Message Service: Web Interface

These instructions will guide you through the Message Services Web interface. If you have any problems, please refer to this document first. If you still cannot find an answer to your question, ask your question in the ecsi.internet.message-service area. If you cannot connect to the message service, send email to webmaster@ecsi.net.

Login Page
The message service requires you to login before you can access any of the facilities. Your login will remain active until you close your browser window. If you have not already logged in, you are presented with the login screen (see picture below). Use the user id and password you were assigned for Web and FTP access. Remember they are both lower case. Press the login button to continue.

Login to use your personal subscriptions

Username
Password

First Time visitors
If this is your first time, you will not have subscribed to any message areas. The first page you see after login will appear as shown below.

Subscribed News Groups for Your_ID

Group Name	Total Messages	New Messages

List news groups containing
Read a specific news group
Unsubscribe from this group
User Config Settings
	Search Full Text Database
	Browse All Groups

As this is your first visit, you should press the Config button and enter your information. See the section Configure page below.

To subscribe to one or more message areas, you will need to follow the link marked "Browse All Groups". There, you will be presented a list of groups that you can read. They are arranged in a hierarchy. Below is a sample page of groups. Your page may differ from the one shown. When a line shows the word items that is a message area. When a lines shows the word groups that implies that there are other groups listed under that link.

Click on the newsgroup you wish to read

ecsi.announce, 1 items
ecsi.client... 1 groups
ecsi.internet... 4 groups
ecsi.test, 1 items
ecsi.sal... 1 groups

DNEWSWEB 4.7beta4 Copyright © NetWin Ltd

Opening any message area will automatically subscribe you to that area. On future logins, you will see the groups you have subscribed on the Subscribed News Groups page (next section).

Configure page
Use this page to provide information about yourself. Your full name, reply-to (email address) and signature are recorded on this form. After you have filled them out here, you will not have to re-enter them for every message you send. The Sort News option allows you to determine the order in which messages are presented. The default is by thread. Other choices are by subject or by date. Press the Save button when you are satisfied with the change you have made. Use your browser's back button to return to the previous page without saving the form. Below is a sample of the config page.

Personal config options for Your_Id

Full Name
Reply-To
Sort News

Signature

Subscribe page
The groups in which you have chosen to participate are listed at the top of the subscribe page (see below). The list shows the total messages in each area and the number of messages you have not yet read. To review the messages in a listed area, follow the link to the desired area under the column Group Name. After you select a message area (group), you are presented with the message page (next section).

At any time, you may add other areas to the list by following the instructions in First Time Visitors (above).

Should you wish to remove a message area from your list, use the selection box next to Unsubscribe from this group. Scroll through the list until you find the group you want to unsubscribe. Press the Unsubscribe button to the right. That group is now removed from your list. You may subscribe to a group, then unsubscribe and later re-subscribe again.

The field List news groups containing allows you to put in part of a name and it will show the matching groups. Try it -- put "ecsi" (w/o the quotes) and press the Search button.

You can jump directly to a message are if you know the full name. Put a message area name in field Read a specific news group and press the Read button. Try it using "ecsi.test" (w/o the quotes).

The Logout button will close your connection to the message service. If you close your browser window, you will be logged out automatically.

Subscribed News Groups for Your_ID

Group Name	Total Messages	New Messages
ecsi.announce	1	1
ecsi.sal.win-beta	1	1

List news groups containing
Read a specific news group
Unsubscribe from this group
User Config Settings
	Search Full Text Database
	Browse All Groups

Message List page
This page gives you a list of the messages in an area (see picture below). Four items are shown: Message number, subject, author and date. Messages in the same thread will be indented to show their relationship.

To read a message, click on the subject. You will be presented with the Message Read page (next section).

The Latest Items button will show the most recent messages in the area. The Groups button will return you to the Subscribe page. The Post button will allow you to compose a message for public viewing. The Search button will enable you to find messages by keywords. The Config button lets you maintain information about yourself (name, email, etc).

Items in ecsi.announce

3   Charter - Raymond W. Leech, III, 14 Sep 1998

Sorted by Thread

Read Message page
This page enables you to read the contents of a message. A sample is shown below.

If you would like to add your own comments, push the Post Response button (see post page section).

The Related Items button shows other messages in this thread. The Latest Items button will show the most recent messages in this area.

Items in ecsi.announce

Subject:	Charter
Date:	Mon, 14 Sep 1998 15:09:18 -0400
From:	rleech@ecsi.net (Raymond W. Leech, III)
Newsgroups:	ecsi.announce

Welcome to ecsi.announce

C H A R T E R
Purpose: This area is used to notify clients of news and events of
interest. Announcements should be of interest to ECSI and it's clients.

Post page
This page enables you to compose and send (post) a message. A sample is shown below. If you are posting a response to another message, the original message's text is included in the message text area. You may leave portions of the other message to help give readers a context for your comments. It is good etiquette to only include as much of a message as necessary (generally not the entire message). If you have not filled out the configure panel, your name and email address will not be correct. Provide your name and email if blank or incorrect.

When composing a new message, make sure that the subject is descriptive. When responding to a message, the original subject is prefixed with Re:. It is generally best to leave the subject unchanged when responding unless you are changing the topic (usually bad taste).

Newsgroup: ecsi.announce
Your Name: (Give Name, e.g. Fred Bloggs)
Your EMail: (Give EMail address, e.g. you@your.domain)
Subject (Required)
Attach (Requires at least Netscape 3.x)
Please enter your message text here: (press enter at the end of each line)