Creating the FAQ Master PageA How-To Recipe July 2006
OverviewThe Master page provides the user with a Table of Contents for the FAQs. In fact the page is crafted to show both a high level TOC presenting each section and a detailed TOC presenting each question in each section. Each entry in the TOC is a link that takes the user directly to a section or question.
Creating the Master PageCreating the Master page is a quick three step process:
Step 1: Create Link to FAQ's Master PageSelect a page from which the users will navigate to the FAQs. Add a link to the FAQs about to be created by copying the following into the page: [:FaQs: FAQs Table of Contents] This creates a link displaying FAQs Table of Contents.
Step 2: Uses Link to Create Master PageNow we use the Master Table of Content link to a non-existent page to trigger the creating of that page. This is a quick two action process.
The Master FAQs page is created, and we are placed in text edit mode within the page.
Step 3: Copy Markup, Edit and SaveWe are now in edit mode within the Master page. Copy and paste the following markup into the page. #pragma section-numbers on = Frequently Ask Questions (FAQs) Master Page = The Frequently Ask Questions are presented in the three sections. This master page presents a section Table of Contents followed by a full Table of Contents that includes the questions in each section. '''''Section Table of Contents''''' [:FaQs/SectionOne: 1. Title 1] [[BR]] [:FaQs/SectionTwo: 2. Title 2] [[BR]] [:FaQs/SectionThree: 3. Title 3] [[BR]] ------- '''''Full Table of Contents''''' [[TocOf(FaQs/SectionOne,FaQs/SectionTwo,FaQs/SectionThree)]] ------ [[BR]][[BR]][[BR]] This will create a Master Page that will include a full table of contents. The number of sections and their titles can be changed simply by changing the text in the markup while retaining the format. Replace the text "Title 1," "Title 2," and "Title 3" with your own headings.
On Organizing the SectionsIt is useful to think though the organization before a great deal of content is added to the FAQ. It can be rearranged later, and it is likely that this will be necessary over time. However, the process of bringing up a FAQ for the first time should be as simple as possible and reorganizing unnecessarily should be avoided. The best way to handle the organization is to look at the content from the view of the user. Like issues should be grouped closely together to provide the ability to eyeball a series of like questions for the most useful. Avoid grouping by author or other criteria that the user would find irrelevant. The next step is Adding the various section pages | Table of Contents |