I'm sure this has been brought up before, but it isn't showing up in a search.

I'd like to have an FAQs page. I tried FAQMasterFlex, but am not super happy with it. Is there a module for FAQs in Drupal? Or is there some way using standard stuff to do it?

-- Nancy

Comments

NancyDru’s picture

No comments in over a day?

VM’s picture

couldn't a frequently asked questions page be done with the core book.module as the drupal.org handbooks are done ?

May even take it a step further and install the CCK.module and create a new FAQ content type and add that specific content type to a specific vocabulary in drupal's taxonomy system.

The problem is no one can be sure what you envision as a FAQ's page.

it could also be simply done on a page content type and HTML added that displayed the FAQ's.

as you see there is more than one way to skin a FAQ : )

if you have a mock up or a detailed explaination as to how you want your FAQ system to work, please post back that information.

NancyDru’s picture

VM’s picture

I don't see why the regular one couldn't be created as a page content with the HTML cut and pasted from original site.

NancyDru’s picture

I certainly could do that, and will for the short run. But it's not a very elegant way to maintain the content. The FAQs do get updated from time to time.

I guess it's time to get very serious about learning PHP...

VM’s picture

If you want something dynamic , then I refer you to the CCK.module it allows you to create your own content types.
This would allow you to create a content Type FAQ's, then you can use the contemplate.module to theme the faqs, and the views.module if needed to list the FAQ's.

if you wanted to get fancy with a static page, you could list the questions as links, and when a user clicks on the question, rather than using an anchor page, the answer is revealed under the question that is clicked on.

I don't think you would have to learn any PHP for this type of desire.

NancyDru’s picture

Thanks for your suggestions. I can't believe no one has ever written an FAQ module for Drupal as many as there are available on the web.

I'm very new to Drupal, so am reluctant to go adding a bunch more modules, especially since I am using 4.7 and the release of 5 is imminent. But I can certainly put this on my ToDo list.

Your "Link/Click" suggestion sounds interesting, but I have no idea off the top of my head how to do that.

VM’s picture

ahhh my fault, i didnt finish my thought there. The "Link/Click" type links are done with DHTML.

this can be seen in action here http://www.htmlbyexample.com/dhtml.htm along with code.

click on the "Sylvester Stuart has today's weather link" down at the bottom of the page. it will expose a hidden row when clicked on.

I would guess no module was developed because of the many varieties by which FAQ's pages can be designed.
Drupal.org handles it this way http://drupal.org/Troubleshooting-FAQ with the book.module.

NancyDru’s picture

Ok, I see how you do it. But how do you get the JS into the HEAD section?

dman’s picture

plus a bit of custom work to render the taxonomy entries

title link
title link
title link
...
body
body
body

as is a common 'FAQ' layout

http://www.biosecurity.govt.nz/faq

(WHOAH, Last years site is now broken in IE7)

... I was going to post the code, but it's Drupal 4.6...

.dan.
How to troubleshoot Drupal | http://www.coders.co.nz/

NancyDru’s picture

That's a complicated layout, but something along the lines of what I was thinking about somewhere down the road. I kind of had a feeling that I'd also have to learn about taxonomies.

dman’s picture

As you can see, we had a lot of individual 'Q's to handle, and a dozen or more categories. Allowing free-form additions into the future. In order to allow Qs to be classified into more than one area (it wasn't strictly neccessary, but was free to impliment) Each individual entry is its own, small node.

The subject FAQ page is actually a collation - functionally identical to the /taxonomy/term/n URLs provided by taxonomy out-of-the box.
My change (as described above) was to render the titles in a list before the bodies/teasers linked to anchors further down the page.

If you just want the one-page FAQ, if you are wanting simpler, it would match up with one of those list pages, without the top-level subject indexes.

The actual Questions, if you click down to the titles themselves, are also available as stand-alone nodes. The link is sorta subtle (click the inline title), and mainly there for content editors benefit - they can't edit the global list, but once they view a single entry/paragraph, the 'edit' link appears for them.
It's also groovy for bookmarks.

If you want to avoid taxonomies altogether, you'd have to create a FAQ content type, then look in the drupal page snippets to find a way to display all pages of that content type in one page. It's not hard, but not trivial either to get it looking just right.

As you can see, there's a dozen ways that people think of FAQs. No one-size-fits-all solution. You're probably best building your one page by hand. Over-engineering a solution that ends up producing just one page is not worth the bother.

.dan.
How to troubleshoot Drupal | http://www.coders.co.nz/

dman’s picture

stella’s picture

Hi,

I've just created a Drupal-5 version of the faq module - version 5.x-1.0. Please play around with it. All feedback appreciated!

If enough people want a Drupal-4.7 version of it, I may do a backport, so please let me know if you require this.

Cheers,
Stella

NancyDru’s picture

artketubah’s picture

I'm also new to Drupal. I've been learning to use the faq module - it seems to do a lot better job than FAQMasterFlex.

My question is: How can I make it so that relevant faqs show up on certain pages (for example, on a page about Roses, all the Faqs that I have tagged as Rose-related will show up on the right-hand block.)

I bet there is a way but I'm not seeing it!

NancyDru’s picture

When you set up your taxonomy, you can set it so that an FAQ can have more than one term assigned to it. For example, you have main FAQ categories for "Growing in Pots" and "Hothouses," but you can have other terms for "Roses" or "Gardenias" and you would select one of each type of term. That way you set a block to pull the associated terms into it.

Nancy W.
now running 5 sites on Drupal so far
Drupal Cookbook (for New Drupallers)
Adding Hidden Design or How To notes in Your Database