A test with the FAQ

Post by **Rork** » Sat Feb 03, 2007 12:55 am

Well, with the FAQs always being something of a blind spot for some users, I thought I'd try something a little different, and hopefully a little bit more accessible than page after page of text.

The Forum Rules and FAQ in PDF format with pretty fonts and in black! (173KB)

http://www.mediamax.com/lord_rork/Hoste ... abbr-2.pdf

Forum specific rules/FAQs (301KB)

http://www.mediamax.com/lord_rork/Hoste ... ific-2.pdf

(Note to Firefox users: You'll probably find that you can only access the file by right-clicking on that link and selecting "Save Link As..." It seems to work in IE without any issues. The perils of free file hosting.)

All the major sections are now included in an index, which uses hyperlinks to take you straight to the section you need. Want to know how big your signature image can be? One click and you're there!

This is my first crack at this, so any feedback is welcome. I've tried to make it as usable as possible, but might want a bit of beautifying for all the style-conscious posters out there

.

Remember the rule about no flaming! :lol:

Rork
Admin

Seanzala · Post by **Seanzala** » Sat Feb 03, 2007 2:08 am

Well, its definately a good start. As you say, it may need a bit more stylising, perhaps make it look a bit more like d.net.

Anyway, good start.

SZ

Crazyhorse · Post by **Crazyhorse** » Sat Feb 03, 2007 3:20 am

Very nice start maybe make the background black and the lettering white to get the Druchii.net feel. Some pictures wouldn't hurt with the stylising. I also am pushing for the test

Fr0 · Post by **Fr0** » Sat Feb 03, 2007 10:01 am

*sets Rork's pants on fire*

haha.. I flamed you!

Looks good man, black background and purple/white text would look better. Good stuff man!

Fr0

Heptzul · Post by **Heptzul** » Sat Feb 03, 2007 11:29 am

Hmm. Good, but what's with the multitude of exclamation marks?

You sound like you're yelling at me half the time and the other half of the time your using them because you think that they're cool. In my [humble] opinion, the vast quantity of exclamation marks looks very unprofessional. It really irks me.

We do not tolerate Spamming! 'nuff said.

... is fine. Your paragraph on harassment, however, has exclamation marks after 5 out of the 7 sentences. I hate to nit-pick something that you've spent a lot of time on, but it really does make a difference.

In addition, the bit at the end with the list of common abbreviations is a bit cumbersome. Isn't there a topic that contains all of that information? Why not have a link to it like you have for several of the other questions?

I agree with crazyhorse and seanzala about the background & text. A more D.nety feel would be appropriate.

Post by **Rork** » Sat Feb 03, 2007 11:56 am

Heptzul: Aside from correcting the spelling, that's literally a copy of the existing FAQ with a few images (and a prod about Khaine and Khorne :lol:

) added on.

So ironically in this instance I didn't read the FAQ in detail

. It was getting late, m'kay?

Linking to the abbreviations could be a plan.

Post by **Rork** » Sat Feb 03, 2007 1:36 pm

Stage 1 beautification now added.

I would have used MA Bastarda (The Druchii Font) for the titles, but it's not the most readable of fonts. So I've used Casablanca antique, which is what you often see when GW inserts background pieces into their books articles (although that could be caslon...it looks the same

).

I suspect I'll have to slice the FAQ in two so that the abbreviations post can be linked to directly from the pdf.

Kir · Post by **Kir** » Sat Feb 03, 2007 1:46 pm

@rork, opera(very like firefox) can open it by directly clicking on it. must be some bug in firefox's non-base code.
Change the BGcolor and it should be fine.

Post by **Rork** » Sat Feb 03, 2007 2:12 pm

If I change the behaviour of firefox for handling pdfs, i.e. not using the plug-in and just opening acrobat separately, it works fine.

Computers...

Kir · Post by **Kir** » Sat Feb 03, 2007 2:20 pm

Note: the links don't work frontpage.

