The helpdesk is a collection of information that was previously stored in textfiles. Linking the files together into HTML documents enables quicker access from an organized structure. All documents within the helpdesk represent subjects I have taken interest in and made an effort to document for future reference. I am trying to maintain the appearance of an academic helpdesk which is usually plain with mostly text links.

     Most notes on the helpdesk are not in a HOW-TO format. There are designed for quick reference on subjects that the user is already familiar with. The notes provide details that are easily overlooked such as programming syntax and steps within an operation. Some documents and whitepapers do exist on the helpdesk and many notes on popular yet extensive subjects will be eventually converted to whitepapers when time and priority allow.


Startup:

     The helpdesk began in 1999 when I worked as a helpdesk technician. I found that the current helpdesk my company provided was insufficient and not user friendly. There was a background graphic on every page and every link was a pretty picture. There were times when the Intranet server just couldn't deal with all of the JPEGs and GIFs and I found myself waiting and waiting for the pages to complete. I then decided to make my own helpdesk and try to minimize the graphics and maximize usability.

Design Tools:

     This site was design entirely with Microsoft Notepad. I use IE5.5 to view and test all pages. I occasionally use Netscape to browse and check for some major problems but I optimize it for use with IE. I often reference my helpdesk from within Netscape running either BSD or Linux and although the layout might not match the quality of IE, the information I want is accessible.

     If you find misspelled words, that is due to the fact that this helpdesk is designed with Notepad which does not have a spell checker. I am currently looking for an HTML spellchecker that works with source (unlike WYSIWYG editors).

Structure:

     This helpdesk relies heavily on JavaScript. All headers at the top of the pages are generated dynamically by script based on the title of the document. When I make a single change to the script, all pages reflect this change. That makes all pages consistant and updates are very easy.

     The JavaScript library is very large and contains most of the functions I use on any page. This is useful so that if I find a bug in some of the code, I can update one function and the changes will apply globally. This large JavaScript library is a seperate file and once loaded from the homepage, stays in cache and does not have to be re-downloaded on other pages, therefore, the pages stay small and transfer quickly (relying on the cached library for functionality).