We've had this idea of article "Topics" since we built the new KB last year but haven't really used it because they weren't localizable. Now they are and we're going to start using them.
What do topics do?
- They allow us to automatically suggest a few related articles at the top of an article and again at the bottom in the "Couldn't find what you were looking for?" section.
- We currently use just the "mobile" topic on mobile article and the related list is made up of other articles in the same category (how-to or troubleshooting) that also have the same tag.
- They will also (soon) allow us to filter searches from the various start pages to articles with a particular topic. For example, the search on the mobile start page will only return documents with the "mobile" topic.
- We are going to simplify the "Relevant to" section of an article's description. We'll have just 4 checkboxes: Desktop, Mobile, Sync and Firefox Home. Checking those will add the corresponding topic to the article.
- All of the articles in a particular topic are listed on a special "Topic page." An early mockup looked like this but the current implementation looks like this (more about this below). By linking these topic pages from the start pages we can give people browsing the site (versus searching) more ways to get to the content they are looking for.
What topics should we use?
For search filtering (Relevant to) we'll use:
- desktop
- mobile
- sync
- FxHome
These topics already exist and are look exactly like that.
In addition, I'm proposing we create and use the following topics:
- Video Tutorials - this would be for articles with a video that explains how to use a feature or accomplish a particular task (e.g. How to set the home page and Private Browsing - Use Firefox without saving history).
- Using Firefox - all articles (not just those with videos) that explain how to use a feature or accomplish a particular task (e.g. Bookmarks in Firefox).
- Customizing Firefox - articles about changing the way Firefox works or looks (e.g. Customize Firefox controls, buttons and toolbars and Find and install add-ons to add features to Firefox).
- Privacy & Security - articles related to privacy or security features (e.g. How do I turn on the Do Not Track feature? and Enhanced Tracking Protection in Firefox for desktop).
- Solving Problems - more than just troubleshooting (to determine an issue and then fix it), these are articles that help people solve problems whether troubleshooting is involved or not (e.g. Re-enable add-ons that were disabled when updating Firefox and How do I restore my tabs from last time?).
- Reference - articles that mainly explain something about Firefox without showing you how to accomplish something (e.g. Startup, home page, tabs, and download settings and Profiles - Where Firefox stores your bookmarks, passwords and other user data).
Do you think there should be other topics or that any of these should be called something else?
Topic pages
I feel dumb for not thinking of this sooner but we don't have to wait for the implementation of a fancy topic page. We can just make them using a regular sumo article (in the Navigation category so they don't show up in searches). In fact this might turn out to be perfectly workable and we'll never need to implement anything else.
I mocked up a couple on the staging server:
What do you think?
We've had this [https://wiki.mozilla.org/Support/Kitsune/KB/context_scenarios/Ellen#Ellen:_Categories idea of article "Topics"] since we built the new KB last year but haven't really used it because they weren't localizable. Now they are and we're going to start using them.
==What do topics do?==
*They allow us to automatically suggest a few [http://people.mozilla.org/~mverdi/screenshots/SUMO_-_How_do_I_use_the_Awesome_Screen%3F_%7C_How_to_%7C_Firefox_Help-20110803-104835.jpg related articles at the top of an article] and again at [http://people.mozilla.org/~mverdi/screenshots/SUMO_-_How_do_I_use_the_Awesome_Screen%3F_%7C_How_to_%7C_Firefox_Help-20110803-104951.jpg the bottom in the "Couldn't find what you were looking for?" section].
**We currently use just the "mobile" topic on mobile article and the related list is made up of other articles in the same category (how-to or troubleshooting) that also have the same tag.
*They will also (soon) allow us to filter searches from the various start pages to articles with a particular topic. For example, the search on the [http://support.mozilla.com/mobile mobile start page] will only return documents with the "mobile" topic.
**[http://people.mozilla.org/~mverdi/screenshots/relevant-to-20110803-110232.jpg We are going to simplify the "Relevant to" section of an article's description]. We'll have just 4 checkboxes: Desktop, Mobile, Sync and Firefox Home. Checking those will add the corresponding topic to the article.
*All of the articles in a particular topic are listed on a special "Topic page." An early mockup looked like [http://moz.howsehold.org/sumo/kb/v3/03_topic+intro.png this] but the current implementation looks like [https://support.mozilla.com/kb/topic/mobile this] (more about this below). By linking these topic pages from the start pages we can give people browsing the site (versus searching) more ways to get to the content they are looking for.
==What topics should we use?==
For search filtering (Relevant to) we'll use:
*'''desktop'''
*'''mobile'''
*'''sync'''
*'''FxHome'''
These topics already exist and are look exactly like that.
In addition, I'm proposing we create and use the following topics:
*'''Video Tutorials''' - this would be for articles with a video that explains how to use a feature or accomplish a particular task (e.g. [[How to set the home page]] and [[Private Browsing]]).
*'''Using Firefox''' - all articles (not just those with videos) that explain how to use a feature or accomplish a particular task (e.g. [[How do I use bookmarks?]]).
*'''Customizing Firefox''' - articles about changing the way Firefox works or looks (e.g. [[How do I customize the toolbars?]] and [[Customizing Firefox with add-ons]]).
*'''Privacy & Security''' - articles related to privacy or security features (e.g. [[How do I stop websites from tracking me?]] and [[Enabling and disabling cookies]]).
*'''Solving Problems''' - more than just troubleshooting (to determine an issue and then fix it), these are articles that help people solve problems whether troubleshooting is involved or not (e.g. [[Add-ons are disabled after updating Firefox]] and [[Firefox does not ask to save tabs and windows on exit]]).
*'''Reference''' - articles that mainly explain something about Firefox without showing you how to accomplish something (e.g. [[Options window - General panel]] and [[Profiles]]).
'''Do you think there should be other topics or that any of these should be called something else?'''
==Topic pages==
I feel dumb for not thinking of this sooner but we don't have to wait for the implementation of a fancy topic page. We can just make them using a regular sumo article (in the Navigation category so they don't show up in searches). In fact this might turn out to be perfectly workable and we'll never need to implement anything else.
I mocked up a couple on the staging server:
*[https://support.allizom.org/en-US/kb/video-tutorials Video Tutorials]
*[https://support.allizom.org/en-US/kb/using-firefox Using Firefox]
'''What do you think?'''
