FAQs on FAQs: Populating your knowledge base

<p>Welcome to the third installment of FAQs on FAQs, a series designed to help you get the most out of your FAQ. We've already covered the built-in features for your FAQ - <a href="http://libraryh3lp.blogspot.com/2013/03/faqs-on-faqs-chat-and-e-mail.html">real-time chat and e-mail contact options</a> plus the <a href="http://libraryh3lp.blogspot.com/2013/03/faqs-on-faqs-mobile-its-in-there.html">mobile-specific view for patrons browsing on smartphones</a>.  Let's switch gears  a bit and talk content. After all, what use is a knowledge base without content?<br /><div><br /></div><div>Questions (and associated answers) form the heart of your FAQ site. Every aspect of your FAQ site is already dedicated to helping patrons locate the best answer to their questions. So your job is simply to add content. The more content you provide, the better chance your patrons have for success.</div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2BLeFykCiJOU-3tMAeyiTPyNwiMwON3NTrVeCWus5_PAFSVPlhKM-dbsuSpCoiF0DQNlXYoSgY5T9WpjMaN1qe_rc-cYezetYiBOcSO8ur2aGNyH7tqsMkbn4GAkLDt7qGpoGZ_oj3ttV/s1600/faq-edit.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="224" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2BLeFykCiJOU-3tMAeyiTPyNwiMwON3NTrVeCWus5_PAFSVPlhKM-dbsuSpCoiF0DQNlXYoSgY5T9WpjMaN1qe_rc-cYezetYiBOcSO8ur2aGNyH7tqsMkbn4GAkLDt7qGpoGZ_oj3ttV/s320/faq-edit.png" width="320" /></a></div>Manage questions and answers directly within your FAQ site via <a href="http://docs.libraryh3lp.com/faq-questions">in-place editing</a>.<br /><br />Add questions using the Add Question button just below your search box.<br /><br />Edit/delete existing questions using the buttons on the top-right corner of each question.<br /><br />And no worries about needing to know the nitty gritty of HTML, the question editor provides a rich text interface.<br /><br />Once your FAQ site is populated with content, your patrons will be able to:<br /><br /><div><ul><li>scroll through all questions, organized by most viewed on the main page of your FAQ</li><li>click a topic in the tag cloud to scroll through all questions tagged with a particular topic</li><li>search by keyword filtered by topic in the search box at the top of every page</li></ul></div><br />Have any suggestions or ideas for the FAQs on FAQs series? Want to get your own FAQ site set up? <a href="mailto:support@libraryh3lp.com">Let us know</a>!</div></p>

Welcome to the third installment of FAQs on FAQs, a series designed to help you get the most out of your FAQ. We've already covered the built-in features for your FAQ - real-time chat and e-mail contact options plus the mobile-specific view for patro…

FAQs on FAQs: Mobile? It's in there!

<p>Welcome back to FAQs on FAQs, a series designed to help you get the most out of your FAQ site. Last time, we covered the <a href="http://libraryh3lp.blogspot.com/2013/03/faqs-on-faqs-chat-and-e-mail.html">automagic real-time chat and e-mail integrations</a> built into every FAQ site. In this installment, we keep the built-in feature ball rolling and talk mobile.<br /><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGt3-Y8OF9dm9Ty3hnerVd6W2mbkDWBAs1hLEiTkq0i0cpnVLDKpzUJEm6UKAoUZ-_BOzUqnKmW1IcESRa16yfBsVf6APLpKo3YiJzNEbIN9DAE0LO_oCQclWvwRD_qHA6Db3ZNnhOhf83/s1600/mobile-faq.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGt3-Y8OF9dm9Ty3hnerVd6W2mbkDWBAs1hLEiTkq0i0cpnVLDKpzUJEm6UKAoUZ-_BOzUqnKmW1IcESRa16yfBsVf6APLpKo3YiJzNEbIN9DAE0LO_oCQclWvwRD_qHA6Db3ZNnhOhf83/s200/mobile-faq.png" width="181" /></a></div>Mobile patrons on a smart phone automagically see a mobile-specific view of your FAQ site rather than the default desktop view. The mobile view is built-in and works out of the box. No fancy programming required. No hours wasted fiddling. It just works.<br /><br />Your mobile FAQ has four views - Search, Topics, Browse, and Ask Us. Search provides instant search results for queries. Topics provides a list of topics showing the number of questions tagged with that topic. Browse lists all your questions. Ask Us includes a mobile chat widget and e-mail form so that patrons can contact you.<br /><br /><br />You can visit your mobile FAQ directly by appending a "/m" to your FAQ's URL.<br /><br /><ul><li>LibraryH3lp's FAQ: <a href="http://ask.libraryh3lp.com/">http://ask.libraryh3lp.com</a></li><li>LibraryH3lp's mobile FAQ: <a href="http://ask.libraryh3lp.com/m">http://ask.libraryh3lp.com/m</a> </li></ul><br />Have any suggestions for FAQs on FAQs topics? Want to get your own FAQ site going? (Remember, each LibraryH3lp trial and subscription comes with unlimited FAQs at no additional charge!) E-mail <a href="mailto:support@libraryh3lp.com" target="_blank">support</a> and we'll make it happen. :-)</div></p>

