Frequently Asked Questions Lists

About FAQs

Frequently Asked Questions are just that...lists of questions that visitors/users often ask. They are question and answer combinations that support (and usually link out to) the rest of the site. Important: Never use FAQ lists as a substitute for clear navigation (menus and links) and content. If people can't find the information they are looking for without searching the FAQs, or if the information on other pages isn't clear, the problems should be fixed at their source, not patched with FAQs.  FAQs are simply shortcuts to the information people need.

How to Write Effective FAQs

Please make sure the FAQs you create:

• Are actually questions. 
• Are frequently asked. (Not questions you wish people asked, nor ones you think they should ask.)
• Are phrased the way folks actually ask the question.  E.g.: Avoid jargon, use synonyms, use natural language. etc.  
• Are short, sweet, and to the point.  If the answer is yes, start with "Yes" and then go from there.  If there are exceptions or mitigating factors that might change the answer, mention them after the main answer.
• Link to supporting information. 

How Our FAQs Work

FAQs have two parts:

• An FAQ (node) holds a single question and its answer (example: /admission/apply/lookingforinapp)
• The FAQ list (or view) displays several FAQs (example: /admission/apply/faqs), and is what most folks think of as the "FAQs page"

The FAQ list knows which nodes to display through the use of an FAQ Tag.  To create an FAQ list, you create a page and attach an FAQ view. You limit the view to just the questions you want by adding the FAQ tag to the data argument field.  The view then displays all FAQ nodes that have a matching tag in the FAQ Tags field.  This makes it easy to reuse a particular question and answer in multiple FAQ lists.  

Selecting an FAQ Tag

Because FAQ tags are used to pull all related FAQs together, they need to be unique and specific.

Do not use special characters such as slashes (/).

• If you select a tag that is not unique, your FAQs may show up on other people's lists, and theirs on yours.
• If you are not specific enough, you make it harder to track and maintain your lists later, especially if you add more FAQs later.
• The best choice of a tag depends on how you will use it, and whether two or more offices will be sharing a tag to create a list that pulls from all their areas.
• Examples:
  • Bad: Students or FAQs.  Both tags are too generic, and too many places on the site could use them.
  • Good: President Faculty (or President Faculty FAQs, if that's easier for you to think about). Using the office name helps limit the scope, and Faculty gives the specificity.
  • Also Good: Student Fees.  This tag could be used by multiple departments to pull together a single, larger FAQ for students that draws from all over the site. To make this sort of tag work, departments must work together.

Creating a list of your FAQs

To create a list of your FAQs (what most people think of as the FAQ page):

1. Go to your user page.
2. Click on the "My sections" tab.
3. Select "Create New Page" from the list on the right.  Drupal will open "Create page."
4. Fill out the page as you normally would, adding a title, adding any text or images that you want to have appear above the FAQ list, assigning the page to your section, etc.
5. At the bottom of the page, select the "Attached Node/View" tab.
6. Under Data View, select "Faqs page" and type your FAQ tag in the "Data Arguments" field.
7. Save your page. Drupal will automatically attach a list of your FAQs. As you add, publish, or unpublish your FAQ nodes, or add, remove, or change the FAQ tags on the nodes, the changes will automatically be reflected in the list.

Note: If you haven't created or tagged your FAQ nodes yet, the list will be empty.

Creating an FAQ

To create an FAQ:

1. Go to your user page.
2. Click on the "My sections" tab.
3. Select "Create New FAQ" from the list on the right.  Drupal will open "Create FAQ."
4. Enter your question in  the "Question (Title)" field.
5. Answer the question in the "Body" field.
6. Enter your chosen tag in the "FAQ Tag" field.
   1. To find this tag, navigate to the page listing your FAQs.
   2. Click on the "Edit" tab.
   3. At the bottom of the page, select the "Attached Node/View" tab.
   4. Copy the text in the "Data Arguments" field.
   5. Return to the page on which you were creating your single FAQ.
   6. Paste the copied text in the "FAQ Tag" field.
7. Assign the node to a section.  Note: FAQ nodes can be assigned (in the menu) to the FAQ list's node, but don't have to be.