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Advice Wanted - Documenting VPSs for Beginners
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Advice Wanted - Documenting VPSs for Beginners

emgemg Veteran
edited April 2013 in Help

I admit it, I am a beginner when it comes to VPSs. There is much for me to learn regarding VPS configuration, management, etc. Along the way, I have encountered many people who are in worse shape than me. They want a Linux VPS, but don't understand anything about Linux, Internet-facing servers, or anything else. I would like to share my knowledge and experiences as I go through the VPS learning curve, to reduce the pain and struggle for others who follow in my footsteps.

When I signed up for my first VPS, I started a blog on the WordPress website, but was not happy with it at all. Frankly, it sucked. It looked like a reverse order diary (newest entries first). It was a poor tool to help beginners get going. The long entries were difficult to read, because you had to start at the bottom, then read down, then scroll up to the next article, then read down, and so on. I tried setting up the blog with separate pages, but felt that I was going down the wrong path.

I need a way to host standalone articles, each on its own page, with links to related articles, and an easy way for readers to find what they are looking for. I have seen websites that their owners called blogs, but they have a "magazine article" look - each entry on its own web page. Every time I looked at free public blog websites (e.g., WordPress, Blogspot, etc.), they look like reverse diaries with many entries per page, which is not what I need. I may be looking in the wrong place - a blog may not be the solution to my needs.

What I think I need is a wiki, not a blog, but perhaps I must bite the bullet and develop a custom website.

Here are my basic requirements:

  • Free to run on any Linux VPS, such as one of my VPSs.
  • Easy to setup and configure.
  • Low effort to maintain. Zero effort to keep running when I am not adding articles.
  • Easy to secure - other than me, contributors/editors (if any) would be individually approved initially, until I could be confident to open it up without getting hacked, or edited with spam, etc.
  • Easy for users to find the article they want.

Please keep in mind:

  • This is a hobby, not an occupation.
  • I don't need lots of features, I need easy, basic, simple. (Remember that what is easy for you may depend on a foundation of years of deeply ingrained knowledge and experience that I do not have. I am a beginner, not an experienced web designer. I want to invest my time in the content of the articles, not the underlying website framework.)

It does not have to be a wiki - be creative! If you can think of a better approach, don't be shy.

If a wiki is the answer, then I would be grateful for suggestions about which free wiki software to install and try.

Your advice, suggestions, and experience would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Comments

  • EpidriveEpidrive Member
    edited April 2013

    Is it just me who cant understand what you need, a script or a vps?

  • I'm not sure whether you are looking for suggestions or testing LET community

  • TimTim Member

    You could just find a different theme for your WordPress blog.... look around for free themes that do what you want.

  • RadiRadi Host Rep, Veteran

    Try MediaWiki.

  • juanjuan Member

    Docuwiki

  • emgemg Veteran
    edited April 2013

    TMI problem, my fault. Here is a simple version of what I want:

    I am looking for suggestions on how to publish articles. I believe that a wiki may be the best way to organize my articles. (The articles are about setting up and running a VPS.)

    --> I would like your advice on which free wiki is the easiest to install and use. If a wiki is not the answer, please suggest something better.


    Responses to the recently posted comments above:

    • You are right, this discussion is about how to host a website. It is not about VPSs or low end boxes. I apologize if it is too much out-of-scope.
    • The reason I posted here was because the articles are VPS related. Asking elsewhere might have been better.
    • I am only looking for web tool advice (e.g., which wiki to install and use?), not testing or scripts.
    • I already have a VPS to host the website, once I figure out which wiki to use (or another solution).

    WordPress:

    • I tried several WordPress themes, and looked at many more, but they don't seem to do what I need. I also looked at WordPress configuration and other settings. Perhaps I do not understand WordPress well enough.

    Additional Info:

    • I have been lurking (and posting infrequently) here for a few months as a VPS user, to learn tips and tricks from the masters.
    • I thought that the people here may have the knowledge and experience to help with this question.
    • Again, I apologize if this discussion is too much out-of-scope for LET.
  • http://www.softaculous.com/apps/wikis

    Choose, Enjoy! :)

    Id go with mediawiki on this one tho.

  • TimTim Member

    Hmm well as far as Wikis go, I've hear good things about DokuWiki (and it is what LET is using for its wiki pages). There are also plugins for WordPress that integrate Wiki functionality... but In your case going with a full-featured wiki like MediaWiki or DokuWiki might be better.

  • +1 for MediaWiki if it's a wiki you are looking for.
    If it's a blog you are looking for, wordpress is the way to go. Each blog article will be under it's own page, if you set it up right.

  • DokuWiki.

    For a beginner, its advantage over MediaWiki is that you don't need to worry about managing or backing up another database. Backing up DokuWiki is as simple as tarring the DokuWiki folder!

  • jeffjeff Member

    Take a peak at surfsyou... all I needed:)

  • how about keeping wordpress and changing the sort order ? if you already have content there

  • FreekFreek Member

    I went with PMwiki, still need to fill it with content tough
    http://www.vpswiki.net/

  • PaulPaul Member
    edited April 2013

    +1 MediaWiki.

    I've used Mediawiki before and I liked it very much.

    @emg said: I want to invest my time in the content of the articles, not the underlying website framework.

    By this I would assume you want to monetize later on? Use Wordpress, or other CMS (Drupal).

  • Installing a wiki is easy because you have one-click installers in cPanel these days. To find out how easy or hard it is to use a wiki CMS you should try out a few different ones on opensourcecms.com.

  • I kindda like how Digital Ocean does it : https://www.digitalocean.com/community

    If you want to do wiki type. Mediawiki will do the job. but i am not fan of looking at wikimedia

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