Welcome back to FAQs on FAQs, a series designed to help you get the most out of your FAQ site. Last time, we covered the automagic real-time chat and e-mail integrations built into every FAQ site. In this installment, we keep the built-in feature bal…

FAQs on FAQs: chat and e-mail integrations

<p>Hi all! Lots of you are getting <a href="http://docs.libraryh3lp.com/faq-intro">FAQ sites</a> going. Adding questions. Customizing. Branding. We are really impressed by all the creativity!<br /><br />To help everyone get the most out of their FAQ site (or sites - plural - you get unlimited FAQs at no additional charge with every LibraryH3lp account), we'll blog regularly in the coming weeks about FAQ-related topics - including HTML, CSS, and quite possibly some JavaScript. We're calling the series FAQs on FAQs and hope you will find it a useful source of information and inspiration.<br /><br />Today's installment covers the automagic <a href="http://docs.libraryh3lp.com/faq-integrations">chat and e-mail integrations within your FAQ site</a>. Let's go!<br /><br />Each FAQ site is <a href="http://docs.libraryh3lp.com/faq-configuration">associated with a queue and an e-mail address</a>, making it easier for patrons to find answers using three communication methods. The FAQs cover pre-canned commonly asked questions. Chat gives patrons real-time access to librarians. E-mail lets patrons ask questions when your virtual reference service is unavailable or if they aren't interested in using chat.<br /><br />The automagicness happens in two key areas within your FAQ site - the "Ask Us" button and the "Not finding what you need? Contact us!" link at the bottom of every page  Both of these elements know when your queue is available, showing chat when virtual reference is available and an e-mail contact form otherwise. No fancy programming needed on your end. It just works.<br /><br />A third area, the right sidebar, includes separate links for "Real-time chat" and e-mail.  This way patrons can see at a glance whether or not the chat service is online. And they can always opt to email instead of chat.  The "Real-time chat" link can be customized any way you'd like, and it is not clickable when the chat service is offline.<br /><br />Want more than just a patron's name, e-mail address, and question when patrons use the e-mail form? Sure! <a href="http://docs.libraryh3lp.com/faq-integrations#email">Edit the email.html template and add any additional HTML form field you'd like</a>.<br /><br />Have any suggestions for the FAQs on FAQs series? Want to get your own FAQ site set up? <a href="mailto:support@libraryh3lp.com" target="_blank">E-mail support</a> and we'll make it happen. :-)</p>

Hi all! Lots of you are getting FAQ sites going. Adding questions. Customizing. Branding. We are really impressed by all the creativity!To help everyone get the most out of their FAQ site (or sites - plural - you get unlimited FAQs at no additional c…

Scheduled US server downtime morning of Wed, March 13

<p>We're planning for 15-20 minutes of downtime tomorrow morning (Wednesday, March 13) around 7am Eastern time for our main US server.  We are upgrading our database servers to address the root cause of the problem encountered today around 2:40pm Eastern.  We will <a href="https://twitter.com/libraryh3lp" target="_blank">tweet our progress</a> to keep everyone informed.  We are sorry for the interruption and thank everyone for their patience!</p>

We're planning for 15-20 minutes of downtime tomorrow morning (Wednesday, March 13) around 7am Eastern time for our main US server.  We are upgrading our database servers to address the root cause of the problem encountered today around 2:40pm Easter…

