FAQ
The FAQ Module
Introduction
The FAQ module provides an interface to view frequently asked questions and answers. The questions that are answered over and over via phone, email, etc. are ideal questions to be managed by the FAQ module. The FAQ module uses an algorithm for sorting and listing FAQs. The equation takes into consideration how many times a FAQ has been accessed, how long it has been since it was last viewed, and the average rating given by users. The rating and sorting methods were designed to force the FAQs that are accessed the most often and have the highest score rating to appear toward the top of a users search results.
Getting Started
To begin adding FAQs, log in as an administrator with the permission to add new FAQs activated. If you do not login with the proper permission enabled, then any FAQs added will be considered suggestions, which then must be approved by an administrator. If you have just installed the FAQ module, then you must access FAQ by going to the Control Panel -> Site Content -> FAQ.
Since you are logged in as an administrator, FAQ provides you with several more advanced menu options than a regular user, such as access to statistics (stats) about your collection of FAQs, ability to list Unapproved and Hidden FAQs, and a Settings link to define how the FAQ module will organize and present the FAQs to users (Figure 1).
Click the New link to start adding new FAQs. The View link will show all the FAQs you have inserted.
Viewing FAQs
To view the FAQs that have been inserted into the FAQ module and are viewable (in other words not hidden or unapproved), click View from the FAQ menu. The arrangement and organization of the listed FAQs depends on which layout mode is selected from the Settings option of the FAQ administrative panel. There are four possible layout modes that represent the typical ways that users expect the format for a listing of FAQs to be presented.
Adding FAQs
To add a new FAQ to the FAQ module, login as an administrator with the permission to add a new FAQ and click the New link from the FAQ administrative menu to access a form to submit a new FAQ. The different fields are explained below:
-
Question This is the frequently asked question. It is a required field.
-
Answer The answer to your question. This field is required.
-
Category This field will only display if the FatCat module is installed. The category chosen will be used in the category layout mode to group FAQs. The FAQs in the same category are also used by any module of phpWebSite that utilizes the FatCat What's Related feature. The category field is also required if there are any categories defined within FatCat (see Figure 2).
FAQ View Mode
The FAQ View mode which is referenced several times in this chapter refers to the view that has a single FAQ followed by its answer. The hit counter for FAQs is also updated from this view (Figure 3). There are several elements that may appear in view mode and are explained below:
-
What's Related - If Fatcat is installed and you have been assigning FAQs to particular categories then a "What's Related" box will appear on the screen that lists other FAQs in the same category.
-
Comments - If the FAQ setting to allow users to post comments is enabled, then any user comments on the current FAQ being viewed will appear on this page.
-
Admin Menu - If you are logged in as an administrator with any of the permissions enabled to edit, hide, show, approve, unapprove, or delete FAQs, then the Admin Menu box will be shown, giving you quick access to administer a FAQ.
-
Change Score Rating For This FAQ - This box will show up if you have the admin permission to change the ratings of FAQs. The hits and the average score rating are both editable and both of these values are combined to give a new composite score. An example of when you might want to change or reset the score rating of a FAQ is after changing the question or providing a better answer.
Note:
To get to the View mode under certain layout views of FAQ you must click the Feedback link. Feedback will only appear if the FAQ settings to allow users to rate FAQs is checked.
Submitting and Administering Suggested FAQs
If a user is not logged in or is logged in as an administrator that lacks the permission to add new FAQs, then the FAQ module will only allow users to suggest FAQs. On the FAQ menu the menu option for New will instead say Suggest a FAQ. Any suggested FAQs will not be active or show when viewing the current FAQs, because they must first be approved by an administrator. Suggested FAQs may lack an answer when initially submitted, but before being allowed to be approved an answer must be provided. The form for suggesting a FAQ has two extra optional fields for the user's name and email address. This contact information is to allow administrators the ability to contact the sender if there is a question about the FAQ the user has submitted.
To view and approve suggested FAQs follow these steps:
-
Login as an FAQ administrator and click Unapproved/Hidden from the FAQ administrative menu.
-
(Assuming a few FAQs has been suggested) Select an FAQ from the list that you would like to administer.
