089 - Identify and document frequently asked questions in the Joomla! 1.5 Genera

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Annas890
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089 - Identify and document frequently asked questions in the Joomla! 1.5 Genera

Post by Annas890 » Sat Dec 01, 2007 9:01 pm

Hello all! I have claimed this issue:
This task is to review one 24 hour period of posts on the joomla.org 1.5
general forum and collect data on what questions are asked or help is
requested. Identify the most common questions, rank them by frequency and
summarize the consensus answer to the each (if one exists) or summarize the
other responses.

Work Product
Produce a spreadsheet or document with the questions rank ordered by
frequency. Provide links to relevant threads for each item. If the question
seems to have a consensus answer, provide that. If there is not a consensus
answer, summarize the responses to it.
The task is pretty straight forward, buy my main concern is that the task also says:
The document should comply with current Joomla! Editorial Style Guidelines
and guidelines for the Template Tutorials Project.
What exactly are the current  Joomla! Editorial Style Guidelines?

I am just starting this task now, and I'm sure I'll have more questions later on, I appreciate any and all help.

Google Task
[me=AmyStephen]Changed subject slightly for sorting all threads to match against Google resource  :)[/me]
Last edited by AmyStephen on Wed Dec 12, 2007 3:51 am, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: 089 - Identify and document frequently asked questions in the Joomla! 1.5 Ge

Post by jlleblanc » Sat Dec 01, 2007 9:35 pm

Welcome to the contest! Here's a link to the ESG (in PDF): http://help.joomla.org/workshop/documen ... v1.0.5.pdf

Let us know if you need any help.
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Re: 089 - Identify and document frequently asked questions in the Joomla! 1.5 Genera

Post by Annas890 » Sun Dec 02, 2007 4:33 am

Should I submit the document in Excel or in OpenOffice?


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Re: 089 - Identify and document frequently asked questions in the Joomla! 1.5 Genera

Post by Annas890 » Sun Dec 02, 2007 7:33 pm

I finished my task. I;m attaching what I have completed to this post. Please feel free to look over it and give me your suggestions as you see fit. Thank you in advance.
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Re: 089 - Identify and document frequently asked questions in the Joomla! 1.5 Ge

Post by trombonechamp » Sun Dec 02, 2007 8:14 pm

I think it is supposed to be in both Openoffice and PDF format.
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Re: 089 - Identify and document frequently asked questions in the Joomla! 1.5 Genera

Post by Annas890 » Mon Dec 03, 2007 4:50 am

I think I will just submit it in Microsoft Excel 2003 unless I am told other wise. Does any other members of the community have anything to contribute to my task?

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Re: 089 - Identify and document frequently asked questions in the Joomla! 1.5 Ge

Post by AmyStephen » Mon Dec 03, 2007 5:24 am

That's really good stuff.

Maybe for extra credit you could come up with ideas on how we might engage more community members in helping answer questions so that we don't have so many "No answers"!

Truthfully - you got some good stuff in there. Remarkable how you hit the big ticket items.

Hopefully, more feedback from the community, but, I for one appreciated this.

Thanks!
Amy :)

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Re: 089 - Identify and document frequently asked questions in the Joomla! 1.5 Ge

Post by Annas890 » Mon Dec 03, 2007 6:14 am

AmyStephen wrote: Maybe for extra credit you could come up with ideas on how we might engage more community members in helping answer questions so that we don't have so many "No answers"!
Thanks for the feedback. I agree with what you are saying. As I was compiling the information, it was quite unfortunate seeing so many people have their questions and concerns unresolved, I made my changes to the document and have added my suggestions and how to better engage users. The editted version has been attached.

Also, I am still unsure. What is the proper format for me to send my completed document in. Does it need to be in Open Office, Microsoft Excel, or PDF? 
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Last edited by Annas890 on Mon Dec 03, 2007 6:16 am, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: 089 - Identify and document frequently asked questions in the Joomla! 1.5 Ge

Post by mcsmom » Mon Dec 03, 2007 2:15 pm

We'd prefer Open Office, but Excel or even csv is fine.

