Read the FAQ? I want to write one...

redneck · 2006-04-15 21:07:38

I am converting a commercial site from a creaky glorified shopping cart to a whizzy fun-filled information site using Textpattern. I’ve spent the last day or so fingerpainting around with this amazing tool, but I thought I’d see if I could save some time by asking you folks for some advice or pointers regarding one part of the site that will be very important for us.

We have a FAQ on our old site that is difficult to update (it hasn’t been updated in almost a year, I think), and we would like to convert it to Textpattern and expand it. You can see our current FAQ here.

As you can see, the FAQ has a hierarchy, with the questions grouped into categories. I was thinking of making each category a separate page, and making each FAQ question a separate article. Textpattern categories come instantly to mind, but then I’m not crazy about how they span the entire site, while our FAQ categories will only make sense in the context of the FAQ. Also, I note that Textpattern categories are not meant to be used for navigation.

I guess what I seem to be asking for here are subsections, and I understand that is a ticklish topic hereabouts.

An online FAQ is such a natural application for Textpattern I’m sure some of you have already done it. Could I get a few ideas?

BTW, here’s where I am so far with my installation: Mesa Tactical Not much there yet, but most of the formatting has been worked out.

Last edited by redneck (2006-04-15 21:08:03)

squaredeye · 2006-04-15 22:02:30

An FAQ plugin would be nice actually.
Maybe you could spur some interest on that?
I use a typical solution on sites I have created before:

Top Nav with all the questions, which link to anchors below, with “back to top” links to get people back to the FAQs

But something for larger FAQs would be nice

whatbrick · 2006-04-15 22:05:25

OMG! Gun-porn, you lucky so-n-so! Color me envious. :)

What is it about TXP categories that does not fit your needs? With careful planning, no one has to see a reference to a FAQ category anywhere else in the site. Also, categories can be just as easily navigated as anything else (http://domain/?c=category, if using messy urls. http://domain/category/categoryname if clean).

I guess you could use an actual article as a pseudo-subsection, if you feel you can’t use categories. If you tag those articles as a sticky, they could reside at the top of an article listing, then the rest of the questions would follow. Go to that subsection article, and you would be presented with the list of questions for that subsection. I haven’t thought it completely through, so there are bound to be some problem areas with that approach, but it’s an idea.

Have you checked the plugin forum to see if there are any category plugins that would suit your needs better than the standard TXP category behavior? That could be a place to start. I just can’t see a reason categories wouldn’t work in this case, but you’ve probably thought it through more than I have.

Oh, and as an after-though…anything firearm related is automatically “whizzy” and “fun-filled” in my book. :)

els · 2006-04-15 22:12:03

I set up a FAQ here. There’s a section ‘faq’, and on the section front page is a category list (handcoded because I needed my own order; disadvantage is that you have to add manually every new category). My url’s are /section/category using the plugin sgb_url_handler, but without that you can have /section/?c=category without a problem. The category pages contain article lists, using txp:if_category and txp:article_custom. The question is the title, and the answer is the body.

zem · 2006-04-16 04:25:30

Some of the answers you’re looking for are in the FAQ, i.e. “Display articles in a different order”.

redneck · 2006-04-16 14:01:03

I guess there’s no mystery as to how a FAQ could be put together, I just was concerned that I might be employing tools in ways for which they were not designed, that would get me into trouble later.

It looks like the Textpattern categories will do the job. In fact, I went back and looked more closely at how the Textpattern FAQ was done, and indeed it uses categories exactly as described above. And the Textpattern FAQ, with subsections, etc, is very close to what I need.

I’ll whip something up and post the result here and in the “You Show Yours” section.

redneck · 2006-04-16 17:05:48

I’m setting this up as Els and whatbrick have described. It’s actually pretty easy, except for one issue.

Because I want to sort my article list using a custom field I have defined, I need to use txp:article_custom to list the articles. However, txp:article_custom will list all articles unless I define the section and category. The section is easy enough to hard-code, but the category is supposed to be passed from the initial navigation link. In other words, the category is already defined in the URL when I call up the listing. How can I only get a listing of articles in the current category?

Last edited by redneck (2006-04-16 17:41:28)

whatbrick · 2006-04-16 21:36:53

The regular <a href=“http://textpattern.net/wiki/index.php?title=Txp:article_/”>article</a> tag supports sorting by a custom_field as well according to TextBook. Just FYI.

To get a list of articles by a certain category, just link to that category like so: http://domain/?s=sectionName&c=categoryName for messy urls, or http://domain/category/categoryName using clean urls, though you may have to use the sgb_url_handler plugin that Els listed above to achieve a better clean url scheme. Using a link like that will generate a list of articles in that category only.

Is there something in your explanation that I am missing that using the above will not achieve?

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#1 2006-04-15 21:07:38

Read the FAQ? I want to write one...

#2 2006-04-15 22:02:30

Re: Read the FAQ? I want to write one...

#3 2006-04-15 22:05:25

Re: Read the FAQ? I want to write one...

#4 2006-04-15 22:12:03

Re: Read the FAQ? I want to write one...

#5 2006-04-16 04:25:30

Re: Read the FAQ? I want to write one...

#6 2006-04-16 14:01:03

Re: Read the FAQ? I want to write one...

#7 2006-04-16 17:05:48

Re: Read the FAQ? I want to write one...

#8 2006-04-16 21:36:53

Re: Read the FAQ? I want to write one...

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