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NEWSUSER.DOC
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1992-06-16
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THE NETWORK NEWS THE NETWORK NEWS
(Keeps Everyone on the Network Informed)
I. IntroductionI. Introduction
The Network News eases the process of keeping people aware of upcoming
events and changes. It's a powerful network communication tool, giving
users the ability to post announcements for others on the network to
read. Network managers like it for announcing workshops, new hardware,
software changes, scheduled downtimes, etc. and users like it for
announcing meetings, car pools, schedule changes, picnics, parties, lost
and found notices, etc.
The Network News is similar to an online bulletin board, but it has some
special features that make it even more valuable. User's can view
messages on their screen, or they can browse through the titles and view
the ones that interest them. An important message can be selected to
automatically display as each user logs in or logs out - delivered right
to their doorstep.
The Network News also saves disk space. If a message is sent to each
user on the network using an electronic mail package, the message will
be replicated on the disk many times as it is stored in each person's
mailbox. With the Network News, the message is stored in one spot until
it expires, then it is erased.
Each user is responsible to type in and proofread his or her own
announcement. He or she also sets the starting date for the
announcement and the expiration date. The announcement can be changed
or removed at any time, but only by the user who typed it in, or by the
administrator for the Network News.
Routines are also available to generate and publish a weekly news sheet
with a minimum of labor. On our network, we have the Network News
publish a news file with all the current announcements. We then load
the file into Microsoft WORD, where it is quickly formatted using a pre-
defined macro and printed on a laser printer. In less than 15 minutes
we have an impressive looking news sheet that is ready for sending to
the printer to be posted and distributed.
A management menu let's an administrator quickly clean up the files by
removing all expired announcements. For companies and campuses that
have multiple LANs, Announcements can be exported to an ASCII text file
for use on other servers or imported from an ASCII text file for use on
your own server. The network administrator also may set or change the
following parameters.
Publication day and time for the weekly news sheet.
Cutoff day and time for submissions to the next news sheet.
What will be displayed to each user at login time.
Name of the weekly news sheet and company or network name.
Security method used to protect messages (password or userid)
User id's of the administrator(s) for the Network News.
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II. Using the Network NewsII. Using the Network News
Accessing the Network News Accessing the Network News __________________________
After the Network News has been installed on the network, it may be
accessed with the following DOS command:
NETNEWS
On our network menu, we follow the steps below:
Login to the main menu of the network
or return to the main menu.
Press I to select "Information and Databases".
Press 3 to select "the Network News."
If you have a menu program for your network, the network manager may
make it accessible from the menu. Each menu system is different, so see
your network manager for instructions for menu access.
You can also access the program as you login by pressing the letter <L>
after the initial message or list of titles is displayed.
When the program is loaded a main menu will appear with the following
selections available.
+----------------------------------------------+
| Main Menu |
| Press: V to View announcements |
| B to Browse through the Titles |
| A to Add an announcement |
| C to Change an announcement |
| R to Remove an announcement |
| M to Manage the announcement file |
| Q to Quit and return to DOS |
| |
+----------------------------------------------+
Notice that the bottom window of the screen contains instructions for
using the menu. This window will change as you work your way through
the program and it will always give you instructions for what to do
next, so watch the bottom window for help.
You may use the <UP> and <DOWN> arrow keys to highlight a menu
selection, then press the <ENTER> key, or you may simply press the first
letter of the line. To return back to this menu, press the <ESC> key.
To exit from the main menu back to DOS, press <Q> or the <ESC> key.
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Viewing announcements Viewing announcements _____________________
To read all current announcements, select the "View Announcements"
option from the main menu. The first available announcement will be
placed in the middle window, with the title at the top. If the
announcement is longer than the window allows, you may scroll through it
by pressing the <UP> and <DOWN> arrow keys or the <PAGE UP> and <PAGE
DOWN> keys. When you've read the announcement, you may press function
key <F10> to go to the next announcement, or function key <F9> to go
back to the previous announcement, or you may press the <ESC> key to go
back to the main menu.
Browsing through the titles Browsing through the titles ___________________________
Most people prefer to read the headlines first on a newspaper and then
read the article if the headlines attract their attention. You may use
the same approach with the Network News by selecting "Browse through the
Titles" from the main menu. The first nine titles will be displayed on
the middle window of the screen. You may use the <UP> and <DOWN> arrow
keys to highlight a title. Then Press the <ENTER> key to view the
announcement. The <PAGE UP> and <PAGE DOWN> keys will quickly scroll
through the titles if there are more than nine available. The arrow
keys will scroll one title at a time. After reading an announcement,
you may return to browsing the titles by pressing the <ESC> key. From
the titles screen, you may return to the main menu by pressing the <ESC>
key again.
Adding Your Own Announcements Adding Your Own Announcements _____________________________
If you have an announcement to make, remember to gather the facts first.
