Subject: FAQ [was: Re: VOLUNTEER REQUEST]
From: Bob Rogers (rogers-netatalk@rgrjr.dyndns.org)
Date: Fri Aug 11 2000 - 00:17:39 EDT
From: BWS - Offwhite <brennan@offwhite.net>
Date: Thu, 10 Aug 2000 22:39:46 -0500 (CDT)
[ this is simply an idea up for suggestion ]
I agree that the data should be structured and even stored in a
database. That way we can use templates to display the content. An FAQ
may consist of the following structure . . .
Then a nice FAQ could be built dynamically with a script which accesses
the database. If there are only 20 questions in the system, they would
appear on the same page. If it gets to be much longer, it could display
20 per page. And then we can organize questions by category: file server,
print server, installing, and trouble shooting . . .
There are just so many options with a database and a couple creative
scripters . . .
Brennan Stehling - web developer and sys admin
I would like to make a point that is perhaps obvious, but seems to be at
risk of getting lost in the shuffle:
I consider it very helpful to have some kind of user-visible absolute
identifier for FAQ items, so that you can respond to a user's query with
"Please see FAQ item XYZ." These identifiers should never change, so
that archived responses to queries aren't made meaningless by subsequent
FAQ updates. Organizing by category, as in "Please see FAQ item 7.2",
certainly helps the update problem, since it's easy to add a new
question and answer to the end of the category.
Given all that, I fail to see the advantage of a DBMS implementation
vs. old-fashioned static HTML, except perhaps in the initial entry phase
with multiple distributed authorship. Perhaps this creativity could be
better applied elsewhere?
Just a peep from the peanut gallery . . .
-- Bob Rogers
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