Date: Mon, 30 Oct 2000 14:34:39 -0800 From: Kent Stewart <kstewart@urx.com> To: Jordan Hubbard <jkh@winston.osd.bsdi.com> Cc: Michael Lucas <mwlucas@blackhelicopters.org>, doc@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: Any comments? Message-ID: <39FDF77F.A916CE2A@urx.com> References: <7939.972943916@winston.osd.bsdi.com>
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Jordan Hubbard wrote: > > > More modern technical support systems usually use a "wizard" that > > walks you through the troubleshooting process. Half our problem is > > helping the user define the problem, after all. > > Yep! > > > Suggested solution: > > > > A Web-based "problem tree" that walks the user through to a pointer > > for the correct information. > > Damn, and there I was reading along and thinking "Yes! He's about to > suggest and volunteer to create an expert system using some inference > language like CLIPS or PROLOG! Our hero!" and then I saw "Web-based". > Still, even a web page-based interface using static content would be > an improvement. :-) > > > It would open with a brief description of how to use the tree, and how > > to write the FreeBSD lists for help when the tree fails. It would > > then proceed to break down general categories of problems. Following > > the links presents the user with a more specific list of problems. > > Yep yep. You remember that game for guessing the kind of animal you > had and which kept a simplistic knowledge base? (damn, why isn't that > in /usr/games! :) You want something like that, only it should eat > some more concise knowledge base format and spit out the appropriate > HTML to express the decision tree. It wouldn't be an expert system, > but it could play one on TV. :-) Some of it could be an HTML file that is maintained using cvsup on a system. You ship a release version similar to the handbook. I have started capturing all of my cvsup logs and use cvsuplog to translate them into HTML. It makes everything a lot easier to deal with. If they aren't using a window manager on FreeBSD, they have an MS product near by and they could use it to go down the list. It lets the newbie use what they are most comfortable with. It would also help them during the transition from one product to the other, which is when the feel most vulnerable. Adding a link to an html file on KDE's desktop is pretty easy and my "Docs" folder points to the "Articles" and "Books" folders. I only need 2 or 3 clicks and I am in the document of my choice. One of the reasons I think the doc-proj is so important. Adding Mike's decision tree to that folder would be trivial. It could even be in the default ini-files but I don't have any idea how to do that. Kent > > - Jordan > > To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org > with "unsubscribe freebsd-doc" in the body of the message -- Kent Stewart Richland, WA mailto:kbstew99@hotmail.com http://kstewart.urx.com/kstewart/index.html FreeBSD News http://daily.daemonnews.org/ To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-doc" in the body of the message
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