Subject: Re: FAQ [was: Re: VOLUNTEER REQUEST]
From: Chip Mefford (cmefford@avwashington.com)
Date: Fri Aug 11 2000 - 10:30:25 EDT
Faq-o-matic
http://www.dartmouth.edu/~jonh/ff-serve/cache/1.html
At 12:17 AM 08/11/2000 -0400, Bob Rogers wrote:
> 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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I labour to posses my soul
-Izaak Walton
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