# Help wanted with an experimental FAQ facility **URL:** https://rubytalk.org/t/help-wanted-with-an-experimental-faq-facility/2368 **Category:** ruby-talk **Created:** [18 October 2002 22:30 UTC](https://rubytalk.org/t/help-wanted-with-an-experimental-faq-facility/2368 "2002-10-18T22:30:16Z") **Posts on this page:** 20 **Page:** 1
### Author: ![Dave\_Thomas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@Dave\_Thomas](https://rubytalk.org/u/Dave_Thomas) #### Post date: [18 October 2002 22:30 UTC](https://rubytalk.org/t/help-wanted-with-an-experimental-faq-facility/2368/1 "2002-10-18T22:30:16Z")
Folks: It seems time to me that the FAQ was overhauled, so I decided to cheat and let you al help out 🙂 I’ve written an Iowa-based FAQ application. It lets you search using boolean queries and browse by section. Any user can add comments to any FAQ entry, and any user can post a question as a potential FAQ item. FAQ maintainers (who have to log in) can edit and create FAQ entries, and can answer questions. It’s online at [http://www.rubygarden.org/iowa/faqtotum](http://www.rubygarden.org/iowa/faqtotum) (which is at the end of a fairly slow pipe, so be gentle
) Anyway, I’m looking for some help here. 1. Feedback is gratefully received. My life is about to get complicated for a while, so I may not be able to respond immediately, but it’ll all be looked at. 2. Design help is desperately needed. If someone wants to volunteer to put together a look that will may all the other language FAQ user’s jealous, I’d welcome it. 3. FAQ maintainers wanted: I’m looking for two or three folks with a good knowledge of Ruby to help answer questions, edit entries, and so on. Cheers Dave ---
### Author: ![Chris\_Gehlker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/76d3ee/32.png) [@Chris\_Gehlker](https://rubytalk.org/u/Chris_Gehlker) #### Post date: [18 October 2002 23:01 UTC](https://rubytalk.org/t/help-wanted-with-an-experimental-faq-facility/2368/2 "2002-10-18T23:01:24Z")
Great start, Dave. Here is an obligatory nit just to demonstrate I did use the FAQ. I never know whether it’s mixin or mix-in and the FAQ doesn’t either. BTW The Cocoa spelling dictionary prefers the latter. > **···** > > On Friday, October 18, 2002, at 03:30 PM, Dave Thomas wrote: > > > Folks: > > > > It seems time to me that the FAQ was overhauled, so I decided to cheat > > and let you al help out 🙂 > > > > I’ve written an Iowa-based FAQ application. It lets you search using > > boolean queries and browse by section. Any user can add comments to > > any FAQ entry, and any user can post a question as a potential FAQ > > item. > > – > There are two kinds of fool. One says, “This is old, and therefore > good.” > And one says, “This is new, and therefore better.” > -John Brunner, science fiction writer (1934-1995) ---
### Author: ![Thomas\_Hurst](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/53a042/32.png) [@Thomas\_Hurst](https://rubytalk.org/u/Thomas_Hurst) #### Post date: [19 October 2002 01:57 UTC](https://rubytalk.org/t/help-wanted-with-an-experimental-faq-facility/2368/3 "2002-10-19T01:57:22Z")
Nice, the first link I see points to: [http://www.rubygarden.org/iowa/faqtotum/ab2fN4hpnjwek/a/1.15.3.2.5](http://www.rubygarden.org/iowa/faqtotum/ab2fN4hpnjwek/a/1.15.3.2.5) Call me paranoid, but those URL’s don’t look very useful, especially for something people will want to copy and paste to others. This is the primary reason I won’t touch Iowa with a barge pole, I don’t care how much state it saves 🙂 The tag soup needs looking at too. For instance, that abuse of tables to produce an ordered list is, I’m afraid, sending you to markup hell 🙂 Other than that, it’s looking good. The design’s light and fluffy (unless you’re anal like me, in which case you’ll feel an overwhelming urge to rewrite it) and it’s well structured in that it doesn’t flood you with links. > **···** > > - Dave Thomas ([Dave@PragmaticProgrammer.com](mailto:Dave@PragmaticProgrammer.com)) wrote: > > > I’ve written an Iowa-based FAQ application. > > > It’s online at [http://www.rubygarden.org/iowa/faqtotum](http://www.rubygarden.org/iowa/faqtotum) > > ## – Thomas ‘Freaky’ Hurst - [freaky@aagh.net](mailto:freaky@aagh.net) - [http://www.aagh.net/](http://www.aagh.net/) > > Afternoon very favorable for romance. Try a single person for a change. ---
