6. Use phpMyFAQ

The public phpMyFAQ frontend has a simple, HTML5 / CCS3-based default layout based on Bootstrap v5.3. To ensure the best possible user experience for everyone, phpMyFAQ supports three distinct visual modes, which can be toggled via the theme switcher in the header:

  • Light Mode: The classic bright interface.
  • Dark Mode: A reduced-glare interface for low-light environments.
  • High Contrast Mode: Specifically designed for better accessibility (A11y). It features the Atkinson Hyperlegible Next font to maximize character recognition and strictly adheres to high contrast standards (WCAG AAA).

The header has the main links for all categories, propose new FAQs, add questions, open questions, and a login. On the left side you only see the main categories. You can also change the current language at the bottom of the FAQ, use the global search in the center of the FAQ, or use the login box in the upper right if you have a valid user account. On the right side you see a list of the most popular FAQ records, the latest records, and the sticky FAQ records. On the pages with the FAQ records, you'll see the other records of the current category and the tag cloud if you're using tagging.

4.1 Change languages

As written above, there's a select box in the footer for changing the current language. If you're visiting a phpMyFAQ powered FAQ, the current language will be the one your browser is using or the language which was selected by the administrator of the FAQ. If you change the language, you'll see the categories and records of your chosen language. If there are no entries in this language, you'll see no entries. If you're switching to languages with a right-to-left text direction (for example, Arabic, Hebrew, or Farsi), the whole default layout will be switching, according to the text direction.

4.2 Find As You Type

The Find As You Type feature is directly built into the main search bar at the top of the FAQ with direct access to the whole FAQ database. The page will return results while you're typing into the input form. For performance reasons, only the first 10 results will be suggested.

There's a link to the advanced search just below the main search, where you have more possibilities to find a FAQ. You can search over all languages if you want to, and it's also possible to search only in one selected category.

4.4 All categories

All users will get an overview over all available categories according to their permissions. The number of FAQs is displayed on this page as well. If you click into a subcategory, you'll jump into this part of the category tree. You also see—if available — a category image, a category description, the list of the FAQs in the selected category.

4.5 Add FAQ

On the Add FAQ page it's possible for all users to add a new FAQ record. The users have to add a FAQ question, select a category, add an answer, and they have to insert their name and e-mail address. If the spam protection is enabled, they have to enter the correct captcha code, too. New FAQ entries won't be displayed by default and have to be activated by an administrator.

If a user is logged in, the name and e-mail address are filled automatically.

4.6 Ask questions

On the Ask question page, it's possible for all users to add a new question without an answer.

Note for Guests: By default, guests can only submit questions if the administrator has enabled the setting "Allow adding questions for guests" in the configuration. If this setting is disabled, guests must log in to access the form.

If the question is submitted, phpMyFAQ checks the words for the question and will do a full text search on the database with the existing FAQs. If we found some matches, the user will get some recommendations depending on the question he submitted.

The users have to add a question, select a category, and they have to insert their name and e-mail address. If the spam protection is enabled, they have to enter the correct captcha code, too. By default, new questions won't be displayed and have to be activated by an administrator.

If a user is logged in, the name and email address are filled automatically.

4.7 Open questions

This page displays all open questions. Depending on the configuration and user permissions, the page offers the following options:

  • Answer question: Users with the required permissions can add an answer. This is also available for guests if the setting "Allow adding new FAQs for guests" is enabled, as answering an open question technically creates a new FAQ entry. By clicking the button, the user is directed to the "Add FAQ" page, where the question and the category selected by the inquirer are automatically pre-filled into the form. If spam protection is enabled, the correct captcha code must also be entered.
  • Read answer: If the option "Close open question after answer?" is enabled and an answer to a question already exists in the system, a direct link to the corresponding FAQ entry is displayed. This allows users to access the existing solution directly.

If both the "Allow adding new FAQs for guests" setting and the "Close open question after answer?" setting are disabled or a user does not have the corresponding user permissions, the page serves as a read-only overview. In this case, guests and restricted users can view the questions but are not authorized to provide answers or access existing answers through this list.

Furthermore, the number of questions that have not yet been approved or published by an administrator is displayed at the bottom of the list. This serves as a confirmation for inquirers that their submitted question has been successfully received by the system and is currently awaiting moderation.

4.8 User registration

Users of the FAQ also have the possibility to register themselves. The user-generated accounts are unactivated by default, and the administrator has to activate them. If enabled by the administrator, the user can also register for login via passkey.

4.9 User control panel

Every registered user can edit their name, email address, and the password. If the email address of the user is registered at Gravatar, phpMyFAQ uses the images fetched from Gravatar for this email address. The users can also enable or disable the permission to show their names in the public frontend, e.g., if they added their own question. Additionally, every user can activate the builtin two-factor authentication to enhance security. You can use authentication apps like Google Authenticator for iOS or Android. If enabled by the administrator, the user can also register for login via passkey.

For better usability, there are some helpful links below every FAQ entry. If the administrator added tags to the records, they will be displayed next to five (or more) related articles. The related articles are based on the content of the current FAQ entry. On the right side, you'll see links to all entries of the current category and the complete tag cloud of the whole FAQ.