I'll look through these this afternoon--but great work from what I have glanced out so far!
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Re: 089 - Identify and document frequently asked questions in the Joomla! 1.5 Ge

Post by mcsmom » Mon Dec 03, 2007 2:21 pm

I bet Amy could help you answer some of those questions with no answers ;)

If you want to do extra credit, what I would say is write the answers up a little more formally so I can just paste them into the help site!
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Re: 089 - Identify and document frequently asked questions in the Joomla! 1.5 Ge

Post by AmyStephen » Tue Dec 04, 2007 6:08 am

I agree with mcsmom. I certainly understand the benefit of building this material in a spreadsheet as you work through the forums. To be most beneficial to those who create the FAQ entries, moving this into an Open Office Writer .odt file would be handy. So, after considering mcmom's comments, please let us know when you are ready for a Final Review.

Thanks for this good work. Since I spend a bit of time in the forums, this one was very interesting to me.

Amy :)

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Re: 089 - Identify and document frequently asked questions in the Joomla! 1.5 Genera

Post by Annas890 » Wed Dec 05, 2007 2:10 am

Thanks for the comments. I'll get to making the suggested changes.

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Re: 089 - Identify and document frequently asked questions in the Joomla! 1.5 Ge

Post by Annas890 » Sat Dec 08, 2007 10:46 pm

(1)
AmyStephen wrote: I agree with mcsmom. I certainly understand the benefit of building this material in a spreadsheet as you work through the forums. To be most beneficial to those who create the FAQ entries, moving this into an Open Office Writer .odt file would be handy. So, after considering mcmom's comments, please let us know when you are ready for a Final Review.

Thanks for this good work. Since I spend a bit of time in the forums, this one was very interesting to me.

Amy :)
I started to make the suggested changes but I've encountered a problem. I think that the best option would be to keep the document in a spreadsheet format such as Calc because in my excel document, I have five different columns with information pertaining to each question asked. That is a lot of information. There is just not enough room to put it into a .odt file. Any suggestions?

(2)
Also mcsmom said
mcsmom wrote:
If you want to do extra credit, what I would say is write the answers up a little more formally so I can just paste them into the help site!
My second document that I uploaded already had the questions with a definite answers, with a formal answer. By formal, do you mean you want me to write the answer out in a complete sentence? Because the way I imagined the FAQ would be that the questions is posted in bold on a page, and underneath that question is the answer (without being in a complete secntence so the answer can be direct).

(3)

mcsmom said to ask you (Amy) to provide answers to the questions that had no answers. Should I do that? If so how should I arrage it, just a list of unanswered questions to you?
Last edited by Annas890 on Sat Dec 08, 2007 10:57 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: 089 - Identify and document frequently asked questions in the Joomla! 1.5 Genera

Post by Annas890 » Sun Dec 09, 2007 8:07 pm

It has been a whole day already and I have received a reply.

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Re: 089 - Identify and document frequently asked questions in the Joomla! 1.5 Ge

Post by AmyStephen » Sun Dec 09, 2007 8:21 pm

Annas890 wrote: (1)
AmyStephen wrote: I agree with mcsmom. I certainly understand the benefit of building this material in a spreadsheet as you work through the forums. To be most beneficial to those who create the FAQ entries, moving this into an Open Office Writer .odt file would be handy. So, after considering mcmom's comments, please let us know when you are ready for a Final Review.

Thanks for this good work. Since I spend a bit of time in the forums, this one was very interesting to me.

Amy :)
I started to make the suggested changes but I've encountered a problem. I think that the best option would be to keep the document in a spreadsheet format such as Calc because in my excel document, I have five different columns with information pertaining to each question asked. That is a lot of information. There is just not enough room to put it into a .odt file. Any suggestions?
Please do not use a spreadsheet. Use .odt, as we asked for last time. We cannot use it if it's in a spreadsheet. You can reformat the columns into rows so it fits nicely.
Annas890 wrote: (2)
Also mcsmom said
mcsmom wrote:
If you want to do extra credit, what I would say is write the answers up a little more formally so I can just paste them into the help site!
My second document that I uploaded already had the questions with a definite answers, with a formal answer. By formal, do you mean you want me to write the answer out in a complete sentence? Because the way I imagined the FAQ would be that the questions is posted in bold on a page, and underneath that question is the answer (without being in a complete secntence so the answer can be direct).
Use full sentences in the question and answer. Be brief.
Annas890 wrote: (3)

mcsmom said to ask you (Amy) to provide answers to the questions that had no answers. Should I do that? If so how should I arrage it, just a list of unanswered questions to you?
She was kidding. As a judge, I cannot give you the answer. An FAQ has Questions and Answers. If you were unable to find an answer, it cannot be an FAQ. It is best to omit it from your entry.
Annas890 wrote: It has been a whole day already and I have received a reply.
It was four days since you replied to us. And, you asked that the same response be given a second time.