### Author: ![Mark\_Volkmann3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f17d59/32.png) [@Mark\_Volkmann3](https://rubytalk.org/u/Mark_Volkmann3) #### Post date: [19 October 2002 14:05 UTC](https://rubytalk.org/t/help-wanted-with-an-experimental-faq-facility/2368/4 "2002-10-19T14:05:01Z")
It’s not apparent to me how I can post a question as a potential FAQ item from the FAQ page. Perhaps you meant that potential questions should be posted on this mailing list. > **···** > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: “Dave Thomas” [Dave@PragmaticProgrammer.com](mailto:Dave@PragmaticProgrammer.com) > To: “ruby-talk ML” [ruby-talk@ruby-lang.org](mailto:ruby-talk@ruby-lang.org) > Sent: Friday, October 18, 2002 5:30 PM > Subject: Help wanted with an experimental FAQ facility > > > I’ve written an Iowa-based FAQ application. It lets you search using > > boolean queries and browse by section. Any user can add comments to > > any FAQ entry, and any user can post a question as a potential FAQ item. ---
### Author: ![MikkelFJ1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ce7236/32.png) [@MikkelFJ1](https://rubytalk.org/u/MikkelFJ1) #### Post date: [20 October 2002 12:11 UTC](https://rubytalk.org/t/help-wanted-with-an-experimental-faq-facility/2368/5 "2002-10-20T12:11:19Z")
“Dave Thomas” [Dave@PragmaticProgrammer.com](mailto:Dave@PragmaticProgrammer.com) wrote in message [news:m2vg3zbcsn.fsf@zip.local.thomases.com](mailto:news:m2vg3zbcsn.fsf@zip.local.thomases.com)
 > I’ve written an Iowa-based FAQ application. It lets you search using > boolean queries and browse by section. Any user can add comments to > any FAQ entry, and any user can post a question as a potential FAQ item. How did you solve your search problem? Yesterday searching on two words worked fine, but generally the FAQ didn’t work as well as today due to the IE issue. Today it looks better, but search doesn’t appear to be working. Is the source available? I realize this is experimental, but it could be a good icebreaker to get Ruby into organizations. Mikkel ---
### Author: ![Carlos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ecae2f/32.png) [@Carlos](https://rubytalk.org/u/Carlos) #### Post date: [21 October 2002 11:58 UTC](https://rubytalk.org/t/help-wanted-with-an-experimental-faq-facility/2368/6 "2002-10-21T11:58:22Z")
[
] > It’s online at [http://www.rubygarden.org/iowa/faqtotum](http://www.rubygarden.org/iowa/faqtotum) (which is at > the end of a fairly slow pipe, so be gentle
) > [
] Hi. This is for the wishlist 🙂 Maybe you can add the tags , etc., so the FAQ can be browsed using mozilla’s navigation bar. Greetings. ---
### Author: ![Dave\_Thomas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@Dave\_Thomas](https://rubytalk.org/u/Dave_Thomas) #### Post date: [19 October 2002 00:12 UTC](https://rubytalk.org/t/help-wanted-with-an-experimental-faq-facility/2368/7 "2002-10-19T00:12:00Z")
Chris Gehlker [canyonrat@mac.com](mailto:canyonrat@mac.com) writes: > Here is an obligatory nit just to demonstrate I did use the FAQ. I > never know whether it’s mixin or mix-in and the FAQ doesn’t either. > > BTW The Cocoa spelling dictionary prefers the latter. And now so does the FAQ! Cheers Dave ---
### Author: ![Dave\_Thomas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@Dave\_Thomas](https://rubytalk.org/u/Dave_Thomas) #### Post date: [19 October 2002 03:38 UTC](https://rubytalk.org/t/help-wanted-with-an-experimental-faq-facility/2368/8 "2002-10-19T03:38:44Z")
Thomas Hurst [tom.hurst@clara.net](mailto:tom.hurst@clara.net) writes: > Nice, the first link I see points to: > > [http://www.rubygarden.org/iowa/faqtotum/ab2fN4hpnjwek/a/1.15.3.2.5](http://www.rubygarden.org/iowa/faqtotum/ab2fN4hpnjwek/a/1.15.3.2.5) > > Call me paranoid, but those URL’s don’t look very useful, especially for > something people will want to copy and paste to others. This is the > primary reason I won’t touch Iowa with a barge pole, I don’t care how > much state it saves 🙂 I’ll be producing a flat version when I get the chance, and you paranoid folks will be able to point to it. I have to say that Iowa was a joy to work with. > The tag soup needs looking at too. For instance, that abuse of > tables to produce an ordered list is, I’m afraid, sending you to > markup hell 🙂 Ah - but it isn’t an ordered list. It’s just coincidence that the numbers go up by ones