Avoid leaving out important information by answering the questions "Who?
What? Where? When? How? and Why?" if they apply. Then select "Add an
Announcement" from the main menu of the Network News. The following
screen will be displayed for your entry of the message.
+---------------------------------------------------------------+
| server/yourname |
| Full name: |
| Phone no: |
| First Date to publish: |
| Last date to publish: |
| Title for the message: |
+---------------------------------------------------------------+
+---------------------------------------------------------------+
| |
| |
| |
| |
+---------------------------------------------------------------+
The cursor will be next to "full name:", waiting for you to enter your
name. Up to 30 characters may be entered. When you're finished, press
the <ENTER> key or the <DOWN> arrow key to move to the next item. Then
fill in your phone number in the same way. Your name and phone number
are needed, if the network administrator has a question and needs to
contact you. Normal viewers will only see the title and the message of
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your announcement. They will not see your username, full name or phone
number.
The next two lines will ask you for the first date to publicize the
announcement and the last date to publicize it. Instead of letting you
type in the date, the program requires that you use the arrow keys to
set the date. The <RIGHT> arrow increases the date shown by one week
and the <LEFT> arrow decreases the date shown by one week. A <SPACE>
will increase it by one day and a <BACKSPACE> will decrease it by a day.
When the date displays properly, press the <ENTER> key or the <DOWN>
arrow key to accept it.
After the dates are entered, enter the title followed by the <ENTER> key
or the <DOWN> arrow key. When editing any of the line items, you may
use the <BACKSPACE> key to erase mistakes, and you may use the <UP>
arrow key to go back to a previous line and make a correction.
When you reach the announcement window, you may type up to 4000
characters for the announcement. We recommend that you only press
return at the end of each paragraph, not at the end of each line.
However, the appearance and the format are up to you, so do whatever you
like. If a news sheet is prepared later, the formatting may be adjusted
slightly to fit the paper, but all other information will remain exactly
as you typed it. When you're typing in the announcement window, the
following keys may be used.
<UP>, <DOWN>, <LEFT> and <RIGHT> arrow keys to move the cursor.
<PAGE UP>, <PAGE DOWN>, <HOME> and <END> keys for quick movement.
<INS> to toggle between insert typing mode and overtype mode.
<BACKSPACE> to erase the character preceding the cursor.
<DEL> key to erase the character at the cursor.
<F9> function key for moving back to the title entry line.
<F10> function key to quit and save the announcement.
<ESC> key to quit without saving the announcement.
<SHIFT-F7> if the screen appears to be snowy as you type.
If you are a public user and do not have a private account on the
network, you may be asked for a password for the announcement. Enter
one that you will easily remember, but cannot be easily guessed by
others. This password will be needed later if you want to change or
remove the message.
The network administrator may have set a policy of reviewing all
announcements before they are displayed. This may be necessary to
insure that offensive material does not get placed into the files. If
this is the case, your message will not be available for viewing until
the administrator reads and approves it. He or she will be notified
that your announcement needs an approval the next time he logs in our
out.
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Changing an Announcement Changing an Announcement ________________________
Any announcement that you have typed in, may be changed by selecting
"Change an announcement" from the main menu. The first announcement
that matches your username will be placed on the screen. At this point
you have four options, with the following keys:
<C> to Change this announcement
<F9> to go back to the previous announcement
<F10> to go on to your next announcement.
<ESC> to go back to the main menu.
If you press the letter <C>, you may be asked for a password. Enter the
password you gave when you initially entered the announcement.
Passwords may be typed in lower or upper case. If the password is
matched, you will be able to edit the announcement and make changes. To
save the changes you have made, work your way through the line items to
the message window and then at the message window, press function key
<F10> to save the changes.
When you've changed all of your announcements that you want to change,
you may return to the main menu by pressing the <ESC> key.
Removing an Announcement Removing an Announcement ________________________
Any announcement you have typed in, may also be removed by selecting
"Remove an announcement" from the main menu. The first announcement
that matches your username will be placed on the screen. At this point
you have four options, with the following keys:
<R> to Remove this announcement
<F9> to go back to the previous announcement
<F10> to go on to your next announcement.
<ESC> to got back to the main menu.
If you press the letter <R>, you may be asked for a password. Enter the
password you gave when you initially entered the announcement.
Passwords may be typed in lower or upper case. If the password is
matched, the announcement will be removed. Notice that this only marks
the announcement as being removed. It will no longer be viewable by
normal users, but it still exists in the file. You may later use the
"Change an announcement" procedure to reactivate it if desired.
Periodically, the network administrator will condense and clean up the
disk space by actually deleting all announcements which have been marked
as removed. After this point the announcement will be completely gone
and it can't be recalled or changed.
When you've removed all of your announcements that you want to remove,
you may return to the main menu by pressing the <ESC> key.
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