Better Knowledgebase Layout

[markb1439]

Hi,

 

I noticed that one WHMCS competitor has a much better way of laying out knowledgebase articles (IMHO):

 

https://www.clientexec.com/members/index.php?fuse=knowledgebase&view=KB_MainView

 

I think this makes it much easier for users to find what they're looking for, as the first few articles of a category are already visible. Then the user can click the "Show All" link to see all of them if necessary.

 

Is there any way to achieve this kind of KB layout in WHMCS, maybe through template modification? If not, is there any chance of getting this ability added? (Would still love the ability to reorder articles too.)

 

BTW, I wasn't trying to promote the competition. We know that WHMCS is number one, but I was just trying to show an example of one feature the other one does right...to see if WHMCS can do the same or better.

 

Thanks,

 

Mark

[Alistair]

Yes - you can edit the .tpl files for knowledgebase and style it how you want. Look for it in your template folder.

[markb1439]

Hi,

 

Thanks for the reply. I know that templates can be edited for general layout and such, however is it possible to do the kind of editing I was mentioning on the Knowledgebase?

 

For example, on the main Knowledgebase page, instead of just showing the top-level list of categories, I'd like to show a box for each category (as in the example from the "other" billing system). Each box would have the category name and the first three (or maybe five) articles in that category. Or maybe the subcategories would be listed.

 

Is this kind of editing possible? If so, does anyone have any sample code or instructions they'd be willing to share?

 

Thanks,

 

Mark

[Alistair]

Yes it is possible - but the way it looks would depend on your existing websites CSS and design structure. Unless you just wanted to use basic HTML tables - in which case you can just edit it with HTML code and move the variables around to where you want the article names etc. to be displayed.

[markb1439]

Thanks. I'm pretty familiar with the CSS and layout stuff. What I don't understand is how to manipulate the way the data is displayed, for example how to show each category with the most recent 3-5 articles under it (or something like that).

 

Can you point me to anything that would help me with this kind of thing?

 

Thanks,

 

Mark

[computers.wheneva]

@markb1439

 

This is possible, you will have to do a foreach loop through the articles of that specific section, unfortunately I am not a PHP or MySQL expert but remember that google is your friend Click Here.

 

Computers Wheneva

http://www.wheneva.co.za

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[markb1439]

Thank you. I actually did Google it, but I Googled specifically for WHMCS. I assumed that WHMCS used its own way of doing things, but I didn't realize it was utilizing standard PHP/mySQL routines.

 

Thanks,

 

Mark

[computers.wheneva]

@markb1439

 

no problem, just remember that WHMCS already have most of there paramaters predefined so 99.99% you do not have to recreate them just looking at the templates will give you a basic idea of what data to use do your queries on.

 

WHMCS paramaters looks something like $params["clientdetails.firstname] or {"firstname"}

 

Computers Wheneva

http://www.wheneva.co.za

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