What you can do with Conduit
Conduit is a social blogging site where you can create, read, and manage articles; write and remove comments; favorite articles; and follow other users. Profiles show basic user information and lists of articles created by or favorited by the profile owner. A feed is a list of articles gathered from the global list, the people you follow, or a tag. Comments add discussion to an article, favoriting selects an article for your favorited list, and following lets you use the following feed.
| If you need to… | Go to |
|---|---|
| Choose a feed or browse tags | Find feeds, articles, and profiles |
| Enter, publish, edit, or remove an article | Create, edit, and remove articles |
| Choose the right article or profile path | Use the available article and profile paths |
| Understand the fields and areas on the main surfaces | Understand the main surfaces |
| Read an article | Read an article |
| Add a comment | Comment on an article |
| Favorite an article | Favorite articles |
| Follow another user | Follow a user |
| View a profile's article lists | View My Posts and Favorited Posts |
Before you start
Authentication determines which paths and controls are available. The following-feed path requires authentication, and the article-writing route is protected. Article owner actions appear only when the article belongs to the current user. Profile actions also change according to whether the profile belongs to the current user.
Prerequisites
- Know whether you need your following feed or the global feed.
- Sign in before using Your Feed, the Editor, or the signed-in comment form.
- To edit or delete an article, open an article that belongs to you.
- To edit your profile, open your own profile.
Find feeds, articles, and profiles
The Home surface is the starting point for article discovery. It offers Global Feed, the authenticated Your Feed, and Popular Tags.
Prerequisites
- Open Home at
/.
Steps
-
Choose the feed or discovery route that matches your goal.
If you need to… Select or use… Read the global article list Global Feed Read articles from people you follow Your Feed Filter the article list by a displayed tag a tag under Popular Tags -
Use the article list and its pagination to continue through the available articles.
Result: The Home surface shows the feed or tag-filtered article list you selected.
Understand the main surfaces
Conduit separates discovery, article writing, article reading, and profile work across four main surfaces. Home is the article-discovery surface. Editor is where you enter article content and tags. Article is where you read an article and use its owner or visitor actions. Profile contains user information, profile actions, and the My Posts and Favorited Posts tabs.
| Surface | Use it for | Reader-facing fields or controls |
|---|---|---|
| Home | Find articles | Your Feed, Global Feed, Popular Tags |
| Editor | Create or edit an article | Article Title, What's this article about?, Write your article (in markdown), Enter tags, Publish Article |
| Article | Read an article and manage its available actions | Edit Article, Delete Article, Write a comment..., Post Comment |
| Profile | View profile information and article lists | Edit Profile Settings, My Posts, Favorited Posts |
The Article and Profile surfaces also contain controls whose availability depends on ownership or authentication. The Home surface includes the article list as an embedded area rather than as a separate grid.
Create, edit, and remove articles
An article is the content you publish for other people to read. Use the Editor to enter its title, description, body, and tags; use the Article surface to edit or remove an article you own.
Publish or update an article
Prerequisites
- Sign in.
- For an update, open an article that belongs to you.
Steps
-
Choose the article task.
If you need to… Select or open… Create an article the Editor at /editorUpdate an article Edit Article on an article you own -
Enter the article title in Article Title.
-
Enter the article description in What's this article about?.
-
Enter the article body in Write your article (in markdown).
-
Enter a tag in Enter tags.
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Press Enter to add the tag.
-
Select Publish Article.
Result: The article is created or updated, and the app navigates to its Article surface.
Remove an article
Prerequisites
- Open an article that belongs to you.
Steps
- Select Delete Article.
Result: The article is deleted and the app navigates to Home.
Use the available article and profile paths
The Article surface changes according to who owns the article and whether you are signed in. The Profile surface changes according to whether you are viewing your own profile or another user's profile.
Add a comment or reach the sign-in path
Prerequisites
- Open an Article surface.
Steps
-
Choose the path that matches your access.
If you are… Use this path Signed in and adding a comment Enter text in Write a comment..., then select Post Comment Signed out and want to comment Select Sign in or sign up The article owner Use Edit Article or Delete Article Viewing another user's article Continue with Follow a user or Favorite articles
Result: The Article surface either provides the comment form, takes you to an authentication path, or provides the owner or visitor actions that apply to the article.
Open a profile list
Prerequisites
- Open a Profile surface.
Steps
-
Choose the action that matches your goal.
If you need to… Select… View the profile's created-article list My Posts View the profile's favorited-article list Favorited Posts Open Settings for your own profile Edit Profile Settings
Result: The selected profile list opens, or Settings opens for your own profile.
When loading or submission fails
The Article and Profile surfaces have an error area for messages returned while loading or submitting. The app provides these literal load fallbacks:
| What you see | Meaning | Next step |
|---|---|---|
Failed to load article | The Article load path returned an error without another message. | Return to the article path from the relevant focused article page. |
Failed to load profile | The Profile load path returned an error without another message. | Return to the profile path from the relevant focused profile page. |
Errors returned by the Article comment form are displayed in the same error area. The Editor also displays its returned errors above the form. Continue with General error messages when you need the application's broader error reference.
Continue with a focused task
Use the focused page that matches the next job:
| Next job | Page |
|---|---|
| Sign in or create an account | Sign in or Create an account |
| Understand authentication and loading messages | Authentication and loading messages |
| Find articles in a feed | Find articles in Your Feed and Global Feed |
| Browse by tag | Browse articles by tag |
| Read or orient yourself on an article | Read an article or Article workspace |
| Create or edit an article | Create and edit an article |
| Comment, favorite, or use article actions | Comment on an article, Favorite articles, or Article actions reference |
| View or manage a profile | View a profile, View My Posts and Favorited Posts, or Follow a user |
| Update profile settings | Update settings |
| Handle loading or general errors | Loading and unavailable states, General error messages, or Common issues and solutions |
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