# What is Conduit

## What Conduit is

Conduit is a social blogging site and a Medium.com clone. You use it
to authenticate, create and manage articles, comment on articles, browse paginated article
lists, favorite articles, and follow other users.

| If you need to… | Go to |
|---|---|
| Understand who Conduit is for | [Who uses Conduit](doc:who-uses-conduit) |
| See the complete capability overview | [What can you do with Conduit](doc:what-can-you-do-with-conduit) |
| Sign in or create an account | [Sign in](doc:sign-in) or [Create an account](doc:create-an-account) |
| Reach your first feed | [Your first day](doc:your-first-day) |
| Find articles in a feed | [Find articles in feeds](doc:find-articles-in-feeds) |
| Browse articles by tag | [Browse articles by tag](doc:browse-articles-by-tag) |
| Read an article | [Read an article](doc:read-an-article) |
| Work with an article | [Article workspace](doc:article-workspace) |
| Understand the interface and routes | [Understanding the interface](doc:understanding-the-interface) or [Navigation basics](doc:navigation-basics) |
| Follow a user or favorite an article | [Follow a user](doc:follow-a-user) or [Favorite articles](doc:favorite-articles) |

## Before you start

Home is the place to find articles, rather than a form where you enter or save records. The
public **Global Feed** is available without signing in. **Your Feed** is available when you are
authenticated; it collects the following feed for your account.

**Prerequisites**

- To use **Global Feed**, have access to the Home page at `/`.
- To use **Your Feed**, sign in first. It shows articles from people you follow. Use [Sign in](doc:sign-in) if you are not authenticated.
- To browse articles by topic, start from Home with a topic link available in the **Popular Tags** area.

If you request that list without authentication, Conduit redirects you to `/login`.

When these conditions are ready, open Home.

A feed is an article list. A tag is a topic value that filters the article list.

## Open Home

Home is the article-finding surface at `/`. It brings together the feed choices, article list,
tag list, and article pagination in one place.

**Prerequisites**

- You know whether you want the public **Global Feed** or the authenticated **Your Feed**.

**Steps**

1. Open `/`.

**Result:** Home opens with the feed choices and the article-finding surface.

With Home open, choose the feed or topic that matches what you want to read.

## Choose a feed and browse articles

**Prerequisites**

- Home is open at `/`.
- You are signed in before choosing **Your Feed**.

**Steps**

1. Choose the list that matches what you want to read.

   | If you want to… | Select |
   |---|---|
   | Browse the public article list | **Global Feed** |
   | Browse articles from people you follow | **Your Feed** |
   | Browse articles marked with a topic | A tag in **Popular Tags** |

2. Select an article title or **Read more...** to open the article.

3. Select a page number when the article list has more than one page.

**Result:** The selected feed or tag determines the article list, and a selected article opens
the article surface.

Use the Home results to interpret what is loading, available, or empty.

## Understand the Home results

Home presents article previews alongside **Popular Tags**. The article area changes between
loading, loaded, and empty states; the sidebar changes between loading tags, showing tags, and
showing that no tags are available.

The tag tab appears when Home is filtered by a tag. The article area shows pagination in its
loaded state, with one page button for each available page.

Home does not provide fields to complete, a grid to edit, or a save or submit action. Use the
article pages for article work instead.

| What you see | What it means |
|---|---|
| `Loading articles...` | The article list is loading. |
| `Your feed is empty. Follow some users to see their articles here, or check out the Global Feed!` | The following feed has no articles; follow users or choose **Global Feed**. |
| `No articles are here... yet.` | The current global or tag-filtered list has no articles. |
| `Loading tags...` | The **Popular Tags** list is loading. |
| `No tags are here... yet.` | No tags are available in the sidebar. |

For feed-specific guidance, see [Loading and unavailable states](doc:loading-and-unavailable-states).

With the results understood, continue to the area that matches your next task.

## Continue from Home

Use Home to discover content, then continue to the surface that matches your next task. Conduit
includes sign-in and sign-up pages, an Editor page, an Article page, and a Profile page around the
Home experience. It also includes authentication,
article work, comments, favorites, and following.

| Next task | Continue with |
|---|---|
| Sign in or register | [Sign in](doc:sign-in) or [Create an account](doc:create-an-account) |
| Create or edit an article | [Create and edit an article](doc:create-and-edit-an-article) |
| Read, comment on, or favorite an article | [Read an article](doc:read-an-article), [Comment on an article](doc:comment-on-an-article), or [Favorite articles](doc:favorite-articles) |
| View profiles or follow users | [View a profile](doc:view-a-profile) or [Follow a user](doc:follow-a-user) |
| Personalize your account | [Update settings](doc:update-settings) |
| Get help with an error | [Getting help](doc:getting-help) or [General error messages](doc:general-error-messages) |