Category: this-website · Clear
It is a demonstration website for a home-grown content management system. It exists primarily to show what the system can do, rather than to sell you anything.
There are probably several bits of it that are considerably more complicated than they need to be. That's sort of the point.
Yes. No. Maybe.
The website is real, the content is partly real, the CMS is real, and the reasons for putting all of this together are probably best discussed over coffee.
The CMS was developed by Chris Maggs, who is also responsible for this website.
It has been developed over a rather long period of time, with new ideas, features and the occasional bout of completely unnecessary tinkering added along the way.
Because it is demonstrating the CMS rather than winning a design award.
The important thing is what happens behind the scenes. The same system can produce completely different designs, layouts and types of content depending on what is required.
Yes.
FAQ items can be organised into categories, making large collections of questions considerably easier to navigate.
For example, a site could have:
- General Questions
- Products
- Ordering
- Delivery
- Technical Support
- Frequently Asked Questions About Frequently Asked Questions
The last one may not be necessary.
Yes. An answer can contain normal formatted content, rather than being restricted to a single paragraph.
That means you can include things such as:
- Lists
- Headings
- Links
- Images
- Tables
- Emphasis and other formatting
- Longer explanations
Basically, if the CMS can handle it as content, the FAQ answer probably can too.
Because blank modules are not particularly interesting.
Demo content makes it possible to see how a module behaves when it contains actual information. It also makes it much easier to spot things that need improving.
A module containing:
"Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet..."
doesn't tell you very much.
A module containing 15 questions, different answer lengths, lists, tables and images tells you considerably more.
Within reason, yes.
The whole idea of using a CMS is that you shouldn't need to rebuild a page every time somebody thinks of another question.
If you have 500 genuinely useful questions, however, perhaps consider whether you actually need an FAQ or whether you have accidentally written a book.
That's generally when you ask the question.
If this were a real support FAQ, you might find a contact form, telephone number or email address here.
As this is a demonstration site, you could also try shouting at the screen.
Results may vary.
There are probably people who have written books about this.
For most websites, though, the basic rule is simple: ask the question people actually want answered, then answer it clearly.
There is little point having an FAQ question like:
"What are the key considerations relating to our service provision?"
when the person actually wants to know:
"How much does it cost?"
Because you have to demonstrate an FAQ module somehow.
And once you start asking questions about questions, things can get surprisingly philosophical.
Q: Is a question still a question if nobody asks it?
A: That's probably a question for another FAQ.