Simple Trouble Shooting Application Now Fixes Everything

I've re-packaged last week's trouble-shooting checklist as an online application.

It's javascript based, web 2.0 friendly, has gradients (but no rounded corners, so it's not fully W2C*).

In case you missed it -- here it is.

I've given some (okay -- way too much) thought to this and have a rough idea about a complete expert-system for trouble shooting all computer problems.

Expert systems that I learnt about way back, in those crazy school days, seemed to be largely focused on medical topics ("male? definitely not pregnant. spots? might be measles."). More recently, circa 2002?, I recall a nifty expert system that could guess any 1970's television show you were thinking of. (Provided it was 'Happy Days' -- which it was).

How about computer problems?

I can envision some kind of wiki-like system where people who have solved their problems can contribute further Q&A to a huge tree of diagnostic trouble-shooting possibilities...

Let me get you started...

Q.1: Is the power on?

A="N"?: Return "Turn the power on."

A="Y"?: Continue to Q.2;

Q.2: Did you turn it off and turn it back on again?

A="N"?: Return "turn it off and turn it back on again."

A="Y"?: Continue to Q.3;

Enough theorising. Check out the trouble-shooting checklist, share it with your loved ones. Use it to solve your computing problems. And be good to each other. Once in a while. Please.

---

* W2C = Web 2.0 Compliance.

'Stephan Leclercq' on Sun, 21 Sep 2008 12:14:57 GMT, sez:

Hello, nice one, but... I got a list of useful tips.

tip one was:

html encode it and escape all apostrophes

On my iexplore, tip 3 was displayed like this:

"check that pump's suction pipe is elevated "

Maybe you should apply fix n° 1 :-) :-) :-)

'mike' on Sun, 21 Sep 2008 16:48:39 GMT, sez:

Hey, it's like a Magic 8-Ball(r) (Magic 10-Ball?(not-r) of computer questions! Sort of. I note that it does not say "Try flowers and a movie" anywhere. Bit of an oversight, that.

'lb' on Mon, 22 Sep 2008 04:56:06 GMT, sez:

@Stephan
he he -- yes, but i can only repro this on ie, so maybe the fix is to change browser. wonder if i included that?

'Matt' on Tue, 23 Sep 2008 15:40:33 GMT, sez:

There is nothing to prevent the same array element from being selected more than once. I had "recalculate statistics" appear 3 times in the same list. Other than that small oversight, it's a fun little app.

I'd fix it myself, but I'm not the greatest with javascript. I can't figure out how to dynamically resize the for loop when the same array element is selected more than once.

'lb' on Tue, 23 Sep 2008 20:39:45 GMT, sez:

@Matt
>I had "recalculate statistics" appear 3 times in the same list

I noticed that early on and then decided to deliberately leave that bug in there ;-).

I decided there was some small humour-value in having the list tell you to repeat steps an arbitrary number of times.

'cland' on Wed, 29 Oct 2008 18:13:12 GMT, sez:

Brilliant!!!

'jonA' on Sun, 29 Mar 2009 19:08:23 GMT, sez:

once ie 8 comes up if i try to use it ie. to select ot type it pings like a bel

ANY SUGESTING (HELP}
qfm@mail.com

name


website (optional)


enter the word:
 

comment (HTML not allowed)

All viewpoints welcome. But the right to delete any post for any reason is reserved. Don't make me do it. Comments may be republished, emailed to your loved ones or printed and used as toilet paper. Who reads this legal bit anyhow?

TimeSnapper_{Know thyself!}

TimeSnapper is a life analysis system that stores and plays-back your computer use. It makes timesheet recording a breeze, helps you recover lost work and shows you how to sharpen your act.

TimeSnapper won last year's Developer Competition at Larkware.com, and is used by over 10,000 people.