized space where teams can easily organize, create, and share important resources, processes, and information. The platform’s drag-and-drop builder allows users to design engaging team wikis quickly. Softr’s users enjoy its easy setup and responsive customer support. With its modern, intuitive interface,

Softr makes it easy for team members to contribute, update, and access essential resources. It’s ideal for teams looking to streamline documentation, project management, onboarding, or knowledge sharing.

Key Features:

• Pre-built blocks like employee directories, Kanban boards, and forms

• Content editing and management tools

• Templates

• Responsive design for all devices

• Workflow automation

• Secure logins and access controls

• Integrations with thousands of apps

Pros:

• Extensive customization options

• Robust pre-built element library

• No-code design and maintenance

• Free plan suited for startups

Cons:

• Softr is not uniquely a wiki software. This does allow for more customization and even the building of many other tools, however.

Pricing:

• Free plan supports one published app with ten users.

• Basic plan: $49/month for 3 apps and 20 users.

• Professional plan: $139/month for unlimited apps and 100 users.

• Business plan: $269/month for unlimited apps and 2500 users.

• Enterprise plan: Custom pricing.

Beyond Wikis:

Though you can build a simple wiki with Softr, most users take their Softr-enabled wikis to the next level.

One of our most common uses is a custom Team Intranet. This gives teams a wiki, as well as other tools like a company event calendar, feedback tools, employee recognition platform, employee document management, and more.

2. Guru

Guru is a cloud-based wiki software that supports knowledge sharing within an AI-driven platform. Teams can leverage Guru’s writing assistant and intelligent search capabilities to create and find information quickly. Guru users love its ease of use and the ability to create “Guru Cards” for bite-sized knowledge, organizing them by topic to boost engagement.

With Guru, teams can instantly surface knowledge across apps, documents, and chat logs. The platform’s browser extension also allows users to access knowledge while working across tasks. Guru is ideal for real-time knowledge sharing integrated into everyday workflows.

Key Features:

• Robust cross-platform search

• AI-powered chat and knowledge suggestions

• Access controls

• Content editor

• Custom landing pages and templates

• Approval workflows

• Integrations with apps like Slack and Microsoft Teams

Pros:

• Easy to use

• Advanced search capabilities

• AI-driven recommendations

• Browser extension

Cons:

• Expensive for larger teams

• Limited interface customization

• Some features require developer support

Pricing:

• Starter plan: Free for first three users; $5 per additional user

• Builder plan: $10/user/month

• Enterprise plan: Custom pricing

3. Notion

Notion is a versatile content management tool that doubles as a team wiki. It offers robust editing capabilities, allowing teams to style content, create dynamic layouts, and incorporate visual or interactive elements. Notion’s suite of AI-powered tools makes knowledge retrieval and content creation seamless. Notion is ideal for organizations wanting a flexible workspace that can serve as a wiki and support broader business needs. Its extensive template library makes setup fast and easy, allowing teams to find and customize templates that suit them.

Key Features:

• Rich content editor

• Linked pages, databases, and custom templates

• AI-powered search and content creation

• Real-time collaboration with mentions and comments

• Access controls

• Integrations with popular business tools

Pros:

• Modern, customizable wiki structure

• Comprehensive template options

• Supports multiple business use cases

Cons:

• Can feel overwhelming for beginners

• Limited mobile experience

• Security controls could be improved

Pricing:

• Personal plan: Free

• Personal Pro: $4/user/month

• Team plan: $8/user/month

• Enterprise plan: Custom pricing

4. MediaWiki

MediaWiki is the free, open-source wiki software behind Wikipedia. It’s widely used for its reliability and code flexibility, making it suitable for organizations with high content volume and many contributors. While MediaWiki requires technical knowledge, it allows for custom coding and is highly adaptable. This platform is best for companies with strong technical resources and a need for custom-coded, large-scale wikis.

Key Features:

• Open-source infrastructure

• Markdown and HTML editing

• User access controls

• Content categorization

• Community discussion feature

Pros:

• Free to use

• Highly customizable with code

• Used by Wikipedia, making it a proven tool

Cons:

• Requires technical setup and maintenance

• Dated templates and interface

Pricing: Free to use

5. Google Docs

Image source

Google Docs may not be an official wiki tool, but its simplicity and flexibility make it a popular, low-cost choice for document sharing and collaboration. With Google Docs, teams can collaborate in real-time, leave comments, and share content across applications with ease. Although it lacks advanced wiki features, Google Docs serves as a great knowledge-sharing base for teams who don’t need specialized wiki software. For teams already using Google Workspace, Google Docs can be a quick, accessible solution for centralized knowledge sharing.

