FAQ format

[Graham wrote:]
>FAQs were originally Usenet things, and plain text. As it says at the
>bottom "You do not need web access to participate" the FAQ should be
>available by e-mail.

I love plain ASCII text too, especially when receiving e-mail that
doesn't NEED anything fancier. But in the case of FAQ's, I think the
benefits of hyper-text links outweigh the simplicity of plain text.

By now, web access among list members should be approaching 100%, I
would guess. But perhaps I'm wrong?

This is a very important decision we need to make as a group - perhaps
we should have a poll. Asking the FAQ editor to maintain two versions
is surely too much, unless we double his/her salary. ;-)

JdL

--- In tuning@y..., "John A. deLaubenfels" <jdl@a...> wrote:

/tuning/topicId_19596.html#19596

> [Graham wrote:]
> >FAQs were originally Usenet things, and plain text. As it says at
the bottom "You do not need web access to participate" the FAQ should
be available by e-mail.
>
> I love plain ASCII text too, especially when receiving e-mail that
> doesn't NEED anything fancier. But in the case of FAQ's, I think
the benefits of hyper-text links outweigh the simplicity of plain
text.
>
> By now, web access among list members should be approaching 100%, I
> would guess. But perhaps I'm wrong?
>
> This is a very important decision we need to make as a group -
perhaps we should have a poll. Asking the FAQ editor to maintain two
versions is surely too much, unless we double his/her salary. ;-)
>
> JdL

I agree with John on this one, even though Graham has a very
important point about the original uses of a FAQ on the "use-net!"

However, things change, and my impression is that they will continue
to do so, so I am very much in favor of a FAQ with ALL the Web "bells
and whistles" that Robert can dream up... JAVA, etc., the whole cup
of coffee...

Most users of this list are frequently accessing Web pages anyway,
even if they get the "text" versions of the group.... The FAQ should
be on the LEADING edge, not the TRAILING one!

If there is a *BIG* demand for a text version, which I sincerely
doubt there will be, somebody can do a "translation" from a Web page
quite easily... just copy the text, eliminate the JAVA, etc., of
course...

Let's go the "modern" route!

By the way... WHO is the FAQ editor???

_________ ____ _____ _____
Joseph Pehrson

Ho hum. Just when I though that the FAQ might be useful to me it seems
that it is to be in hypertext, which makes it hard to take home and
read. OK so I am in a minority, but I am not usually attached to the
network when I read e-mail, and very rarely do I use the web for
anything, being visual, gaudy, required clicking and all kinds of
other things from which I prefer to protect myself.
==John ff

--- In tuning@y..., J.P.FFITCH@M... wrote:
> Ho hum. Just when I though that the FAQ might be useful to me it
seems
> that it is to be in hypertext, which makes it hard to take home and
> read. OK so I am in a minority, but I am not usually attached to
the
> network when I read e-mail, and very rarely do I use the web for
> anything, being visual, gaudy, required clicking and all kinds of
> other things from which I prefer to protect myself.
> ==John ff

I'm with you John,

Hey guys, how about making the FAQ plain ASCII with explicit URLs?
They get turned into links by most email readers anyway.

-- Dave Keenan

--- In tuning@y..., "Dave Keenan" <D.KEENAN@U...> wrote:

/tuning/topicId_19596.html#19643

> --- In tuning@y..., J.P.FFITCH@M... wrote:
> > Ho hum. Just when I though that the FAQ might be useful to me it
> seems that it is to be in hypertext, which makes it hard to take
home and read. OK so I am in a minority, but I am not usually
attached to the
> > network when I read e-mail, and very rarely do I use the web for
> > anything, being visual, gaudy, required clicking and all kinds of
> > other things from which I prefer to protect myself.
> > ==John ff
>
> I'm with you John,
>
> Hey guys, how about making the FAQ plain ASCII with explicit URLs?
> They get turned into links by most email readers anyway.
>
> -- Dave Keenan

Dave Keenan thunk somethin' smart again. That would probably satisfy
everybody!

_______ ______ ____ ___
Joseph Pehrson