# What can you do with conduit

## What you can do with conduit

conduit is a frontend application for authentication, article creation and editing, routing, and
pagination. Use it to find articles, read and discuss them, publish or revise your own articles,
and work with author profiles.

The main route families place those jobs in a simple flow:

| If you need to… | Go to |
|---|---|
| Find articles or browse tags | [Discover articles](doc:discover-articles) |
| Read an article, comment, follow its author, or favorite it | [Read an article](doc:read-an-article) |
| Publish a new article | [Create an article](doc:create-an-article) |
| Revise or remove an article you own | [Edit an article](doc:edit-an-article) |
| View an author or follow them | [View a profile](doc:view-a-profile) or [Follow an author](doc:follow-an-author) |
| See articles a profile has favorited | [View favorited articles](doc:view-favorited-articles) |
| Change your profile settings | [Update your settings](doc:update-your-settings) |
| Learn the shared screen vocabulary | [Understanding the interface](doc:understanding-the-interface) or [Basic terminology](doc:basic-terminology) |

Choose the relevant destination after you have checked what you need before starting.

## What you need before you start

Prerequisites

- Sign in when you need **Your Feed**, the comment editor, or authenticated article and profile
  actions.
- Have the article identifier for an article route and the username for a profile route.
- Open the profile after it has loaded if you need profile details or profile actions.

The available controls change with these conditions. On Home, **Your Feed** appears for an
authenticated reader. On an article, the comment editor appears for an authenticated reader;
otherwise, **Sign in** and **sign up** appear. A profile shows its loading or error message before
its profile content is ready.

With those conditions in mind, choose the destination that matches your work.

## Find the capability you need

Use the route that matches the work you want to do. The application provides Home, article,
article editing, profile, favorites, and settings destinations.

Steps

1. Choose a destination for your work.

| Your job | Continue with |
|---|---|
| Discover articles | [Discover articles](doc:discover-articles) |
| Read or discuss an article | [Read an article](doc:read-an-article) |
| Publish an article | [Create an article](doc:create-an-article) |
| Revise an article | [Edit an article](doc:edit-an-article) |
| View or follow an author | [View a profile](doc:view-a-profile) and [Follow an author](doc:follow-an-author) |
| View favorited articles | [View favorited articles](doc:view-favorited-articles) |
| Change account settings | [Update your settings](doc:update-your-settings) |

**Result:** You are on the route or detailed page for the job you want to complete.

## Understand what each capability lets you do

Use the selected surface for the reader job it supports. The controls below show what each
capability provides.

| Reader job | What you can use |
|---|---|
| Browse your followed authors' feed | **Your Feed** |
| Browse the complete article feed | **Global Feed** |
| Leave an empty following feed | **Go to the Global Feed** |
| Read and comment on an article | **Write a comment...** and **Post Comment** |
| Sign in or register before commenting | **Sign in** and **sign up** |
| Publish an article | **Article Title**, **What's this article about?**, **Write your article (in markdown)**, **Enter tags**, and **Publish Article** |
| Edit or remove your own article | [Edit an article](doc:edit-an-article) |
| Follow or unfollow an author | [Follow an author](doc:follow-an-author) |
| Favorite or unfavorite an article | [Read an article](doc:read-an-article) |
| Open your own profile settings | **Edit Profile Settings** |
| Browse a profile's authored articles | **My Articles** |
| Browse a profile's favorited articles | **Favorited Articles** |

Use this map to choose the detailed instructions for the job you want to complete.

## Choose the task instructions

Choose the detailed procedure that matches your intended result.

Steps

1. Choose one destination from this table.

   | If you want to… | Open |
   |---|---|
   | Discover articles | [Discover articles](doc:discover-articles) |
   | Read, comment on, favorite, or follow from an article | [Read an article](doc:read-an-article) |
   | Publish | [Create an article](doc:create-an-article) |
   | Revise or remove an article | [Edit an article](doc:edit-an-article) |
   | View a profile | [View a profile](doc:view-a-profile) |
   | Follow or unfollow an author | [Follow an author](doc:follow-an-author) |
   | View favorited articles | [View favorited articles](doc:view-favorited-articles) |

2. Open the destination page.

**Result:** The detailed page for your chosen article or profile task is open.

## When a capability does not load or respond

The screen can show a loading message, a profile-load message, an empty following feed, or an
error list. Match what you see to the action you were taking.

| What you see | What to do |
|---|---|
| `Loading profile...` | Wait for the profile to finish loading. |
| `This profile could not be loaded. Please try again later.` | Return to the profile later or use [Common issues and solutions](doc:common-issues-and-solutions). |
| `Your feed is empty.` | Select **Go to the Global Feed** to continue browsing. |
| ``Dynamic values from the `errors` object; no fixed message text is declared.`` | Use [General error messages](doc:general-error-messages) or [Getting help](doc:getting-help) for the error text shown in the list. |

After you match the message, continue with the detailed instructions for that problem or task.

## Continue to the detailed instructions

Continue with the destination that matches your next action.

| After you need to… | Continue with |
|---|---|
| Understand the product and its purpose | [What is conduit](doc:what-is-conduit) |
| Set up the supported environment | [System requirements](doc:system-requirements) |
| Learn the shared interface | [Understanding the interface](doc:understanding-the-interface) |
| Learn navigation | [Navigation basics](doc:navigation-basics) |
| Personalize your workspace | [Personalizing your workspace](doc:personalizing-your-workspace) |
| Learn product terms | [Basic terminology](doc:basic-terminology) |
| Get help | [Getting help](doc:getting-help) |
| Find answers to common questions | [FAQ](doc:faq) |
| Resolve general errors | [General error messages](doc:general-error-messages) |
| Resolve a recurring problem | [Common issues and solutions](doc:common-issues-and-solutions) |