Key Features:

• Real-time collaboration and commenting

• Version history

• Shareable links and access controls

• Integrations with Google Workspace apps

Pros:

• Easy to use and access

• Intuitive editing tools

• Customizable with Google Apps Script

Cons:

• Limited customization

• Basic organization and search features

Pricing:

• Free

Phase 1: Choosing the right wiki tool

Phase 2: Organizing your wiki content

Use templates to accelerate the design process

A template goes a long way in helping you standardize wiki processes, shorten design time, and get buy-in from other stakeholders. Once you’ve finalized a layout for a wiki page, decide if it’s worth turning that page into a template. You can create templates for common types of wiki content like SOPs, meeting notes, project updates, and more, each with its own pre-defined sections and workflows.

Source: Softr’s Team Wiki template

What should I keep in mind before designing a wiki?

Avoid these common pitfalls when designing your team wiki:

1. Don’t build for yourself and not your audience: Your preferred content arrangements and page layouts may not be as engaging for everyone else, so involving your audience in the design process is important. Share your design options with fellow employees and stakeholders to collect and understand their feedback. Hear your audience out so you can consider factors like role-specific workflows, tech-savviness, accessibility, and varying learning styles.
2. Don’t depend solely on complex technical needs: Your wiki should be easy to design and contribute to for all technical and non-technical employees. A code-based setup makes it difficult for employees to add content to the wiki, format pages, and maintain knowledge regularly. A no-code wiki builder allows all team members to turn a team wiki into a single source of truth for different kinds of information by easily adding custom elements.
3. Don’t assume your audience knows what to do: Using a new system and navigating through large volumes of information will always be challenging. You want to ensure that your employees are fully equipped with best practices and guidance on using your wiki tool and contribute their own content to it. Training your team through clearly documented instructions or quick tutorials will help you increase adoption and encourage more collaboration.
4. Don’t overcomplicate your wiki structure: Creating a content hierarchy that’s overly complex and granular can deter employees from using your wiki by overwhelming them with information. A wiki should make it easier for them to find the information they need. If they have to stop and think extra hard just to understand your navigation system, likely, you’re not creating a natural and logical flow in your user experience.
   

How to prepare for the wiki design process

Now that you know what to avoid, let’s talk about the steps you can take to gear you and your team up for successful wiki design.

1. Talk to your stakeholders early: Engage with all the leaders or representatives of departments working with the wiki regularly. These discussions are meant for stakeholders to clearly communicate their content needs, preferences, and goals. The look and feel of different pages in your wiki will depend on the type of content added to it or the audience the content is geared toward. For example, the user experience for technical guides and tutorials should look very different from a template for meeting notes.
2. Determine your content priorities: Because your wiki is a living document that will continue to evolve, you don’t have to overwhelm yourself by designing content for every topic immediately. Instead, start with your essential company information — like HR policies, new employee onboarding, or finance and IT SOPs. By designing your core wiki pages first, you can deliver the most impactful content and build off those pages to accelerate the design process for everything else.
3. Plan your on-page experience: Consider factors like text readability on different device types, navigation clarity, visual hierarchy, and user engagement. Test out various strategies to make your content stand out — such as adding more text styles, positioning images differently, or using elements like lists and tables.
4. Select suitable wiki layouts and templates: With your on-page experience all figured out, it becomes easy to select the suitable layout for each of your different content types. You can templatize these layouts to create a cohesive wiki experience. Plus, the standardization makes it much faster for you to create new pages in the future! For instance, you can use a specific page template for all your how-to guides and a different template for all SOPs.
   

How to structure and design your team wiki

Throughout this article, we’ve repeatedly emphasized the importance of a solid wiki structure. What does a wiki structure mean? Well, it’s the backbone of your wiki’s relevance and accessibility. The structure of your wiki refers to how content is organized and arranged to maximize the user experience — which we’ve highlighted as a key step to successful wiki design.

