Zugg Software :: View topic

Posted: Thu Oct 28, 2004 9:23 pm

I've been working on the Knowledge Base module for this web site trying to improve how online documentation will be handled.

I've updated the eMobius design documents to reflect this new documentation structure. To see the improvements, click the Home link in the toolbar above to go to the main Portal page. Then select Articles from the navigation window on the left. Once you are in the Knowledge Base, select eMobius Design articles, then scroll down past the subtopics and select the "zApp Objects" document.

Now, when you are viewing the document in the main part of the window, you will see a column on the left that shows various navigation links for the document. At the top are optional "See Also" links that link to specific other documents in the library. After that is the table-of-contents structure showing the "parent" document, any sibling documents, and any child documents. After that is a "category" area where any other articles in the same keyword categories are shown. Each document has a list of keywords that is used to display related articles. Finally, at the bottom of this column is the "Related links" area where any document that has links to the current document are shown, listed in relevance order.

Let me know what you think about this new structure. If it's easy, I'm going to try and write a conversion program to transfer all of the zMUD help files into this format. Stay tuned for more info on that.

SubAdmin Joined: 18 Nov 2001 Posts: 5182

This seems easy enough when accessed through the portal page. If you happen to click it the wrong way (or through the forums) it is interpretted through the forum system and loses the left panel.

My only concern with converting the zMud help to similar such pages is the multiplication of cross references needed. The indexes currently make a fair attempt to provide many words under which a page can be found. What you have so far works more like the contents, providing categories; again multiple cross linking is currently used to make the help as helpful as possible.

Don't get me wrong, I would love to see the help in a good online state that Google could cache and search with. Especially if the pages have a nice link to the Zuggsoft home Twisted Evil

. I am also willing, and glad, to do anything I possible can to massage the help into a form that makes this conversion easier. I am just unsure how helpful such help can be made; and how much use it would receive.