Where can I find a free CGI/Perl "Frequently Asked Questions" Script that 
publishes files as static HTML? The other requirement is that it can create 
categories/subcategories with navigation links that make going back to previous 
screen easy ie :

Home -> Cat1 -> SubCat1 (Home, Cat1, SubCat1 are all links that appear on that 
specific FAQ page)

Be nice if you know of a download/link index script that does the same. I've 
seen many Perl scripts that do this but they all have query strings which make 
indexing on non-Google search engines difficult or impossible.

There are several CGI/Perl FAQ Scripts available. However, not all meet your 
exact needs. 

The FAQ-O-Matic is a script that is available for free and generates static 
html pages that would be friendly to the search engines you describe. Although 
graphically it is not as clean or pleasant as some other scripts, one can edit 
the source code to fit their own website's User Interface appearance. More 
information about FAQ-O-Matic can be found at 
http://faqomatic.sourceforge.net/fom-serve/cache/1.html

The FAQ Manager from CGI World has a much cleaner interface and looks more 
professional compared to other available scripts. However it is not free and 
requires a purchase price of $125. It does generate static html though. More 
information and a demo is available at http://www.cgi-world.com/faq_manager.html

If you are not satisfied with either of the above, another free FAQ generating 
script is QAMaker. This script does not generate static html but fits your 
other requirements. Find details on QAMaker at 
http://www.tesol.net/scripts/QAMaker/index.html

If you are still unsatisifed with these, please check out this listing of FAQ 
Maintenance scripts at 
http://www.mycgiscripts.com/resources/Ticket_Systems/FAQ_maintenance/


Additional information:

The CGI Directory
http://cgidir.com/Scripts/

The CGI Resource Index
http://cgi.resourceindex.com/

Matt's Script Archive
http://www.scriptarchive.com/

List of FAQ Maintenance Software
http://www.mycgiscripts.com/resources/Ticket_Systems/FAQ_maintenance/

CGI World: FAQ Manager 1.0 ($125, static html)
http://www.cgi-world.com/faq_manager.html

FAQ-O-Matic (Free, static html)
http://faqomatic.sourceforge.net/fom-serve/cache/1.html

QAMaker (Free, query string)
http://www.tesol.net/scripts/QAMaker/index.html


Search terms used:

cgi FAQ generator
cgi script archive

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Request for Answer Clarification by sun818-ga on 19 Apr 2002 13:46 PDT

Sorry, yeah I knew about FAQ-O-Matic before. It has a lot more interactivity 
and features than I looking. Prefer something simpler.

---

Clarification of Answer by researcher-ga on 19 Apr 2002 14:41 PDT

Perhaps MTVWebDesign's FAQ Generator would suit your needs better. Find it at 
http://mtvwebdesign.hypermart.net/products/faqgen/
If this does not suit your needs, or any of the others in the list above, you 
may have to hire a programmer (or code yourself)

researcher-ga answered my question with the requirements I was looking for. I 
only gave four stars because it was not the solution I went with due to the 
complexity of "Faq-o-matic".

I use a phenomenal tool specifically to do what you are seeking. It is called 
WebTool and is from a company called Chico Digital. It essentially allows you 
to create the categories and sub-categories you need and is easy to setup, 
merge with a template and manage an entire web site. The script is free, but I 
would reccomend making a donation on the site if you like what you found.

http://www.chicodigital.com

Thanks,
Brad Nickel

Hi Brad -- Thank you for letting me know about this free tool! I got it to work 
on my Windows-based web based host after a few stumbles. It seems it didn't 
want to work in IE6, but Netscape 4.7 worked perfectly for the setup portion. I 
also had to turn off "flock" option since there is some issue with the 
ActiveState Perl version running on my web host. This tool does exactly what I 
want! And for free! :)

Be careful. Turning of the file locking or "flock", can leave you with
corruption or performance issues. I would ask you host about that.