-
You have several different choices from the drop down menu:
-
View - The View option will take you to a screen showing what the FAQ will look like if it is approved. This option is important if there is any ambiguity about the question the user has submitted, since you will be able to see if the user provided their email address. If so, you can click the option to 'Send Email' to use the built in mail interface of FAQ to send the user who suggested the FAQ an email asking them to clarify their question.
-
Edit - This is probably the most typical option to choose, since you will probably need to redefine the question submitted and provide an acceptable answer. So, make any changes in Edit and after saving the changes you will be brought back to the unapproved listing.
-
Approve - Choose this option to go ahead and approve the FAQ, which will make the FAQ active and viewable, providing that you have not chosen to hide the FAQ. The FAQ must have an answer before it is allowed to be approved. There is also an approve option in the View mode of any FAQ.
-
Delete - If you do not like the question submitted, then choose this option to delete the FAQ.
-
Hide and Show - These options are of little significance in the unapproved list since by the FAQ being unapproved it is already not viewable by users.
-
If you chose a path other than to hide or delete the unapproved FAQ then the FAQ should now be approved and viewable.
Note:
When a FAQ is suggested it is also registered with the Approval module and can be approved or deleted using the Approval module's interface (Figure 4).
Hiding, Showing or Deleting Current FAQs
There are several different methods to administer existing FAQs.
-
The easiest and probably the most convenient way is to login as an administrator and access the FAQ in View mode. You can tell if you are in view mode by seeing the option to rate the FAQ. If you are using either the bookmarked or question and answer layout modes then you will need the ability for users to rate FAQs enabled under settings to be able to directly administer FAQs in View mode. Once you are viewing a FAQ, then an administrative menu will appear below the question and answer with the options that you have permission to use such as hide, show, approve, unapprove, and delete.
-
The other method is to use the special queries by clicking on Stats from the FAQ administrative menu. All of the different queries have the same interface, so use whichever query that will allow you to find the FAQ you are interested in faster. To guarantee that the FAQ you wish to change is shown, you should choose the option to Show All FAQs. Select the FAQ from the listing and choose from the drop down menu the option that you wish to perform on the FAQ (only the options that you have permission to use will be shown).
Statistics
To access the statistics section of FAQ click the link for Stats from the FAQ administrative menu. The top of this section gives a quick overview of all the FAQs added to the FAQ module. This shows the total counts of the number of FAQs that are current viewable, hidden, and unapproved. Also, in the Stats section there are several different query options to list FAQs that meet a certain criteria (Figure 5). These queries are explained below:
-
Faqs with no activity in the last X months. - Activity in this case can mean several different things such as a user has viewed the FAQ, the FAQ has been rated, or has been changed by an administer. If any FAQs have not had any activity in the number of months chosen for the query, then they will be listed.
-
FAQs with a high number of hits and a low score rating. - This query doesn't use any type of set constant to determine the FAQs that are considered to have a high number of hits or a low score rating, but instead uses the number of hits and ratings of all the FAQs in the database to determine which FAQs meet the criteria specified. This particular query will show a listing of FAQs that have been viewed by many users, but the users have either not scored the FAQ or have consistently given it a low score.
-
FAQs with a low number of hits and high score rating. - This query doesn't use any type of set constant to determine the FAQs that are considered to have a low number of hits or a high score, but instead uses the number of hits and rating of all FAQs in the database to determine which FAQs fall within this category. This particular query will show a listing of FAQs that have not been viewed by many users, but the users who have viewed the FAQ have rated the FAQ very positively.
-
FAQs that do not have a category selected. - If you have inserted FAQs into the FAQ module before FatCat (phpWebSite Category module) was installed, then any FAQs inserted will not have a category. This will not be a problem unless you select to use the Category layout mode, because any FAQs that lack a category will not show up. This query helps administrators quickly determine which FAQs do not have a category, so that they can choose a proper category.
-
Show all FAQs in database. - Use this query if you wish to show all FAQs in the database whether they are visible or not. Ideal for general administration of FAQs.
Module FAQ Settings
(See Figure 6 Below)
-
Allow users to rate FAQs. - Toggles whether or not users are allowed to rate a FAQ by giving it a rating of one through five, with five meaning the FAQ was considered excellent. Under certain layout modes if this option is unchecked then the Feedback option associated with each FAQ will not appear, since the feedback link is meant to allow users the ability to rate a FAQ.
