Difference between Wiki and Website

Key difference: Wiki and Websites are web applications, which run on the internet. Wiki is a collaborative website which is operated by a specific group, while a website is any such web page which is served from any single web domain.

Wiki is a web application which runs many of its wiki web pages. It is a type of content management system, which differs from other systems. It has little implicit structures, which are of specific pattern and emerge according to the need of the users. Ward Cunningham is the developer of the first wiki software, WikiWikiWeb.

Wiki A defining characteristic of wiki technology is the ease with which pages are created and updated. Generally, there are reviews before modifications are accepted. There are many wikis, which are open for alteration by any user without any prior registration. Accordingly, many edits are made in real-time, which appear almost instantly online. These facilitate the abuse of the system. So, private Wiki servers require user authentication to edit pages. It serves many different purposes including both public and private, which comprises of knowledge management, note-taking, community websites and intranets. The text format used for the wiki web pages basically are the markup languages or a rich-text-editors. Editing rights are assigned to users, which may permit the changing, adding or removing of the material. There are also other permits used for accessing the sites along with the other rules imposed to organize the content.

Wiki software is a type of collaborative software that runs a wiki system, allowing the web pages to be created and edited by using a common web browser. It may be implemented as the series of scripts behind an existing web server, or the standalone application server, which runs on one or more web servers. The content is stored in a file system, and accordingly the changes are stored in a relational database management system. A commonly implemented software package is the MediaWiki, which runs Wikipedia. Wikis run as a standalone application on a single computer.

A website, also written as Web site, web site, or simply site, is a set of related web pages served from a single web domain. It is to be hosted on at least one web server, which is accessible via networks such as Internet or private local area network through an Internet address known as a Uniform Resource Locator (URL). All the public websites are accessible collectively and constitute to the World Wide Web. The World Wide Web (WWW) was created on 1990 by CERN physicist Tim Berners-Lee. On 30^th April 1993, CERN announced the World Wide Web as free to be used by anyone.

Website The pages of a website are usually accessed from the simple Uniform Resource Locator (URL) called the ‘web address’. The URLs of these pages organize the addresses into a hierarchy. There is a hyperlink between the addresses, which act as a connectivity provider. It conveys the reader's perceived site structure. It further guides him for navigating the site. The site generally includes a home page with most of the links connected to the site's web content, and as a supplement to the contact and link page.

There are two types of websites available, the static websites and the dynamic websites.

Static website is one which is statically operated, and consists of web pages stored on a server in a format, which is sent to the client’s web browser. These are basically coded in Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) and Cascading Style Sheets (CSS).
Dynamic website is the one that changes or customizes itself frequently and automatically. Along with the coded format in HTML and CSS, they also consist of a wide range of software systems, such as CGI, Java Servlets and Java Server Pages (JSP), Active Server Pages and ColdFusion (CFML) which generate and make available of the dynamic web systems and dynamic sites. Basically, the dynamic HTML uses JavaScript code to instruct the web browser and interactively modify the page contents.
There is one more type of a specific website, which require a subscription to access some or all of their content. Examples of subscription websites include many business sites, parts of news websites, academic journal websites, gaming websites, file-sharing websites, message boards, web-based email, social networking websites, websites providing real-time stock market data, and websites providing various other services (e.g., websites offering storing and/or sharing of images, files and so forth).

Comparison between Wiki and Website:

	Wiki	Website
Short definitions	It is a website or database developed collaboratively by a community of users, allowing any user to add and edit content.	It is a location connected to the Internet that maintains one or more web pages.
Founder	It was first founded by Ward Cunningham.	It was first founded by CERN physicist Tim Berners-Lee.
What are they	A Wiki is served up through a website.	A web site is simply any content served over the HTTP or HTTPS protocol on the world wide web.
Constitutes	It constitutes to the wiki software, WikiWikiWeb	It constitutes to the World Wide Web
Rules and regulations	It is found that most wikis have rules about who can edit and how they can edit along with the editing rights.	There are no such rules and editing rights associated with the normal websites.
Structure and pattern	It has implicit structure and a particular pattern.	It has no such structures and pattern.
Accesses	It is usually accessed with a motive and by one specific group and user.	It is usually accessed by one person, for their own personal reason.
Comprises of	It runs many wiki sites collaboratively.	It consists of all web pages.
Types	There are no such specific types.	They are of static and dynamic as well as subscription type of websites