Introduction

What is Conversant?

Conversant is a lot of things to a lot of people, so in some ways that's not a very easy question to answer. Instead of talking about all that it can be, let's look at what it is, at its most basic.

At its heart, deep down inside of Conversant, is what we call a "message engine". That's important to remember, because understanding messages is the first step to understanding Conversant. Messages contain most of the text and HTML in a Conversant "conversation", and the message engine is what allows messages to be displayed on the web and in email.

Almost everything else in Conversant is built around messages. Web pages, event calendars, mailing lists... they're all made possible with Conversant's messages.

Note

Throughout this guide, we'll be referring to the look of a Conversant site. Please understand that we're referring to the default look, the way the site looks when it is created. Site owners can change the site to look however they want.

This Guide starts out by teaching you how to work with messages. You'll learn how to create them, change them, delete them, find them, and just all around understand them. When you're done with the first section you'll understand what's in a message and what can be done with them.

Then when we've finished with messages - which won't take long! - we'll look at the rest of Conversant, including:

• site membersip
• macros and resources
• using the admin area
• templates
• web pages
• Conversant's email