Post by **Rork** » Sat Feb 03, 2007 2:52 pm

kir wrote:Note: the links don't work frontpage.

...This doesn't get any easier, does it?

Cheers. I've put the direct links up which do work from the front page.

Crazyhorse · Post by **Crazyhorse** » Sat Feb 03, 2007 5:10 pm

Very nice only one thing that could be imporved in my opinion. The minior headings such as necromancy, polls and off topic should be in red. If they stand out people can not claim they blend in with all the white. Also they are important and well the other important headings are red. Other than that I think I am in love.

Gnosis · Post by **Gnosis** » Sat Feb 03, 2007 5:38 pm

An idea would be to supply people with our FAQ in different wallpaper format sizes.

Post by **Rork** » Sun Feb 04, 2007 12:13 am

Damnation wrote:An idea would be to supply people with our FAQ in different wallpaper format sizes.

I assume you mean to wallpaper their rooms, not their desktop background, with

.

The final part of the magna opus:

http://www.mediamax.com/lord_rork/Hoste ... ific-2.pdf

(All the forum specific FAQs)

You don't quite appreciate how unbelievably massive the rules FAQ is until you have to plough through it...

(read or die)

Thu Feb 22, 2007 8:35 pm

rork: i truly well know how messy and massive it is. I made it

but it does look good. If you want i can make another copy that is devided up in another folder if you want to be able to link to different parts

Cat-the-odd · Post by **Cat-the-odd** » Fri Feb 23, 2007 10:01 am

Hi Rork,

Putting the FAQ and Rules to a pdf is a very good Idea. Fonts and pictures make it better readable.
Still I've got the feeling that the druchii.net background messes a bit with the text making it hard to read. (and actually I'm not a fan of white on black)

Regards, CAT

Post by **Daeron** » Fri Mar 09, 2007 12:43 pm

Well I think it is a nice idea. Still, I wonder... With PHPBB fora like this one, shouldn't it be possible to add a 'print' script? Such a script, added to the overall header or something could pop up a window with a semi-customized look of that one forum/topic/post such that it prints out more nicely. Similarily, the PDF could be generated either using printing drivers or LaTeX stuff. The interesting about this approach is that it is a one-time programming job to get it to work and it immediately applies to the current text, which makes the document easier to maintain. Still... I have not yet programmed such stuff myself yet and I do expect it not be a 1,2,3 job

Post by **Rork** » Fri Mar 09, 2007 1:06 pm

It would be nice if we could get the FAQs to work like the php FAQ (Control panel -> Forum FAQ). It has a series of questions that are links, which take you straight to the answer you need.

But I don't know if that's implementable on a forum basis outside of having the questions as links in the first post of a thread, with them linking to the answers that are replies.

Post by **Daeron** » Fri Mar 09, 2007 1:24 pm

Well... the FAQ info is kind of encoded in the PHPBB script in one of the 'program files' so it isn't looked up in a database such as posts and threads. It would require either 'hacking' the code to add a FAQ-thread or it would demand creating a new pageview such as "viewtopic" etc. This requires some work as building a TOC is not a kind of functionality supported by the classic PHPBB scripts. Hmm.... I think I was just way off with my suggestion

Opera of death · Post by **Opera of death** » Fri Mar 09, 2007 1:26 pm

Great piece of work. Now all you need it to get people to read them

You could consider adding the link to these FAQs and a simple note out with the Registration Confirmation e-mail. Then there is no excuse.

Post by **Rork** » Fri Mar 09, 2007 1:43 pm

We'd already thought of that, sadly:

The Welcome PM wrote:You will find this site's Forum Rules here. This will answer many of your questions about the site; as well as the additions to the Dark Elf army itself including the devastating Gauntlet of Power!
You can find the Rules FAQs here.
And the commonly used abbreviations can be found here.

You can see my subtle influence regarding the gauntlet of power

Opera of death · Post by **Opera of death** » Fri Mar 09, 2007 2:53 pm

Thanks for letting us know. This wonderful piece of work is more recent than even my joining date.