<?php

  /*

      about.php

      About page. [Commented]

      Changelog:
        2006-01-14 dave: Cleaned up code for v1.0 release
  
      ----

      Copyright (C) 2003  Central Manchester CLC
      Copyright (C) 2003  David Thorne (davethorne@gmail.com)

      This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or
      modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License
      as published by the Free Software Foundation version 2.

      This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
      but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
      MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
      GNU General Public License for more details.

      You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
      along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software
      Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA  02111-1307, USA.

  */

  // Destroy any session that might exist effectively logging off
  session_start();
  session_destroy();

  // Page title
  $ptitle = 'About';

  // Includes
  require 'header.php';
?>

  <h1>About</h1>
  <h2>About the Central Manchester CLC helpdesk issue management
      system.</h2>
      
  <div class="block">
    <br />
    <ul>
      <li><a href="#is">What is it?</a></li>
      <li><a href="#do">What will it do?</a></li>
      <li><a href="#cost">How much will it cost?</a></li>
      <li><a href="#ask">What if I have a question?</a></li>
    </ul>

    <h3><a name="is" id="is"></a>What is it?</h3>
    <p>This system represents an open source project to create a robust and generic
      helpdesk management system for all kinds of helpdesks. It was initially
      developed for use by the ICT helpdesk of <a href="http://www.trinityhigh.com/">
      Trinity High School</a> and the <a href="http://www.centralmanclc.com/">
      Central Manchester City Learning Centre</a>.</p>
    <p>It is a web-based system using <a href="http://www.php.net/">PHP</a>
      for the interface and <a href="http://pear.php.net/package/DB">Pear::DB</a> 
      as the database abstraction layer. Pear::DB supports many database backends,
      such as PostgreSQL, MySQL, SQLite, MSSQL, Oracle and ODBC to name a few.</p>
    <p>Each and every page of this system will conform to the
      <a href="http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/">XHTML 1.0 Transitional</a> standard
      ensuring that the maximum number of both HTML and XML user agents will be catered
      for. In addition, the <a href="http://www.w3.org/TR/CSS2/">CSS level 2</a>
      standard is adhered to ensure correct presentation on those different user agents
      and platforms.</p>
    <p>Lastly, for both social inclusion and good practise, each page is rated
      according to the <a href="http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/">Web Content
      Accessibility Guidelines 1.0</a> drawn up by the <a href="http://www.w3c.org/">World
      Wide Web Consortium</a> (W3C).</p>

    <h3><a name="do" id="do"></a>What will it do?</h3>
    <p>When completed it will allow the clients of the system (in this case, the
      teachers) to log into the system and register ICT issues directly with support
      staff. Support staff are grouped both into locational bases, with each base
      representing a single site (either a school or a city learning centre),
      and into levels, with each level representing the different lines of support.</p>
    <p>Support staff then have the ability to manage their own time and resources
      using the system to keep track of all their currently unresolved issues.</p>
    <p>Each recorded issue holds all pertinent information regarding the enquiry
      and can hold a full support history for later reference by support staff.
      Once resolved, those issues can be published to the knowledge base for public
      reference.</p>
    <p>For a more extensive list, visit the <a href="features.php">features page</a>.</p>

    <h3><a name="cost" id="cost"></a>How much will it cost?</h3>
    <p><em>Absolutely nothing!</em> This project is licensed under the
      <a href="http://www.gnu.org/licenses/licenses.html#GPL">GNU General Public
      License</a> (GPL) and as such is open and free to anyone who wishes to gain access to
      the code. Archives of the PHP files and SQL scripts can be downloaded from the
      <a href="download.php">downloads page</a>.</p>

    <h3><a name="ask" id="ask"></a>What if I have a question?</h3>
    <p>Well, if you want to ask anything at all, then please don't hesitate to get in
      touch. We have a general mailing list
      <a href="mailto:helpmeict-dicuss@lists.sourceforge.net">helpmeict-discuss@lists.sourceforge.net</a>
      for discussions and questions that you can join if you wish, just visit the
      <a href="http://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/helpmeict-discuss">list info page</a>
      for more details. For those with bugs to report or features to request you may use the
      <a href="http://sourceforge.net/tracker/?group_id=77924&amp;atid=551672">Sourceforge Bug Tracker</a>
      or the
      <a href="http://sourceforge.net/tracker/?group_id=77924&amp;atid=551675">Sourceforge RFE</a>
      respectively.</p>
  </div>
<?php
  // Include
  require 'footer.php';
?>