 The main reason for the table there is to make the text part line up, something that seems to be hard to do when the leading numbers change length. However, I’m an HTML ignoramus, so I’m sure there must be a better way. Cheers Dave ---
### Author: ![Dave\_Thomas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@Dave\_Thomas](https://rubytalk.org/u/Dave_Thomas) #### Post date: [19 October 2002 14:22 UTC](https://rubytalk.org/t/help-wanted-with-an-experimental-faq-facility/2368/9 "2002-10-19T14:22:01Z")
“Mark Volkmann” [volkmann2@charter.net](mailto:volkmann2@charter.net) writes: > It’s not apparent to me how I can post a question as a potential FAQ item > from the FAQ page. Perhaps you meant that potential questions should be > posted on this mailing list. The intent was that you’d push the ‘Ask New Question’ button down the bottom of the index page. Do you feel that should appear on all the pages? ---
### Author: ![Dave\_Thomas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@Dave\_Thomas](https://rubytalk.org/u/Dave_Thomas) #### Post date: [20 October 2002 14:30 UTC](https://rubytalk.org/t/help-wanted-with-an-experimental-faq-facility/2368/10 "2002-10-20T14:30:18Z")
“MikkelFJ” [mikkelfj-anti-spam@bigfoot.com](mailto:mikkelfj-anti-spam@bigfoot.com) writes: > Yesterday searching on two words worked fine, but generally the FAQ didn’t > work as well as today due to the IE issue. Today it looks better, but > search doesn’t appear to be working. Could you send me privately an example of searching that doesn’t work: I don’t believe that anything changed in the code between yesterday and today: all I changed was the HTML for the main page. > Is the source available? I realize this is experimental, but it > could be a good icebreaker to get Ruby into organizations. I’m planning to make it available once I get the chance to document things like the installation procedures. Cheers Dave ---
### Author: ![Dave\_Thomas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@Dave\_Thomas](https://rubytalk.org/u/Dave_Thomas) #### Post date: [21 October 2002 19:41 UTC](https://rubytalk.org/t/help-wanted-with-an-experimental-faq-facility/2368/11 "2002-10-21T19:41:17Z")
Carlos [angus@quovadis.com.ar](mailto:angus@quovadis.com.ar) writes: > Maybe you can add the tags , etc., > so the FAQ can be browsed using mozilla’s navigation bar. That would be cool, but I’d have to get added as a dynamic tag to Iowa. Cheers Dave ---
### Author: ![Thomas\_Hurst](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/53a042/32.png) [@Thomas\_Hurst](https://rubytalk.org/u/Thomas_Hurst) #### Post date: [19 October 2002 07:34 UTC](https://rubytalk.org/t/help-wanted-with-an-experimental-faq-facility/2368/12 "2002-10-19T07:34:11Z")
> Thomas Hurst [tom.hurst@clara.net](mailto:tom.hurst@clara.net) writes: > [icky Amazonish URL’s] > I’ll be producing a flat version when I get the chance, and you > paranoid folks will be able to point to it. Heh, goodo. And the word isn’t “Paranoid”, it’s “Anal”, or “Obessive-Compulsive”, or, if you like, “Insomniac” 😉 > I have to say that Iowa was a joy to work with. I’ll have to get my barge pole out and see if it can be persuaded to use cookies.. and then, only if it really needs to save state 🙂 > > The tag soup needs looking at too. For instance, that abuse of > > tables to produce an ordered list is, I’m afraid, sending you to > > markup hell 🙂 > > Ah - but it isn’t an ordered list. It’s just coincidence that the > numbers go up by ones
 Yes.. actually, it did occur to me that the default rendering of lists would not result in the leading number in the individual sections. > The main reason for the table there is to make the text part line up, > something that seems to be hard to do when the leading numbers change > length. However, I’m an HTML ignoramus, so I’m sure there must be a > better way. Well, lists are designed to handle this for you. It is rather unfortunate that they are not particularly aimed at rendering exactly like how you use them.. hm. I think the best way to do it without being able to use the CSS content generation model (because IE doesn’t support it) and CSS generated lists (because Mozilla doesn’t support it), is to use a definition list: ```
1.1.
