Wanna Wiki that Works Without a Blank Screen?

Often the hardest part of starting a Wiki is the fact that you typically start off with a blank page.

JotSpot thinks it has the answer to the problem, unveiling two new hosted wiki applications that provides users with an outline to help them get started.

The company today launched a bug tracker and a class reunion wiki application.

The JotSpot Class Reunion Planner and JotSpot Bug Reporter sit on top of JotSpot’s wiki platform. But instead of starting with a blank page, they start off with an outline structure and include relevant functionality.

As with a traditional wiki, the apps include version history. JotSpot adds triggers and events systems to the apps to alert users to change. The applications include charting and graphing capabilities. Users may also add attachments.

With all the additional functionality and ability to handle structured data within the JotSpot applications, it’s somewhat more than what a traditional wiki entails.

“When we launched JotSpot, we called it an application wiki,” JotSpot founder and CEO Joe Kraus told internetnews.com.

“We wanted to build to application building the same kind of flexibility and collaboration that came with a wiki.”

The new wiki applications feature both free and paid levels.

According to Kraus, JotSpot is seeing a healthy conversion rate from free to paid. The free service provides users with up to 20 pages, but lacks some of the features available in the paid service, which starts at $10 a month.

“People start at free but quickly go through the level with 20 pages and they find that access controls and things like SSL are valuable features,” Kraus said.

The new applications build on JotSpot Live, launched last year as a hosted wiki service. Earlier this year, Jotspot added Tracker, a collaborative spreadsheet tool for Microsoft Excel users.

The CEO said JotSpot is planning to launch more hosted niche wiki applications going forward.