Wiki Mania

I tried to create Wikis using Google Sites and Wikispaces. Both sites gave me problems for different reasons. It was easy to create a basic Wiki with a link to my blog on Google Sites with the instructions we were provided. It was also easy to create a basic Wiki on Wikispaces by following their instructions. I had problems with the themes in Google. I ended up with a mixture of two themes and can't figure out how to correct it to one theme. So what I have is an ugly amalgam. Wikispaces walked me through up to a point. But I don't like the looks of the page I created, and the options are very limited. Wikispaces gives me a better idea about how to use a Wiki for educational purposes, and I really like the dashboard. Google had more options for themes, but, as I said, they don't always work well. I tried to use History to revert to my first theme, but it didn't work. Overall, I think Wikispaces would work best because it has more help features than does Google Sites, and seems to be geared toward educational use. I don't feel confident in my ability to create a working wiki for educational purposes yet. I need to explore further, click through some of the sites Wikispaces recommends and try to understand how the links work, and how to layer a wiki so that it works logically and for a single purpose. Right now, I have a very basic understanding of how to create a wiki with links to outside web pages. But I don't know how to link to documents or files. However, it seems fairly easy to do these things on Wikispaces. I would probably stick with one of their basic themes. I might try using Google Sites for a private Wiki. Although I'm not sure how useful it would be for personal use. I want to create a blog to track my efforts to publish my poetry. I don't yet understand how why a Wiki would help with that. If I had been in class last Tuesday, I'm sure I would be less confused! I don't think it would take much time to create a functional educational Wiki in Wikispaces or to help students create their own Wikis on either site. Creating a functional and meaningful site would, however, require some real work!