Answer 1.1
1.10.
Answer 1.10
``` Not quite there, since the default rendering is something like: ``` 1.1. Answer 1.1 1.10. Answer 1.10 ``` So we float the term to the left of the content, like so: ``` dt { float: left; } ``` Resulting in: ``` 1.1. Answer 1.1 1.10. Answer 1.10 ``` Then to make sure there’s enough room for at least 1000 questions without the elements shifting: ``` dd { padding-left: 1em; } ``` Leaving: ``` 1.1. Answer 1.1 1.10. Answer 1.10 ``` See, HTML has design methodologies too 🙂 Now, add a few more headings (make that into a # or so, for instance) and use in the forms, add a doctype, and fix the validation errors, and you're most of the way to a pretty decent document that satisfies quite a few of the WAI guidelines. After that.. XHTML and pure CSS layout. . > **···** > > - Dave Thomas ([Dave@PragmaticProgrammer.com](mailto:Dave@PragmaticProgrammer.com)) wrote: > > ## – Thomas ‘Freaky’ Hurst - [freaky@aagh.net](mailto:freaky@aagh.net) - [http://www.aagh.net/](http://www.aagh.net/) > > Enjoy your life; be pleasant and gay, like the birds in May. ---
### Author: ![Mark\_Volkmann3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f17d59/32.png) [@Mark\_Volkmann3](https://rubytalk.org/u/Mark_Volkmann3) #### Post date: [19 October 2002 14:38 UTC](https://rubytalk.org/t/help-wanted-with-an-experimental-faq-facility/2368/13 "2002-10-19T14:38:44Z")
> “Mark Volkmann” [volkmann2@charter.net](mailto:volkmann2@charter.net) writes: > > > It’s not apparent to me how I can post a question as a potential FAQ > > item > > from the FAQ page. Perhaps you meant that potential questions should be > > posted on this mailing list. > > The intent was that you’d push the ‘Ask New Question’ button down the > bottom of the index page. Do you feel that should appear on all the > pages? When I go to [http://www.rubygarden.org/iowa/faqtotum](http://www.rubygarden.org/iowa/faqtotum) there is no “Ask New Question” button. Am I going to the wrong URL? > **···** > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: “Dave Thomas” [Dave@PragmaticProgrammer.com](mailto:Dave@PragmaticProgrammer.com) > To: “ruby-talk ML” [ruby-talk@ruby-lang.org](mailto:ruby-talk@ruby-lang.org) > Sent: Saturday, October 19, 2002 9:22 AM > Subject: Re: Help wanted with an experimental FAQ facility ---
### Author: ![Kent\_Dahl2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/a87d85/32.png) [@Kent\_Dahl2](https://rubytalk.org/u/Kent_Dahl2) #### Post date: [19 October 2002 11:10 UTC](https://rubytalk.org/t/help-wanted-with-an-experimental-faq-facility/2368/14 "2002-10-19T11:10:22Z")
Thomas Hurst wrote: > > I have to say that Iowa was a joy to work with. > > I’ll have to get my barge pole out and see if it can be persuaded to use > cookies
 and then, only if it really needs to save state 🙂 One thing I found really neat about IOWA, is that I don’t have to follow a linear usage of the web application developed. So I can log in, and open several links in different windows and shuffle my work between them, without losing any state in either. I’m not too knowledgable on cookies, but I thought cookies was “per computer” as opposed to “per session”, and would make the above unlinear usage rather difficult to achieve? On a side note, I’ve been wondering how easy it is to catch extra URL information (either path or CGI parameters) and setting up state based on it. I’d like to be able to send people to somewhat specified URLs and bypassing the Main.html. I.e. giving them something like /iowa/myapp/username/ or /iowa/myapp?username=username I’m sure its pretty straightforward to hack it into IOWA, but I was hoping someone had a cleaner, neater approach. This sounds like it might make the Ruby FAQ URLs prettier too, atleast as an access point. 