Important webchat client updates

<p><div>Happy Monday! We've rolled out an updated version of our native <a href="http://docs.libraryh3lp.com/clients-web.html" target="_blank">webchat client</a>.  This release includes significant improvements that simplify staffing workflows and increase robustness.  Let's take a look!<br /><br /><b>Flexible queue selection dialog.</b>  Have a lot of queues?  We've placed a time-saving "Select All/None" checkbox near the top.  And if you happen to have a loooooong list of queues, you'll get a scrollbar to more easily navigate the list on a variety of screen sizes.</div><div><span style="text-align: center;"><br /></span></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGE8Zsy5MEnSsRFcgGHA5uRv8zziO2aMCS5VZEELFV464u1Bi9Nx5ylFJBwPXkvDvwD2g6Y-cAvrJ2DX2Qh-fIuaxJyeNeKBVAoEw87Daf9NI5c2IIO3E1wm8BUo4DZBkSb_yA8PBOrIM/s1600/queue-selection.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGE8Zsy5MEnSsRFcgGHA5uRv8zziO2aMCS5VZEELFV464u1Bi9Nx5ylFJBwPXkvDvwD2g6Y-cAvrJ2DX2Qh-fIuaxJyeNeKBVAoEw87Daf9NI5c2IIO3E1wm8BUo4DZBkSb_yA8PBOrIM/s1600/queue-selection.png" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">All/None checkbox on queue selection dialog.</td></tr></tbody></table><div><span style="text-align: center;"><b><br /></b></span><span style="text-align: center;"><b>New questions appear behind active conversations.</b>  New chats can't "jump to the front of the line" by hijacking typing focus from a current chat. Incoming chat windows appear behind existing chat windows.</span><br /><span style="text-align: center;"><b style="text-align: start;"><br /></b></span><span style="text-align: center;"><b style="text-align: start;">Auto-reconnect</b><span style="text-align: start;">.  The webchat client does a better job of cleanly reconnecting after brief network dropouts. </span></span><br /><span style="text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: start;"><br /></span></span></div><div><b>Attention-grabbing disconnect alerts.</b>   When network problems totally disconnect you from our server, we'll alert you with the familiar "sonar ping" sound on a 30 second loop.  And if you have <a href="http://docs.libraryh3lp.com/clients-web.html#desktop-notifications" target="_blank">Desktop Notifications</a> enabled in Firefox or Chrome, you'll also receive a visual alert in the same style that you would for an incoming chat, even if you have the webchat client minimized or hidden behind other applications.</div><div><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZxXPLqnUyaClBjNgqB7-FX7djC88xMjbbzTVuuGLXUWmcaxED3Ai3ae_wBP8Pk2hYzIYU6CGT_40c0vnD8z9CeEa9gkUzYkXROKyGNUzoae04snB4ATRgqpanOZ6trQbyGc2fpV7swH4/s1600/disconnected-desktop.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZxXPLqnUyaClBjNgqB7-FX7djC88xMjbbzTVuuGLXUWmcaxED3Ai3ae_wBP8Pk2hYzIYU6CGT_40c0vnD8z9CeEa9gkUzYkXROKyGNUzoae04snB4ATRgqpanOZ6trQbyGc2fpV7swH4/s1600/disconnected-desktop.png" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Desktop alert above system tray showing disconnect.</td></tr></tbody></table><div><br /></div><div><b>Character counter for SMS questions appears all the time</b>, not just when composing.  It's a bright orange 140 character countdown in the top right conversation window corner that only shows up for SMS messages.  The webchat client has had it since the beginning, but until now, it only showed up when the librarian was actively typing.  Now it is there all the time, as a <a href="http://docs.libraryh3lp.com/incoming-sms-appearance.html" target="_blank">further alert that you've got someone texting</a>, in addition to an optional special queue avatar.</div><div><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheROz1s92OCt84V1HnbgdSVH_M0awGEf3APYBAEb_mwDXfNAkDP2nhgclOLbgLJZTqE2qzB5aNCzHxbm_6Qtqq7w4I6pcf1DHpPuZqQYV7Q1TqwQ4ibBZtIqDMFfpyIkGx_TmmNOP6tpM/s1600/character-countdown.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="220" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheROz1s92OCt84V1HnbgdSVH_M0awGEf3APYBAEb_mwDXfNAkDP2nhgclOLbgLJZTqE2qzB5aNCzHxbm_6Qtqq7w4I6pcf1DHpPuZqQYV7Q1TqwQ4ibBZtIqDMFfpyIkGx_TmmNOP6tpM/s320/character-countdown.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Orange character countdown for SMS in top right corner. <br />This queue also has a special cell phone avatar for further<br />alerting that the patron is texting.</td></tr></tbody></table><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div></p>

Happy Monday! We've rolled out an updated version of our native webchat client.  This release includes significant improvements that simplify staffing workflows and increase robustness.  Let's take a look!Flexible queue selection dialog.  Have a lot …