-
Allow users to post comments. - If you do not have the comment module installed, then this option will not appear under settings. If this option is selected, then each FAQ is allowed to have comments posted by users and they will appear at the bottom of the FAQs in View mode.
-
Allow users to suggest FAQs. - Toggles the option of whether users who are not logged in as an administrator with the permission to add a FAQ are allowed to suggest a FAQ for approval. If this option is unselected, then users will be presented with the list of FAQs without a menu at the top, since the only option would be to View the FAQs.
-
Add a menu link for the FAQ module. - Click this hypertext to create a link on one of your navigation menus so that users can view the FAQs without being logged in or have to go through the control panel to access the FAQ module. Follow the instructions after clicking the link to add a menu link, and after the new link is added you will be returned back to the FAQ settings section.
(See Figure 6 BOTTOM below)
The different layouts allow you to pick from several different common views that are typical of how users expect FAQs to be displayed. Plus, some of the layouts are more convenient depending on how many FAQs you need to show. For example, if you have a large number of FAQs, then it would probably be best to use the category layout, so that your FAQs will be grouped into categories. There are several help system icons that will help you choose a layout. The help blocks give both a description and a simple example.
-
Basic Question and Answer View - This layout doesn't use categories to group FAQs, but instead features the FAQs by simply listing them in the manner chosen by showing the question and answer on the same page. The FAQs are sorted by their composite score, which consists of the number of times they have been accessed, their score rating, and the last time the FAQ was viewed.
-
Limit results by showing X question per page. - For the value X, put in the number of FAQs that you would like to show at one time on a page. If there are more FAQs than can fit on a page using the number you specified, then at the bottom of the page listing the FAQs, there will be a navigation panel allowing users to page through the FAQs.
-
Bookmarked Questions - Under this layout the FAQ questions will be shown at the top of the page and will be linked to the question and answer, lower on the page, along with links back up to the top of page. The number of FAQs that appear on a page is governed by the number specified for limiting the results on a page under this section of the settings. If you have enabled the ability for users to rate the FAQs, then a Feedback option will be provided for each FAQ.
-
Question and Answer - This layout will show each FAQ by listing the question followed by the answer. The number of FAQs that appear on a page is governed by the number specified for limiting the results on a page, which can be adjusted from the settings section of FAQ. If you have enabled the ability for users to rate the FAQs, then a Feedback option will be provided for each FAQ.
-
No Categories - Hyperlinked Questions - As the name suggests this layout will simple list all the questions in one list and then users have to click on a question to view the question and answer. The number of FAQs shown on a page is controlled by the user.
-
Category View - The category layout relies on the FatCat module to group the FAQs and this layout will not appear if FatCat is not installed. The categories must be created using the FatCat module. If a category has any FAQs in it, then after a user clicks 'View' from the FAQ menu then that category will show along with the number of FAQs in the category and the category description (if there is one). Any subcategories will be shown below the parent category and will be indented. If a parent category doesn't have any FAQs in it, but its children does have FAQs, then the parent category title will still be displayed , but it will not be a link. Users can click a category name to see a list of all FAQs in the category chosen, along with a link back to the list of categories and if applicable links to the subcategories and parent categories. To view the answer to a FAQ question, the user must then click on one of the questions.
If you would like to change the text that users associate with a particular score for a FAQ, then you can edit the text using this section. The FAQ module is designed to work with five as being the user's opinion for saying that the FAQ was excellent and with one being the FAQ was of no use at all. This text appears in the drop down menu beside the question that says How would you rate this FAQ when viewing a FAQ.
Tips for FAQ Administrators
If you have FatCat installed then it is suggested that you adjust the constant titled FATCAT_LINK_CUTOFF in mod/fatcat/conf/config.php file to the number of characters that you want to chop off your questions to store in fatcat. You don't want this cutoff small, since the questions will appear in the 'Whats 'Related' box as incomprehensible. In other words, you don't want to have questions that show up as 'What about...'.
Suggested layout changes that require the use of the Layout Admin:
-
The user comments which will display when a FAQ is viewed would probably look best if set to show at the bottom of the page.
-
The Menuman box to add a new menulink, which will display in the Settings section after clicking Add menu link for the FAQ module would also look better if moved to the bottom of the page.
Created on 07/26/2003 12:31 AM by RobertK
Updated on 04/11/2004 09:58 PM by RobertK
|
|
|
