Re: FAQ formatting

• Messages sorted by: [ date ][ thread ][ subject ][ author ]
• Next message: Terry Carroll: "Re: CHEATERS "R" US (fwd)"
• Previous message: Kate the Short: "Re: FAQ formatting"
• Maybe in reply to: Rattmann: "FAQ formatting"
• Next in thread: Pablo Sanchez: "Re: FAQ formatting"

> Well, personally, I like the idea of making available multiple formats.
> There have been some complaints from people who go on the web to find
> my FAQ (http://www.nyx.net/~snorwood/faq.html, if anyone cares), only
> to get it in plaintext, four-part ASCII, with no internal references.
>
> On the other hand, I feel _very_ strongly that if a FAQ must be available
> in any single format, it _must_ be plain ASCII.

My feeling is that it's only partially a technical question, and the key
is to adapt your writing to the dual medium of web and ASCII. What I'm
leaning towards is writing as if for pure ASCII or print medium, so that
any URLs are expressly stated, and then putting in the links only on the
URLs.

For example, if I were writing something just for a web page, I'd write
something like:

The <a href=http://lcweb.loc.gov/copyright>Copyright Office</a>
web site has many useful
<a href=http://lcweb.loc.gov/copyright/forms.html>forms</a> and
<a href=gopher://marvel.loc.gov:70/11/copyright/circs>circulars</a>.

But since I'm writing for both web and ASCII, I'll instead write:

The Copyright Office web site has many useful forms and circulars.
The Office's home page is at
<a href=http://lcweb.loc.gov/copyright>
http://lcweb.loc.gov/copyright</a>. The forms are at
<a href=http://lcweb.loc.gov/copyright/forms.html>
http://lcweb.loc.gov/copyright/forms.html</a>, and the circulars
are at <a href=gopher://marvel.loc.gov:70/11/copyright/circs>
gopher://marvel.loc.gov:70/11/copyright/circs</a>.

Then I'll display it using Netscape or Lynx and save the text.

The result is that both the web reader and the reader reading ASCII or
print get usable text:

The Copyright Office web site has many useful forms and circulars. The
Office's home page is at http://lcweb.loc.gov/copyright. The forms are
at http://lcweb.loc.gov/copyright/forms.html, and the circulars are at
gopher://marvel.loc.gov:70/11/copyright/circs.

The web user will see the URLs highlighted as links. It will read a
little stilted to a web user, but it will still be universally usable.

--
Terry Carroll       | "Al Gore is doing for the federal government what
Santa Clara, CA     | he did for the Macarena.  He's removing all the
carroll@tjc.com     | unnecessary steps."
Modell delenda est  |                - Bill Clinton, September 20, 1996

• Next message: Terry Carroll: "Re: CHEATERS "R" US (fwd)"
• Previous message: Kate the Short: "Re: FAQ formatting"
• Maybe in reply to: Rattmann: "FAQ formatting"
• Next in thread: Pablo Sanchez: "Re: FAQ formatting"

[ Usenet Hypertext FAQ Archive | Search Mail Archive | Authors | Usenet ]
[ 1993 | 1994 | 1995 | 1996 | 1997 ]