just thinking out loud
 > **···** > > > - Dave Thomas ([Dave@PragmaticProgrammer.com](mailto:Dave@PragmaticProgrammer.com)) wrote: > > – > ([Kent Dahl]/)\_ _~_**[[http://www.stud.ntnu.no/~kentda/](http://www.stud.ntnu.no/~kentda/) ]**_/~ > ))\_student_/(( \__d L b_\_/ NTNU - graduate engineering - 5. year ) > ( \__\_Ă”|Ă”_/**/ ) _)Industrial economics and technological management( > \__**/_ö_\_\_\_\_/ (\_**_engineering.discipline_=_Computer::Technology_**) ---
### Author: ![Dave\_Thomas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@Dave\_Thomas](https://rubytalk.org/u/Dave_Thomas) #### Post date: [19 October 2002 15:04 UTC](https://rubytalk.org/t/help-wanted-with-an-experimental-faq-facility/2368/15 "2002-10-19T15:04:21Z")
“Mark Volkmann” [volkmann2@charter.net](mailto:volkmann2@charter.net) writes: > When I go to [http://www.rubygarden.org/iowa/faqtotum](http://www.rubygarden.org/iowa/faqtotum) there is no “Ask New > Question” button. Am I going to the wrong URL? The URL is correct. Could you do me a favor and look at the source HTML for the page and see if the \'s in there. Right now I see it in the reddish bar that contains the text ‘Pending Questions
’ Below this bar are current two questions that folks have added. I’m wondering if my HTML is incompatible with your browser. Dave ---
### Author: ![Chris\_Gehlker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/76d3ee/32.png) [@Chris\_Gehlker](https://rubytalk.org/u/Chris_Gehlker) #### Post date: [19 October 2002 15:05 UTC](https://rubytalk.org/t/help-wanted-with-an-experimental-faq-facility/2368/16 "2002-10-19T15:05:37Z")
It’s there for me. Could be a browser issue. I’m using OmniWeb 4.1.1. > **···** > > On Saturday, October 19, 2002, at 07:38 AM, Mark Volkmann wrote: > > > ----- Original Message ----- > > From: “Dave Thomas” [Dave@PragmaticProgrammer.com](mailto:Dave@PragmaticProgrammer.com) > > To: “ruby-talk ML” [ruby-talk@ruby-lang.org](mailto:ruby-talk@ruby-lang.org) > > Sent: Saturday, October 19, 2002 9:22 AM > > Subject: Re: Help wanted with an experimental FAQ facility > > > > > “Mark Volkmann” [volkmann2@charter.net](mailto:volkmann2@charter.net) writes: > > > > > > > It’s not apparent to me how I can post a question as a potential FAQ > > > > item > > > > from the FAQ page. Perhaps you meant that potential questions should > > > > be > > > > posted on this mailing list. > > > > > > The intent was that you’d push the ‘Ask New Question’ button down the > > > bottom of the index page. Do you feel that should appear on all the > > > pages? > > > > When I go to [http://www.rubygarden.org/iowa/faqtotum](http://www.rubygarden.org/iowa/faqtotum) there is no “Ask > > New > > Question” button. Am I going to the wrong URL? > > – > In the midst of great joy, do not promise anyone anything. In the midst > of great anger, do not answer anyone’s letter. > -Chinese proverb ---
### Author: ![Kurt\_Hindenburg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ac8455/32.png) [@Kurt\_Hindenburg](https://rubytalk.org/u/Kurt_Hindenburg) #### Post date: [19 October 2002 15:06 UTC](https://rubytalk.org/t/help-wanted-with-an-experimental-faq-facility/2368/17 "2002-10-19T15:06:13Z")
> When I go to [http://www.rubygarden.org/iowa/faqtotum](http://www.rubygarden.org/iowa/faqtotum) there is no “Ask > New Question” button. Am I going to the wrong URL? The URL is correct. The “Ask New Question” button is just to the right of the “Pending Questions” at the bottom of the page. I’m using mozilla 1.2. ---
