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NEWSUSER.DOC
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1993-03-06
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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.
1
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 N 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.
2
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.
+---------------------------------------------------------------+
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