Here’s a quick step-by-step rundown of how to structure your team wiki:

1. Determine your information hierarchy: What are your main categories and sub-categories? Your wiki should capture your audience with high-level, easy-to-understand topics that logically branch out into follow-up questions or information buckets.
2. Establish keywords and tags: Much like any search engine, many individuals prefer to type keywords and phrases to find what they need. You can use tags to associate each content piece with relevant keywords that your audience would search up. These tags greatly reinforce content searchability because they help readers pull up specific content faster instead of browsing through a collection of topical knowledge.
3. Optimize your navigation naming system: Create a navigation bar that mirrors your team’s natural habits and understanding of different information categories. Avoid using too vague, easy to misinterpret, or broad terms. A category labeled “Resources” in your wiki navigation doesn’t help users know what to expect, but it would be better if it was called “Training Resources.”
4. Use navigation aids: Navigation aids like page breadcrumbs, sidebar navigation menus, and links to additional or recommended follow-up resources will help users flow through your wiki without having to search for something new every single time. These aids also boost utilization and engagement by prompting users to stay in your wiki to re-read content highlights and explore supporting knowledge.

Wiki document design best practices

In addition to the layout of your wiki interface, the design of your wiki content itself is crucial for adoption and engagement. Even the most impressive wiki designs can’t deliver the impact you want if readers have to sift through dense and messy content. Here’s a summary of best practices when putting together your documents and resources.

1. Make white space your friend: Avoid visual clutter by using margins and paddings to break up paragraphs, sections, and visuals. Your content becomes harder to scan and digest if on-page elements are cramped up and clashing. White space creates visual harmony on the page, making content look less overwhelming while giving space for each section or element to shine.
2. Style your headings and subheadings: Beyond organizing your information hierarchy with headings and subheadings, create consistency around the formatting of these text styles. For example, your primary headings will have a bigger font size than secondary headings, and you might choose to put them in bold for more clarity. Keep these text styles consistent across your entire wiki so readers can skim through all your content and identify headings and subheadings.
3. Turn walls of text into lists and bullets: If you have long sections of text, break them down into lists and bullets so content is skimmable and easier for to digest. Formatting your information this way also makes your content look shorter and snappier, encouraging your audience to read it.
4. Show don’t tell with visuals: Instead of overexplaining certain concepts and processes, you can use flowcharts, images, diagrams, and tables to show detailed information with more clarity. Not only does this help you avoid text-heavy documents, it also empowers your audience with more clarity and complex topics and improves information retention.
5. Optimize for accessibility: Make your content engaging for all stakeholders, regardless of their abilities or device types. Use readable, appropriately sized fonts, add alt text for all images, and choose appropriate color contrasts for your documents so users feel comfortable using your wiki. Your content should also dynamically fit different screen sizes while maintaining all these accessibility features.

Wiki design best practices

Now, let’s summarize all these tips into a few wiki design best practices to bring to your team:

1. Put your audience first: Before starting any design work, make sure that you know your team’s content priorities as well as preferences for learning styles, content structure, and wiki features. Designing your wiki based on your team’s needs will save you the effort of restarting the entire process if utilization rates and engagement are low.
2. Prioritize navigation: An intuitive and easy-to-follow navigation structure is the backbone of your wiki design. Don’t make the mistake of overcomplicating your on-page design and not spending enough time on structural design elements like categorization, searchability, and navigation aids. If your content can’t be found, all your hard work goes to waste!
3. Establish consistency: From text formatting to document design, content templates, and accessibility features, you’ll want to establish a standardized design playbook that outlines best practices and reminders. Consistency makes it easier for users to contribute to your wiki while maintaining a professional look and feel.
4. Maintain content regularly: Create a schedule for reviewing and updating content in your wiki so it stays current. Regular wiki maintenance removes clutter and duplicates in your content hierarchy so your navigation stays clean. As your wiki grows, maintenance allows you to swiftly rearrange and redesign content without repeatedly conducting a full-blown audit.
5. Simplify with no-code tools: A no-code platform like Softr simplifies the design process for all stakeholders involved, regardless of their technical skills or tech proficiency. You can customize your wiki interface, on-page features, data integrations, and device accessibility to best reflect your team’s needs and preferences. With pre-built blocks and templates, you can create, edit, and format visually appealing pages quickly.

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A team wiki is a flexible, powerful solution for encouraging collaboration and creating a single source of truth for any industry. As highlighted in the five examples above, a well-designed wiki can adapt to all kinds of knowledge-sharing needs. A great wiki software helps you enjoy the advantages of a strong documentation culture, easy onboarding, and better teamwork without the hassle of manual, inconvenient workflows.  

Whether you’re a startup or a large enterprise, Softr’s no-code, intuitive features make it easy to create a knowledge-sharing hub that grows with your team. Start your journey with Softr’s free plan today and experience this impact for yourself!