JB FAQ ModulePlugin

JB FAQ is a Jquery driven FAQ module for Joomla. This is an upgrade to our two previous modules Bamboo FAQ and Moo FAQ. It represents a significant update for a number of reasons. The module has been re-written using the Jquery library and consists of only 20 lines of code. JQuery operates in no conflict mode so there will be no issue with other javascript libraries you may be using. It pulls content from the Joomla content manager rather than inputting the questions and answers manually in the module admin.

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Editor's Note
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This module works great and works as described. The only problem I have is it doesn't work well if you break your FAQs out to multiple categories. While you can display multiple categories, there is no way to group them together or distinguish them.

If you try to separate them by using multiple modules within an article or page, the java script seems to act funky. The more instances of this module you have on the same page, the more times it will open/close. If you have 3 instances of this module for 3 different categories, each time a user trys to expand an faq item, it will expand and collapse 3 times.

So, it works great as long as you only have one instance on a page at a time.
Owner's reply

If you specify a module id for each module instance you dont get this issue.

This module is very good and the display of the content if what every FAQ should be.

The installation can be a bit difficult, but if you follow the steps on their website you should be fine. Summary of steps:
1: install the module in Joomla
2: create an article on your website with {loadposition FAQ} as text. Make sure you use {loadposition FAQ} and not { loadposition FAQ } (with spaces).
3: create a new section (i.e. called "faq") and remember the id
4: create a new category (i.e. called "faq") and remember the id
5: got to the module admin and fill in "FAQ" as the position and fill in the section and category id's
6: create a link to the article created in step 2.
7: add all your questions (as articles) under the section and category created in step 4 and 5
I love this module but it has a seriously annoying flaw, when displaying all articles from a section, I would love the module to list the articles in a categorical view with the category name as the headings.

In other words, when configuring the module to display and entire section of articles, there should be an option to display the articles in its separate categories with the category title as the heading above each category. If the user chooses not to display it like that, the user should be able to disable it and it should just show all articles in one big list. In order to do it the way I want, I have to go and create a copy of the module for each category and load the instance of that module on the same content page multiple times just to display the layout the way I want it.

Another thing I would love added is the ability to sort the articles alphabetically under each listing. At the moment, the sorting is defaulting to the article ID which is not always nice.

Other than these 2 issues, I LOVE this module! I would have given it an excellent if it had these features. I hope to see these changes in the future.
byi_sorin_i on August 17, 2009
a very good extension but it has a issue... it reserves the space for expanding in IE 7, making the site with a very big height, and a very big empty space on the bottom...
it is not a big thing but it would be nice to be resolved... thanks
Owner's reply

Im pretty sure thats a template issue as it doesnt occur on the demo site. Thanks

byjwbell on May 31, 2009
I like the demo and think it is something that I could use, however, it is not very user friendly and I am still trying to figure out how to add Questions to the FAQ module.
Owner's reply

Thanks for your review. Im happy to help you on our support forum - or you can see the instructions here: http://extensions.joomlabamboo.com/

This module is rather good but it would have been excellent if the author could explain it with simple words. For a rookie this is nearly impossible to understand. With only one sentence everything work with 15 min work.
Enable "Content - Load Module" plugin and the steps explained will wotk rather easy.
But if you don't know that one plugin you'll be messing around for a long time without any results what so ever.
Owner's reply

Thanks for your feedback. I guess its a given that it should be enabled and it usually is by default in Joomla but I take the point and Ill add it to the instructions.

Thanks.

byJK_design on April 16, 2009
This is a great extension and I'm happy to have come across it. It was a little tough at first to figure out how to use it (the documentation skips a few steps).

The only problem I've encountered is in Internet Exlorer (both 6 and 7), where the plus sign icon is cut off when the question is more than one line long. It would also be nice if on questions that are multiple lines, the second line would be indented so that the plus sign is hanging by itself on the left.
byLSUtiger on January 20, 2009
I am building my first website and this program worked great. I did have some set-up issues, but the support was outstanding. The fix for the multiple article issue was simple once I understood what to do (remember - newbie).

Under the Module Parameters enter the section ID for the FAQ section and do the same for all categories under the section, for instance:

Section ID - 25
Catergory ID - 23, 37, etc

Great program! Exactly what I wanted! I really appreciate the support!
byLazyGator on January 11, 2009
This is a very nice FAQ module; however, I am not able to use it because I seem to have no control over which Joomla document Section/Categories are included in the FAQ list.

It appears that the only way to have an article omitted from the FAQ list is to not assign it to a Section/Category.

I must use Sections/Categories for JoomSuite Membership. I'd like only those articles included in a FAQ category to be listed in this module.
Owner's reply

Hi LazyGator,

It is possible to filter via sections and categories. Did you add a value for both section and category? Please feel free to post a thread on our forum if you would like some more help with this.

Thanks Anthony

Just another module to list articles from sections or categories - not even selectable by a dropdownlist but by typing in (!) ids into the parameters ... download the thumbsup module, thats 10 times better.
Owner's reply

Thanks for the review Daniel. The module is aimed at creating an FAQ that expands and collapses the answers. I know there are other solutions for displaying content but this is specifically for creating an FAQ.

byborisgoodenough on December 18, 2008
Without a doubt, the slickest and easiest way I've found to put together a moderately-sized FAQ on a single page. Great feature: you can run it more than once without conflict in order to separate and headline multiple categories of FAQ, and keep them all on the same page.