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Features Table

Features and attributes needed by an effective small group collaboration tool. As seen below different tools have very different strengths and weaknesses. Current solutions require balancing tools. Rev: 01 Feb 2002.

  • Tables
  • Definitions
  • Notes
    •

    Tables

    In numerical rankings from 1 to 5, 1 is worst and 5 is best.

      Notification Thread Archives Email Comp. Editable Offline
    List check!   [3]  
    Newsgroup        
    Web Forum            
    Web Pages [2] [1]      
      Unique ID HTML Topic Ctrl Sort Private Perform Organ Setup Maint
    Lists   4 1 2 1
    Newsgroup   some 4 3 1 4
    WebForum ? 2 3 3 3
    Web Pages [2]     some 3 5 5 4

    Definitions

    Archives
    Are messages archived for review?
    Editable
    A message/document can be edited by the message poster and a moderator/editor.
    Email Compatible
    Compatible or useable by persons who have only email access to the net.
    HTML
    Supports HTML and hyperlinks.
    Maintenance
    How easy is it to maintain this environment once it's setup?
    Notification
    Notifies subscribers by email (or push technologies) of activity in specific topic areas at an interval specified by the susbscriber. Notification can include message summaries (author, date, subject) or even the message itself.
    Offline Viewing and Responding
    Can content be reviewed offline when not connected to the net?
    Organization
    How well does the solution lend itself to organizing messages?
    Performance
    What is the perception of performance (absence of waiting)?
    Private
    Can the message area be private?
    Setup
    How easy is it to setup this tool on server.
    Sort
    Is it possible to sort messages by date, time, author?
    Threading
    Messages are organized by topic, so one may follow a particular topic.
    Topic Control
    Can subscribers create and revise topic areas as needed?
    Unique Identifier
    Each message has a unique identifier that can be used in a web page to link to the message.

    Notes

    [1] Requires an additional application (URL-Minder) or "push" support.
    [2] This refers to using classic web pages in a collaborative effort.
    [3] There is additional software which can archive email messages in HTML format.

    Author: John G. Faughnan.  The views and opinions expressed in this page are strictly those of the page author. Pages are updated on an irregular schedule; suggestions/fixes are welcome but they may take weeks to months to be incorporated. I reserve copyright except where noted, if you want to repost or quote a page just ask. Anyone may freely link to anything on this site and print any page; no permission is needed for linking,  printing, or distributing printed copies.