Drupal Six Raised Eyebrow Online Help Manual Really Helps!

As of Tuesday, with each new Drupal 6 website we build, we will be providing access to an online manual. Like our paper manual, the online manual describes the basic functions of Drupal in easy to understand language and has customized client-specific content. But the new format also has many new benefits.

Book Module

The online manual uses the Drupal book module, which is a great because the book module lends to organizing things… like a book. The book module automatically creates a listing of the child entries, like a table of contents. You can order the child pages in any way you choose. I also like the book module because is has a printer-friendly version of each page. It does a really nice job of stripping out the unnecessary stuff and optimizing the content for printing, so you don’t get pages broken in half or extra white pages when you print.

Information in a New Dimension

What I loved about moving from a Word document to an online manual is how easily you can cross-reference. With the old manual, you could footnote or reference other pages, but ultimately it had to be a very important reference to disrupt the reader in this way. Now with the online manual, text and images can be linked to other sections of the manual. So if I think a word sounds a little jargon-like, but is still useful, I can add it to the glossary and link the word to its definition. This is great, because it allows us to introduce some language that we might have otherwise shied away from using. This is beneficial in the long run because it helps us develop a more accurate shared language with our clients to talk about their websites.

Keeping the Manual Up to Date

The best thing about the new manual is that if I discover an inaccuracy or a better explain something, I can simply log in and edit the site. Clients instantly have access to the up to date manual. Also, if a client adds a new feature, I can simply add a new page to their online manual and they will instantly have access to the file. This saves sending updated .pdfs and having many trees wasted as manuals are reprinted.

Works Great for Remote Training

We’ve also been experimenting with online meetings for trainings with remote clients and the new manual is great for this. I have three online trainings this summer!

Have You Ever Searched for Drupal Help?

Uhg! Lots of the information available online is too techie for words! Seriously, try Googling “Help Logging Into Drupal” and you’ll see that you get the weirdest stuff! Our help manual covers all the basic functions of editing and creating content for your site. Clients can access it from anywhere and it is constantly growing and evolving. There is a text-based search, allowing you to search the entire contents of your manual instantly, with a listing view of relevant results. It's a help manual that really helps!

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Thanks to the whole team at RE who helped conceive of, build, create content for, and test the Raised Eyebrow Help Website!