### Author: ![Josef\_Jupp\_SCHUGT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/7ba0ec/32.png) [@Josef\_Jupp\_SCHUGT](https://rubytalk.org/u/Josef_Jupp_SCHUGT) #### Post date: [21 October 2002 00:32 UTC](https://rubytalk.org/t/help-wanted-with-an-experimental-faq-facility/2368/18 "2002-10-21T00:32:20Z")
> So we float the term to the left of the content, like so: > > ``` > dt { > float: left; > } > > ``` ---- 8-\< – 8-\< – 8-\< – 8-\< – 8-\< – 8-\< – 8-\< – 8-\< – 8-\< ---- > ``` > dd { > padding-left: 1em; > } > > ``` ---- 8-\< – 8-\< – 8-\< – 8-\< – 8-\< – 8-\< – 8-\< – 8-\< – 8-\< ---- For some browsers like w3m (w3-miru), would be helpful
 Josef ‘Jupp’ Schugt > **···** > > On Sat, 19 Oct 2002 16:34:11 +0900, Thomas Hurst [tom.hurst@clara.net](mailto:tom.hurst@clara.net) wrote: ---
### Author: ![Thomas\_Hurst](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/53a042/32.png) [@Thomas\_Hurst](https://rubytalk.org/u/Thomas_Hurst) #### Post date: [19 October 2002 12:47 UTC](https://rubytalk.org/t/help-wanted-with-an-experimental-faq-facility/2368/19 "2002-10-19T12:47:51Z")
> Thomas Hurst wrote: > > > > I have to say that Iowa was a joy to work with. > > > > I’ll have to get my barge pole out and see if it can be persuaded to > > use cookies.. and then, only if it really needs to save state 🙂 > > One thing I found really neat about IOWA, is that I don’t have to > follow a linear usage of the web application developed. So I can log > in, and open several links in different windows and shuffle my work > between them, without losing any state in either. Provided you have identifiable start and end points to transactions, that’s fairly trivial to achieve. Basically, when you hit “Edit” or whatever, you get allocate a unique ID for that form task, which is encoded in a hidden form variable, or the URL; you then edit to your heart’s content. When you’re done, you hit Finish, the data in the transaction is committed, and the ID is deleted. Hit edit in another browser window, you get a different ID and a completely different transaction, while the first works completely independently. Different user accounts are a little more tricky, since your start and end points are through the entire application; the basic premise is the same, though; all you need to do is track the start (login) and end (logout/expire), and encode enough information in the request that you can tell them apart. One way you might do this without impacting the URL too badly would be to allocate one cookie per login, ala: User[0] - user’s first logon User[1] - user’s second logon Each time you hit logon, it checks the cookies you’ve already got, and picks the next one up, or reuses an old one; it sets the cookie, saves the ID to the database linked to your state information, then makes all the links on that page (or gives forms a hidden field) identify that index. You end up with /article/foo/bar/baz/?sid=1 or so, and a totally clean URL if you only have one login to track. Actual sessions are a little more tricky, since the start and end points are less well defined. You’re probably not terribly interested in saving much state for them, though. Of course, people with cookies disabled don’t get tracking at all, which is kind of the entire point of disabling cookies, so bully for them 🙂 > I’m not too knowledgable on cookies, but I thought cookies was “per > computer” as opposed to “per session”, and would make the above unlinear > usage rather difficult to achieve? Not really. Don’t forget you don’t often really need much state information; it’s mostly for when you’re interacting with the system, rather than fetching data. GET’s aren’t even supposed to have side-effects, and POST’s can encode as much crap as you like without messing up with the user interface: things like editing where you get a form to fill in to change stuff can be concurrent easily. The