Introduction
The knowledge base interface is what your users will access in order to view the articles in the knowledge base. They will be able to browse the knowledge base
by category, search the knowledge base, and see the most viewed knowledge base articles. This document explains the basic features of the knowledge base interface
that your users will access.
Accessing the Knowledge Base Interface
For your users to see the knowledge base you will need to create links on other parts of your website to the knowledge base. The index.php script included
with AutoKB is the main knowledge base interface script, and that is what you should point your links to. When someone visits the index.php page they will
see the main page, which is described in the next section.
Important Note The remainder of this document assumes that you are using the default templates included with the software.
If you have modified your templates some of this information may not apply to you.
The Main Page
The main page of the knowledge base will show your users a search form, a list of all available categories, and a list of the top 10 most viewed articles.
There are also links at the top of the page so the user can view the glossary or suggest a new question. The section labeled 'Search The Knowledge Base'
is where your users can search for items they want to know about. This is covered in more detail in the Searching the Knowledge Base section of this document.
The section labeled 'Browse The Knowledge Base' shows all of your categories in a tree format so that your users can easily see all of the available categories
and can also see which categories are children of other categories. Next to each category name is a number in parenthesis. This number indicates the total number
of visible and approved articles in this category. It does not include the number of articles in sub-categories.
The section labeled 'Most Popular Articles' shows the articles that have been viewed most often by your users. This section includes articles from all
categories, with the most viewed article in the database appearing at the top of the list. To view any of the articles, simply click on the article
topic.
Browsing the Knowledge Base
From the main page you can easily browse the knowledge base by clicking on one of the category names in the 'Browse The Knowledge Base' section of that
page. When you click on a category name it will take you to a page that will display all of the articles in that specific category; it will not display
articles in sub-categories of the category that was clicked. If there are more articles in this category than can fit on one page, AutoKB will automatically
create links to the next page of articles. To view a specific article, click on the article topic.
Searching the Knowledge Base
Important Note AutoKB uses built in features of MySQL for it's searching functions, and this requires that you have at
least 3 articles in the database before searching will work correctly. If you try to do a search before there are 3 or more articles in the database
you will get no results. Additionally, the search words you enter must be more than 3 characters long.
From nearly all of the pages in the knowledge base interface your users will have the ability to perform a search. The user can choose to search the
entire knowledge base or limit their search to a specific category. When the user searches within a specific category, AutoKB will search that category
and all of it's sub-categories.
Once the user has entered their search term and pressed the Search button, they will be taken to a page with their search results. They can view any
of the articles that matched the search result by clicking on the article topic. If there are more search results than will fit on a single page, AutoKB
will automatically create a link to the next page of search results.
Viewing an Article
When a user clicks on an article topic they will be taken to a page that displays the full contents of the article. There will be several sections
of this page including 'Search The Knowledge Base', 'Browse The Knowledge Base', 'Related Articles', 'Viewer Comments', and a section that contains more
detailed information about the article.
The main content of the page will be the article itself. The article topic will be in large bold text, with the contents of the article displayed
directly below. In the article information section the user can see the article ID number, when the article was created and updated, how many times
the article has been viewed, the article's rating, any attachments, etc.
The Related Articles section will show the topics of any articles that are related to the one the user is viewing. Related articles must be assigned
by the administrator when an article is created or edited. AutoKB will not automatically try to guess which articles are related.
The Viewer Comments section will display any comments that have been submitted by other people who have viewed this article.
Print an Article
AutoKB has a built in feature that will format an article so that it can be easily printed. For your users to access this feature they should click
on the Print Article link when viewing the article. This will take them to a page where the article is displayed with less information so that it will
print out easily. A window will automatically popup so they can start the printing process.
E-mail an Article
Occasionally your users may want to e-mail an article to one of their friends or co-workers. AutoKB has built in support for this by using the E-mail Article
link when viewing an article. Clicking this link will take the user to a page where they can enter their name, e-mail address and who they want the article
sent to. AutoKB will used a template (that you can modify) as a basis for the e-mail that will be sent. The e-mail will contain the article's topic and the
URL where the article can be viewed.
Submitting Comments
If your users have additional information or tips for other users, they may post them as comments. Each article can have unlimited comments, however each
user can only submit one comment per article every 24 hours. To submit a comment users can click on the Add Comment link when viewing an article. They
will be requested to fill in a form with information about the comment. With AutoKB you will have the option to approve all new comments before they are
displayed, or they can be automatically approved and immediately visible.
Rating an Article
AutoKB includes a built in feature that allows your users to rate an article based on how helpful they found it. The default article template has the
rating form built in, so it's just a matter of the user selecting the rating they want to give and pressing the Rate button. Each user will be allowed
to rate an article only once every 24 hours. If they try to rate more than that, a message will display letting them know that their rating was not
recorded. AutoKB will average the ratings and display that information on the article page. This is also useful information for the administrator
so they will know which articles are helpful and which need improvement.
Suggest a Question
If a user is unable to find an article in the knowledge base that addresses their issue, they can suggest a new question. Near the top of each of the
knowledge base pages is a Suggest a Question link that users can click on to access the suggestion form. The user will need to fill out some information
about their suggestion and submit it for review. As the administrator you will need to occasionally check the control panel to see if there are suggestions
that need to be reviewed.