# What can you do with Conduit

Conduit is a social blogging site where you can browse articles, publish and manage your own
articles, comment on articles, follow other users, and favorite articles.

## What you can do with Conduit

Use Conduit according to the work you need to complete:

| If you need to… | Go to |
|---|---|
| Understand what Conduit is | [What is Conduit](doc:what-is-conduit) |
| Understand who uses Conduit | [Who uses Conduit](doc:who-uses-conduit) |
| Sign in or create access | [Your first day](doc:your-first-day), [Sign in](doc:sign-in), or [Sign up](doc:sign-up) |
| Browse articles and tags | [Find articles](doc:find-articles) |
| Create or change an article | [Create and edit articles](doc:create-and-edit-articles) |
| Read or manage one article | [Read and manage an article](doc:read-and-manage-an-article) |
| Favorite an article | [Favorite articles](doc:favorite-articles) |
| Add a comment | [Comment on articles](doc:comment-on-articles) |
| View or update a profile | [Profiles overview](doc:profiles-overview), [View a profile](doc:view-a-profile), or [Personalizing your workspace](doc:personalizing-your-workspace) |
| Follow another user | [Follow other users](doc:follow-other-users) |
| View a user's favorites | [View favorited articles](doc:view-favorited-articles) |
| Find your way around the application | [Understanding the interface](doc:understanding-the-interface) or [Navigation basics](doc:navigation-basics) |
| Resolve a problem | [General error messages](doc:general-error-messages) or [Common issues and solutions](doc:common-issues-and-solutions) |

The main areas are Home, the editor, an article, a profile, and a profile's favorites list. A
profile is a user's public information and article lists. The header provides links for the areas
available to you. The Home screen provides article feeds and popular tags, while a profile
separates a user's articles from that user's favorited articles.

## Before you start

**Prerequisites**

| Before you need to… | Have this in place |
|---|---|
| Open Your Feed | Sign in so the feed is available. |
| Use the signed-out Home view | Open Home without a sign-in token. |
| Create or change an article | Open the editor for a new article or an article you own. |
| Edit or delete an article | Be the article's author. |
| Edit your profile | Open your own profile; the profile action leads to Settings. |
| Follow or unfollow a user | Open another user's profile. |
| View favorited articles | Open the profile's favorites route. |
| Add a comment | Open the article and have the comment text ready. |

The editor collects the article title, description, body, and tags. The comment form collects the
comment body. No required markers are declared for these fields.

## Find the right starting point

Use this procedure when you know what you want to do but have not yet opened the relevant area.

**Prerequisites**

- Decide whether you are browsing, writing, reading, commenting, managing a profile, or viewing
  favorites.

**Steps**

1. From the header or current page, select the control that matches your goal.

   | If you want to… | Select |
   |---|---|
   | Return to the article lists | **Home** |
   | Start a new article | **New Post** |
   | Change your profile | **Settings** |
   | Open your own profile | The username and profile picture link in the header |
   | Sign in | **Sign in** |
   | Create access | **Sign up** |
   | Browse a signed-in personal list | **Your Feed** |
   | Browse the general article list | **Global Feed** |
   | Filter by a popular tag | A tag under **Popular Tags** |

2. On a profile, select **My Articles** or **Favorited Articles** according to the list you need.

**Result:** The selected Home view, editor, profile, article list, or favorites list is on screen.

## Create and change articles

An article is a post whose title, description, body, and tags you provide for other people to
read.

Use this procedure to create a new article or change an article you own.

**Prerequisites**

- Sign in before selecting **New Post**.
- Open an article you own before selecting **Edit Article**.

**Steps**

1. Select **New Post** to create an article, or select **Edit Article** on an article you own.
2. In **Article Title**, enter the article title.
3. In **What's this article about?**, enter the article description.
4. In **Write your article (in markdown)**, enter the article body.
5. In **Enter tags**, enter a tag.
6. Press Enter to add the tag to the article.
7. Select **Publish Article**.
8. To remove a tag before publishing, select the close icon beside that tag.
9. To remove an article you own, select **Delete Article**.

**Result:** The article is submitted with its title, description, body, and tag list, or the
article is removed when you select **Delete Article**.

## Read and interact with articles

An article list is a set of article previews that you can browse by feed, tag, or page; an article
page contains the selected article and its comments.

Use this procedure to choose a list, open an article, comment, and reach a user's favorites.

**Prerequisites**

- Open Home to choose a feed, tag, or page.
- Open an article before posting a comment.

**Steps**

1. Select the article list that answers your browsing question.

   | If you need to… | Select |
   |---|---|
   | Read articles from users you follow | **Your Feed** |
   | Read the general article list | **Global Feed** |
   | Read articles for one tag | The tag under **Popular Tags** |
   | Read another page of results | A page number below the article list |

2. Select an article preview to open the article page.
3. In **Write a comment...**, enter the comment text.
4. Select **Post Comment**.
5. On a profile, select **Favorited Articles** to open that user's favorited article list.

The article preview also has a favorite toggle represented by an icon rather than a stable
reader-facing label.

**Result:** The selected article list or article is on screen, the comment is submitted, or the
profile's favorited article list is on screen.

## Manage profiles and following

Use your own profile for profile settings, and another user's profile when you want to follow or
unfollow that person.

**Prerequisites**

- Open a profile from the header or an article author link.
- Open another user's profile before following or unfollowing that user.

**Steps**

1. In the header, select your username and profile picture link to open your profile.
2. Select **Edit Profile Settings** when the profile belongs to you.
3. On another user's profile, select the control for the action you want to take.

   | If you want to… | Select |
   |---|---|
   | Start following the user | **Follow** followed by the profile username |
   | Stop following the user | **Unfollow** followed by the profile username |

4. Select **My Articles** or **Favorited Articles** to choose the profile's article list.

**Result:** The profile, Settings, selected article list, or updated follow state is on screen.

## When something goes wrong

Conduit displays API or validation errors as a list of dynamic entries. Each entry combines the
error key with the corresponding error value.

No literal message text; each rendered item is the dynamic key followed by `errors[key]`.

| What you see | What it means | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| A list of error entries | An API or validation error was returned for the current action. | Read the key and value shown in the list, correct the related article or comment input, and submit the action again. |
| No stable label for the favorite toggle | The favorite control is represented by an icon. | Use the article preview's favorite icon rather than a text label. |

## Know what to do next

Choose the focused page that matches the next action:

| Next goal | Page |
|---|---|
| Learn the product's purpose or vocabulary | [What is Conduit](doc:what-is-conduit) or [Basic terminology](doc:basic-terminology) |
| Set up access | [Authentication overview](doc:authentication-overview), [Sign in](doc:sign-in), or [Sign up](doc:sign-up) |
| Work with articles | [Articles overview](doc:articles-overview), [Find articles](doc:find-articles), [Create and edit articles](doc:create-and-edit-articles), or [Read and manage an article](doc:read-and-manage-an-article) |
| Work with comments or favorites | [Comment on articles](doc:comment-on-articles) or [Favorite articles](doc:favorite-articles) |
| Work with profiles | [Profiles overview](doc:profiles-overview), [View a profile](doc:view-a-profile), [Follow other users](doc:follow-other-users), or [View favorited articles](doc:view-favorited-articles) |
| Learn navigation or settings | [Navigation basics](doc:navigation-basics) or [Personalizing your workspace](doc:personalizing-your-workspace) |
| Resolve a problem or get help | [General error messages](doc:general-error-messages), [Common issues and solutions](doc:common-issues-and-solutions), or [Getting help](doc:getting-help) |