Annas - open source communities tend to be staffed by unpaid volunteers. There are approximately GHOP 100 entries - more coming every day - and only a few of us responding. We are doing the best we can. Your patience is very much appreciated.

Please let us know when you have something to review.
Amy :)

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Re: 089 - Identify and document frequently asked questions in the Joomla! 1.5 Ge

Post by Annas890 » Sun Dec 09, 2007 8:41 pm

Okay, thanks for the quick response. As for the .odt format, is it okay for me to create the document in a landscape format as opposed to the regular portrait? That way I will have more room to work with.

And you said,
It was four days since you replied to us. And, you asked that the same response be given a second time.

Annas - open source communities tend to be staffed by unpaid volunteers. There are approximately GHOP 100 entries - more coming every day - and only a few of us responding. We are doing the best we can. Your patience is very much appreciated.
I'm apologize if my tone in the previous post seemed argumentative or hostile, that wasn't my intent. Its just that I only have time to do this on the weekends and the deadline for my project is comming up and I want to finish when I have the time :) . Thank you.
Last edited by Annas890 on Sun Dec 09, 2007 8:46 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: 089 - Identify and document frequently asked questions in the Joomla! 1.5 Ge

Post by AmyStephen » Mon Dec 10, 2007 6:18 am

Annas890 wrote: Okay, thanks for the quick response. As for the .odt format, is it okay for me to create the document in a landscape format as opposed to the regular portrait? That way I will have more room to work with.
Check out the FAQs beneath the Help button and look to see how those are formatted. Maybe you could hand in your spreadsheet, plus a very simplified Q & A so that it can be copied into the FAQs. (FAQs are what the task is hoping to produce.)

If you are happy as it is, you can also turn it in now. It's good work. We gave recommendations that you can consider and use or not use. Honestly that's your call.

Good luck,
Amy :)

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Re: 089 - Identify and document frequently asked questions in the Joomla! 1.5 Genera

Post by Annas890 » Wed Dec 12, 2007 2:59 am

I have completed the task and I am ready to have it reviewed. I have attached the document, and also added a short commentry (introduction) which I suggest to be read before the other documents. This task, and actually learning about Joomla! has been a greate experience. I hope that my work and effort are appreciated. Thank You.
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Re: 089 - Identify and document frequently asked questions in the Joomla! 1.5 Ge

Post by AmyStephen » Wed Dec 12, 2007 3:12 am

Excellent work! You are certainly very skilled and precise in your work. These are very good topics to have lifted from the forums and the answers to the questions nicely done.

I will look for a second approval in additon to mine (since we try to get two).

Thank you so very much for your contributions to the Joomla! community. With a second approval, we will mark this complete, then you can post your final document to Google, after which we will close the task at that location.

Then, you are free to choose another task. I hope you do, as you are very talented.

Thank you,
Amy :)

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Re: 089 - Identify and document frequently asked questions in the Joomla! 1.5 Genera

Post by Annas890 » Wed Dec 12, 2007 3:15 am

Thank you so much, I greatly appreciate your comments. I have found the Joomla! community to be very helpful and committed to helping each other. I now see that part of the reason the Joomla! is such a good program is because of all the people behind it who help to make it better; be it by explaining one aspect of the program, or just interacting with the members. Thanks again for your kind comments.

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Re: 089 - Identify and document frequently asked questions in the Joomla! 1.5 Ge

Post by mcsmom » Wed Dec 12, 2007 3:49 am

Anna,

This work is accepted and the task will be marked complete as soon as you upload to google.

Nice work! I'm looking forward to adding these faqs to the help site.
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