thing with Iowa is it is basically creating a whole OO application per session; links are method calls, and the state is saved each request so the objects can track them. Although this is a nice approach in the editing phase, for the majority of GET’s it is major overkill; you’re not likely to be changing much state, you’re more likely just to be pumping out mostly static resources to the user based on the object they requested and quietly forgetting about it. Er, anyway, > /iowa/myapp/username/ or /iowa/myapp?username=username \. Ideally, I’d like to see the Ruby FAQ URL’s look something like: ``` /faq/1/2 ``` For faq section 1, answer 2. Imagine if you found yourself learning the numbers for specific questions which are asked a lot; it’d be trivial to construct the above URL for a user. Plus the user can look at the URL and quickly see they can remove the /2 and get a list for that section, etc. URI == UI 🙂 > **···** > > - Kent Dahl (kentda@stud.ntnu.no) wrote: > > > > - Dave Thomas ([Dave@PragmaticProgrammer.com](mailto:Dave@PragmaticProgrammer.com)) wrote: > > ## – Thomas ‘Freaky’ Hurst - [freaky@aagh.net](mailto:freaky@aagh.net) - [http://www.aagh.net/](http://www.aagh.net/) > > If you pick up a starving dog and make him prosperous, he will not bite > you. This is the principal difference between a dog and a man. > – Mark Twain ---
### Author: ![Mark\_Volkmann3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f17d59/32.png) [@Mark\_Volkmann3](https://rubytalk.org/u/Mark_Volkmann3) #### Post date: [19 October 2002 15:32 UTC](https://rubytalk.org/t/help-wanted-with-an-experimental-faq-facility/2368/20 "2002-10-19T15:32:52Z")
I think your suspicion that it’s a browser issue is correct. The input tag for the button is in the source, but it doesn’t display in IE 6. In fact, the title bar at the bottom doesn’t even display the text “Pending Questions
” in IE 6. If I save the source locally and display that then the button appears. This leads me to think it’s a CSS issue because when I display it locally the faqtotum.css file is not available (since I didn’t save that locally too). > **···** > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: “Chris Gehlker” [canyonrat@mac.com](mailto:canyonrat@mac.com) > To: “ruby-talk ML” [ruby-talk@ruby-lang.org](mailto:ruby-talk@ruby-lang.org) > Sent: Saturday, October 19, 2002 10:05 AM > Subject: Re: Help wanted with an experimental FAQ facility > > > On Saturday, October 19, 2002, at 07:38 AM, Mark Volkmann wrote: > > > > > ----- Original Message ----- > > > From: “Dave Thomas” [Dave@PragmaticProgrammer.com](mailto:Dave@PragmaticProgrammer.com) > > > To: “ruby-talk ML” [ruby-talk@ruby-lang.org](mailto:ruby-talk@ruby-lang.org) > > > Sent: Saturday, October 19, 2002 9:22 AM > > > Subject: Re: Help wanted with an experimental FAQ facility > > > > > > > “Mark Volkmann” [volkmann2@charter.net](mailto:volkmann2@charter.net) writes: > > > > > > > > > It’s not apparent to me how I can post a question as a potential FAQ > > > > > item > > > > > from the FAQ page. Perhaps you meant that potential questions should > > > > > be > > > > > posted on this mailing list. > > > > > > > > The intent was that you’d push the ‘Ask New Question’ button down the > > > > bottom of the index page. Do you feel that should appear on all the > > > > pages? > > > > > > When I go to [http://www.rubygarden.org/iowa/faqtotum](http://www.rubygarden.org/iowa/faqtotum) there is no “Ask > > > New > > > Question” button. Am I going to the wrong URL? > > > > It’s there for me. Could be a browser issue. I’m using OmniWeb 4.1.1. [Next page](https://rubytalk.org/t/help-wanted-with-an-experimental-faq-facility/2368.md?page=2)