Creating a Message

There are two ways to create a new message in your web browser (we'll look at other ways later in this guide). You can reply to a message that's already in the conversation (similar to replying to an email), or you can create a new message that isn't a reply to anything else.

Creating a new message without replying to another message is called "creating a new thread". That's because your message is potentially the beginning of a new "thread of discussion." Anyone that replies to your message is adding a message to the thread.

We're going to practice on a special site set up just for this purpose. The URL for this site is:

http://www.free-conversant.com/guidepractice/

Most sites will have a link for creating a new message, somewhere in their navigation. However it's helpful to know that the URL for creating a new message is usually the URL for the site, plus two underscores, plus "NewThread", and then two more underscores. Like this:

http://www.free-conversant.com/guidepractice/__NewThread__

Let's create a new message! Just follow these steps:

1. Log On
   

   Only members can create new messages, so the first step is to become a member of the site. We'll look at membership again in the next section, so we're going to keep it brief for now.

   If you're not already a member of the GuidePractice site, then go to the signup page. Enter your name, email address, and any password you want to use (enter the same password twice), then submit the form. If you're a member of the support site, then you must use the same username (email address) and password as you use on the support site.

   If you are a member of the GuidePractice site, then go to the logon page and just enter your email address and the password you chose when you signed up.

2. Go to the New Thread Page
   

   http://www.free-conversant.com/guidepractice/__NewThread__

3. Enter the Subject
   

   Just type something in the Subject field at the top of the form, replacing the word "Untitled".

4. Enter the Message Text
   

   Type any text into the large text field. This is called the "message body".

   You must double space paragraphs (put a blank line between them) or use the the HTML paragraph tag (<p>) to separate them.

   If you're familiar with HTML, you can use it here, such as the <b></b> tags to make something bold or the <i></i> tags to make something italic.

5. Submit the Message
   

   Click on the Submit Changes button, and wait for the new page to display in your browser.

When the new page loads up in your browser, you're done! You've created your first message in a Conversant site.

You probably noticed that there are other buttons next to the Submit Changes button. We're not going to worry about those right now, but if you're really curious about them then you can read more in the Edit a Message section.

Replying to a Message

Replying to a message is done the same way, but instead of starting at the __NewThread__ page, you'll start with an existing message.

Looking at the message you just created, click on the REPLY link just above the message body. Notice that a subject has been provided, as if you were replying to an email. You can change it if you want to (in fact, it's recommended that you change it when you're actually discussing something, so that readers know what you're going to talk about before they open the message), but it's not necessary for this demonstration. Click on the Submit Changes button, and wait for the page to reload. That's it, you've replied to your own message. (That means you're talking to yourself, but we won't tell anyone.)

Next we'll examine the different parts of a message page, so that you'll know what it all means.