Has anyone created a knowledge base on his / her site and what did you use... LINKS, DBMAN, UBB, or something else?

Also, does anyone know of a good Knowledge Base to look at as a role model in terms of layout and structuring?

I've done a KB for our users at http://www.iwebsupport.com/ (Pick Knowlege base from the drop list at the top of the page).

It's pretty crude, and written from scratch. I toyed with the idea of distributing it a while back, but it needs lots of refining. Have a look at it, though, to get an idea of what a simple KB would look like.

John

Thanx for the reply.

I saw your site, but honestly it did not quite click. But, then I have not really seen any other KB to compare with. The two basic directions I am toying with are
should it be tree styled... that is Links appraoch
Or should it be db styled with a SE taking care of the needs

The advantage I see with Links appraoch is that at times people also need some ideas and wandering to do, which you can do better in Links, whereas DB will only serve you what you ask.

Of course the third appraoch is the UBB style. But then all KB resources in my idea will not be self provided, but rather pointing to external resources available on the web. In fact, most of them will be out there.

Any comments?

You can custom LINKS to do what you want. There is a mod in the Resource Center that allows you to create a search engine like www.ask.com (best example of a KB site).

Although I have found the best KB sites to be database driven, like DBMAN.

Some users are using both DBMAN and LINKS combined to create their sites.

Regards,

------------------
Eliot Lee
Anthro TECH,L.L.C
www.anthrotech.com
----------------------




[This message has been edited by Eliot (edited December 08, 1999).]

Thanx Elliot.

I think one of the things to do is check out a bunch of other knowledgebase sites to see what are they doing.

Can anyone suggest other KB sites to look at?

My hosting company, rackspace.com has a pretty nice knowlege base as well...

I think the software they use is freeware.

John

Check out the major software companies, like Microsoft and check their Knowledge Base/Support systems. You will find that the most robust systems are using one or a combination of the following languages/technology:

1) Java (not to be confused with javascript)
2) PHP
3) ASP
4) SQL
5) MySQL
6) Oracle

Regards,

------------------
Eliot Lee
Anthro TECH,L.L.C
www.anthrotech.com
----------------------

jcokos,

I couldn't find your host's KB. May be it is for their clients only. Is it?

Eliot,
Technology, be it Oracle, ASP, or anything else, is a secondary thing. The more fundamental issue I am trying to establish is the "format" which would be most intuitive and logical for the user. Microsoft has 150K articles so it "probably" is the only reasonable option to start off with a search tool. But, is it???

Yahoo refers to far more links and sites and has a more structured approach like LINKS. I am not rejecting MS's approach out-right, but rather thinking aloud and challenging the popular wisdom. Its brain-storming!
Can we come up with a better approach??
Is there a better approach??

Any other ideas?

I think there is one you could check out at www.oreilly.com, I'm not sure but i think they use some software for their server information.

Uh...Backend development (script languages) of programs DO affect overall design of sites. Identifying limitations and benefits of programming languages defines a framework for what is possible in terms of design.



So, backend programming languages and architechure needs to be addressed before making any decisions about format.



Regards.

------------------
Eliot Lee
Anthro TECH,L.L.C
www.anthrotech.com
----------------------

My opinion for what it's worth....I am considering some type of knowledgebase also. I started the site as cut and paste and with several hundred pages and sub pages it needs it. I think you can use a search based system but also log searches so that you can have predefined searches based of the most commonly requested items. I was thinking it might even be worth it to have static html pages generated daily for specific categories that are always high demand -in my case you could have a 'what's new, api, game programming' and a few others as people always look for these items. Might even be cool to allow a 'smart' system to use the log file to decide which are the most popular requests and build the static pages based on this. If you could use the system MS uses to determine the relevance of the article "Did this article answer your question?" you could improve the revelancy over time I guess. Of course this is all beyond my abilities, I've just been thinking of the same problem.

------------------

Cobalt has a nice knowledge base at http://www.cobalt.com/support/kb/index.php3. Hope this helps...

Ryan