The Settings dialog box
The New FAQ Wizard will take you through each step of creating a new FAQ or choosing different formatting for an existing one.
Start the New FAQ Wizard
Start Friday and choose File, New FAQ/FAQ Formatting Wizard (or press Ctrl+N)
Choose a folder
On the first screen of the New FAQ Wizard, click Choose a folder and browse to the drive and folder where you want to create your new FAQ.
If you've already created a folder for your new FAQ, choose it. Or create a new folder to hold your FAQ: click the Create New Folder button (it looks like a folder with a starburst on the upper right corner) then rename the new folder you created.
You can choose almost any folder you like for your FAQ, but you must let Friday create FRIDAY.FQA as the main file. It will do this automatically.
Note that Friday will not let you create a new FAQ in the root folder of any drive or in the same folder as Friday's own program files.
Click the right-arrow button to continue.
Choose a template
Friday has already created a very basic look for your new FAQ, but you can choose a different template here. Templates control the appearance of the web pages Friday creates for you.
Click Choose Templates to see a list of Friday's available template sets. As you click each template, you'll see a thumbnail preview of what it looks like and a brief description of it. Click OK to apply the chosen template to your FAQ.
You can return to this screen at any time later and choose a different template if you wish. Simply choose Templates, Choose Template from the menu bar. You'll learn later how you can modify Friday's tempates or even create your own.
Click the right-arrow button to move to the next screen.
Personalize your FAQ
Click Personalize to view Friday's Settings dialog box.
The Settings dialog box is where you set your preferences for what your FAQ pages look like, where they're stored and where Friday should put them on your web server when you upload the FAQ.
Don't worry if you don't have all the requested information handy. You can return to Settings at any time and fill in the rest of the info. Simply choose FAQ, Settings from the menu bar or press Ctrl+S.
We'll repeat this, since it's important: You don't need to enter ANYTHING here right now. Later, yes, but if you want to go right ahead and start entering your FAQ content, do it! With Friday's blessing.
FAQ Title
This is where you give your FAQ site a Title. The Title appears in the title bar of your browser when you view the main FAQ page.
For example, this FAQ's Site Title is "Friday 101"
(HTML coders: this becomes the text inside the <TITLE> </TITLE> tag in the tempates supplied with Friday.)
Heading
Text you type here becomes the heading at the top of your Main FAQ page.
For example, this FAQ's Heading is "A Friday Tutorial"
Two extra points for you if you've noticed that this page's title isn't "Friday 101"
Unlike the Main FAQ Page template, our Answer Page template uses the question as the title and heading. You can choose either one or something else entirely. Or nothing at all, if you prefer.
Home URL
Normally, this should be the complete URL to your home page.
Enter the complete URL -- e.g. http://www.rdpslides.com/friday/
The templates supplied with Friday create links to this URL. If you're using Friday to generate pages for a larger site, you might prefer to have these links point to some other page, probably the page that users will access your FAQ from. That's no problem. Put any URL you like here.
And of course, you don't have to have any of this stuff on your FAQ pages if you don't want it. Edit the templates and the world is your oyster.
Link text
Enter the text you want your site visitors to see wherever Friday generates a link to the Homepage URL mentioned above.
Filename
By default, Friday creates the Main FAQ page in a file called index.html but if your Webmaster wants you to use a different default name, enter it here.
In general:
In folder:
Friday created an \HTML folder inside the folder you chose when you created your FAQ. Friday places all of the web pages it generates into this folder. You can choose a different folder if you like. Click Change to choose a different folder.
Note: If you change the HTML folder, it's a good idea to choose Templates, Choose Templates and re-apply the template you chose earlier for your FAQ. This ensures that all needed files are copied to the new HTML folder.
When you upload your FAQ to your web site, Friday uploads files from this folder.
Main FAQ page b/g image & Answer pages b/g image
You can use GIF or JPG images as backgrounds for your FAQ pages. The Main FAQ page and the Answer pages can have different backgrounds. Buttons for each let you choose the images you want.
Friday automatically copies the images to your \HTML folder. Again, if you change to a different HTML folder, you should re-select your background images to ensure that they're copied to the new HTML folder.
Font & Size
Type the name of the font you'd like to use for your pages and choose a font size.
Friday doesn't validate the font name. If it's mis-typed or if you specify a font that isn't in common use, visitors to your site will see your FAQ pages in their default font.
You may prefer to respect the default font choice of your site visitors. If so, simply leave the Font text box blank.
Friday can upload your FAQ to your web server for you. It needs some basic info about your web site first, though. Your ISP or webmaster can provide any of the answers that you don't already know.
FTP site
The domain name part of your FTP site. For example, we'd enter rdpslides.com (not www.rdpslides.com). Your FTP site might be just your domain name or it might be ftp.your_domain.com
User & Password
Your user name and password for the FTP account Note: Friday stores this information in the FRIDAY.FQA file in the folder you created for your FAQ, but the password is encrypted.
Folder
The folder on your web site where you want to store your FAQ. Each FAQ should have its own dedicated folder on the web server.
Save & Cancel
Click Save to save any changes you've made in the Settings dialog box.
Click Cancel to discard any changes you've made.
Then click the Wizard's right-arrow button to move to the next screen.
Preview your FAQ
When you create a new FAQ, Friday adds a single question to it as a starting point.
You can delete or edit the question later, but for now you can use it to preview what your FAQ looks like with the personalized Settings and template you've chosen.
Click Preview.
Friday generates HTML then displays the new FAQ in your default browser.
When you're finished viewing the preview, close your browser and return to Friday.
If you'd like to try different Settings or another template, click the left-arrow button to return to the previous wizard screens and try different options. You can keep changing settings and previewing until you're satisified.
If you'd rather get on with the business of entering your content, go for it. Nothing you choose in the New FAQ Wizard is final. You can always change your mind later.
When you're finished, click the right-arrow key then click Done.
Congratulations!
You've created your first FAQ with Friday.
As you've probably already noticed, it's a little thin on content, and since content is what a FAQ is all about, that's what you'll want to do next: add some content of your own.
The next section of this tutorial explains how.
Naturally, all content & site maintenance by
Friday The Automatic FAQ Maker