Version 0.10 by Steven Flintham (15A) Introduction The 8BS questionnaire system aims to
provide a convenient method for members
to let the editor know what they think
of 8BS and to provide information which
will be useful in shaping future
issues. Members use a program provided
on this disc to complete a
questionnaire and then send the
resulting answer file to the editor on
their submission disc.
It also allows members to enter up to
five computing and five general
interests if they wish. These will then
be used to produce a list to be
released on future issues of 8BS,
allowing members with similar interests
to contact one another.
Basic instructions When run, the program will ask you to
insert your 8BS submission disc. After
doing so, you should then press SPACE.
Note that the program assumes that the
submission disc is in the same format
as the disc you ran the program from.
For example, if you run the program
from an ADFS disc it will assume that
your submission disc is in ADFS as
well. In practice, you will probably
not need to worry about this.
You must NOT take your submission disc
out of the drive until you have
finished using the program. You must
also avoid pressing BREAK - this will
not harm the disc but will probably
leave the questionnaire file either
corrupt or incomplete. If this happens,
just type the following at the BASIC
prompt with your submission disc in the
drive:
CLOSE #0
*DELETE !QUEST
To avoid this happening, you should
leave the program by pressing ESCAPE
while answering the questions - this
will make sure than any information you
have given will be stored correctly on
the disc.
Entering your personal details If you have not used the program
before, you will be asked to fill in an
on-screen 'form' giving your name,
address and (if appropriate) telephone
number. You can type on to the form in
the normal manner, using the cursor
keys to move around. DELETE will delete
backwards most of the time, but it does
not close up any gap produced - this is
not necessary as only small amounts of
information are being entered and
providing a close up facility slows
down the program. Typing over an item
with spaces will also remove it.
Pressing RETURN will move the cursor to
the next line.
You should type as 'neatly' as
possible, using both capital (ABC) and
lower case (abc) letters, but this is
not essential. It is perfectly
acceptable to leave blank lines, for
example if your address does not need
seven lines, although where an item
requires more than one line you should
start on the top line. You MUST enter
your user ID, name and address, since
the editor needs these to identify each
member.
You do not have to enter your telephone
number, but you may do so if you wish -
please enter the area (STD) code as a
number if possible (e.g. 0754 rather
than Skegness), although the program
does not insist on this. 'Punctuation'
throughout the information is entirely
at your discretion but I would suggest
leaving out any commas and full stops.
Although you must give your address,
you do not have to agree to it being
published. If you do not change the
setting it will be published where
appropriate - moving the cursor to the
'Publish: Yes' area next to 'Address:'
and typing N will prevent this. Type Y
to change it back. Your name is not
treated as part of your address and
will be published with your user ID if
necessary - this is not affected by the
address 'Publish:' setting.
Any members wishing to keep their name
anonymous should temporarily use a
pseudonym in the 'Name:' section and
enter their name as the first line of
their address, making sure to specify
that this should not be published. You
should also mention this to the editor
in a note somewhere on the submission
disc and contact me so that I can
modify the program to provide a 'don't
publish name' option - no provision has
been made for this at the moment as I
do not expect it to be required and it
would increase the size of the program
still further.
As with the address, even if you give
your telephone number you do not have
to agree to it being published. Change
the 'Publish:' setting below the
telephone number to indicate your
choice. If you do not agree to your
address or telephone number being
published then only the 8BS editor will
see them.
You can press f0 at any time during
this process for help. Press ESCAPE
when you have finished - the program
will remind you to enter your user ID,
name and address if you have not done
so.
Answering the questions
After entering your personal details
you will be able to answer the
questions. If you have already entered
your personal details then the program
will come straight to this point when
run. Once you have reached this point
you can leave the questionnaire
partially completed and come back to it
later.
The first question will automatically
be displayed and you can move freely
between questions by using the left and
right cursor keys. Answering a question
will automatically move to the next
question, except on the last question
when this is obviously not possible.
There are two types of question -
multiple choice and non-multiple
choice! To answer a multiple choice
question, just press the appropriate
number from the list displayed. To
answer non-multiple choice questions,
just type in the answer - a row of dots
will appear below the answer when you
press the first key. On these types of
question, deleting what you have typed
in and pressing RETURN on a blank line
will leave the previous answer,
whatever it was.
You can refuse to answer any question
by pressing COPY and also by selecting
0 on multiple choice questions. Please
try to complete as many questions as
possible, however.
You can press f0 for help. Pressing
ESCAPE will save your answers to disc
and return you to BASIC - this is the
only completely safe way of leaving the
program. You can also press f1 to force
the program to save your answers
without finishing, f2 to change your
personal details as described above
or f3 to enter/change your interests as
described below.
Entering/changing your interests You can enter up to five computing and
five general interests. This 'form'
operates in the same way as the
personal details form. You do not have
to enter anything and there is no need
to use every line, although you should
start at the top line of each section.
You can enter interests in only one
section if you wish. Punctuation and
layout are up to you, but as with the
personal details I would suggest using
both capital and lower case letters and
omitting commas and full stops.
Press f0 for help and ESCAPE to return
to answering the questions.