A brief tutorial

This tutorial takes you through the steps involved in subscribing to a newsgroup, posting an article and reading the article previously posted. It is assumed that you already have either downloaded the group names and descriptions from your NNTP server or you have converted an existing non-WebReader newsrc file to WebReader format.

  1. If WebReader is currently configured to display group hierarchies, continue with Step 6; otherwise, or if you are not sure, continue with the next step.
  2. From the WebReader main window, press the Properties button, located in the toolbar.
  3. Select the Appearance tab. You should see a window like the following:

  4. Check that the Display group hierarchies box is checked; if not, select it.
  5. Press the Apply button.
  6. If you are already subscribed to a test newsgroup, such as misc.test, skip to Step 10; otherwise, continue with Step 7.
  7. From the WebReader main window, select View groups->All matching groups...:

  8. Next, enter test in the popup which is displayed:

    and press the Apply button. A window similar to the following should appear:

  9. Traverse down any one of the displayed hierarchies until you arrive at a list containing one or more complete group names. Select one of the newsgroups appearing in the list and subscribe to it, by pressing the Subscribe button. Your groups list window should look more or less like the following, depending on the news server you are using:

    Press the Done button to return to the main window.

  10. If you have already specified your user information in the WebReader Properties file, skip to Step 14; otherwise, continue with Step 11.
  11. Press the Properties button. The Properties dialog window should be displayed:

  12. Select the tab for the User category. The following window should appear:

  13. Your e-mail address should already appear in the e-mail address: field. If you wish to include the name of your company in all your postings, fill in the Organization Name: field. If you want your signature to be appended to all your postings, enter the name of the file containing your signature information in the Signature: field. Press the Apply button when you are finished.
  14. If WebReader is currently configured to post HTML articles to the NNTP server, continue with Step 18; otherwise, or if you are not sure, continue with the next step.
  15. From the WebReader main window, press the Properties button, located in the toolbar.
  16. Select the Server tab. You should see a window like the following:

  17. Choose the NNTP Server option in the Send HTML to: field, and press the Apply button.
  18. Select the test newsgroup which you subscribed to earlier, followed by the HTML article... menu item under Post an article:

  19. In the dialog window which is displayed, enter Test posting in the Subject: field:

    then press the Select WWW files... button. The following dialog box should appear:

  20. Select the Add resource... button; the file dialog box similar to the following will display:

    Select the tutorial directory in the Look in: field of the dialog window. Next, select the sample.html file in the list and press the Add button; the file dialog will disappear and the file name should appear in the list of the Select WWW files... window. Finally, select sample.html in the list. When you are done, the dialog window should appear as follows:

    Press the Done button.

  21. The posting dialog window should now appear as follows:

    The text area contains the ASCII synopsis of sample.html, which is the article about to be posted. The contents of the text area will be posted to the newsgroup, so you may, if you wish, modify it before posting. When you are done, press the Deliver button to post the article.

  22. Periodically scan for updates to the test newsgroup, by pressing the Rescan button or waiting for the rescan to occur automatically as per the rescan resource in the WebReader Properties file. When the number of unread articles, displayed in the main window, changes, double-click on the test newsgroup name and look for your article. If you find it, select it to view it. The articles window should appear as follows:

    If your article does not appear within 24 hours from the time you posted it, try posting to a different test newsgroup. If only the ASCII synopsis gets displayed, and the Send HTML to: field is set to WWW server, then send mail to webmaster@<Primary-Mailhost-setting> indicating the problem; it's possible that you are not registered with the provider implied by your server resource settings. Contact your provider for more assistance.

    Select the All articles item from the Catchup menu. This completes the tutorial.

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