Website is a bit of a misnomer. This is a content management system that contains user-generated content as well as author generated content, content provided by other authors through direct quotations from their books, embedded videos, and numerous external links to other websites and content management systems (Wiki in particular). If you just read the surface text on any screen, and don't hover or click, you will need some time to absorb all that's there. Don't skim. If you hover over a footnote, you may spend anywhere from 20 seconds to five minutes reading what pops up. Click on an external link and you may be headed down a rabbit hole. That's a good thing, but beware.
The menu bar is the same on all screens but changes once you've logged in, allowing you to turn in assignments and read each others' work, if the other ok'd that. About and Practices have drop downs indicated by a . When you are logged in, the Your section also drops down.
If you click on the blue login button, top right, you will be taken to a screen where you can create an identity if you haven't already. If you have already given yourself a password, when you fill in the fields and then click the blue login button, you will be authenticated. Click the green logout button top right to logout and please try to remember to do this when you are finished.
When logged in, hover over Your, navigate to Classmates to see each member's profile. Click on the door icon and you can see the rest of their auto bio and links to what they have written if they have allowed that.
When logged in, hover over Your, navigate to Notebook and click to see links to where you turn in your weekly assignments, including your final paper.
When logged in, hover over Your, navigate down to Profile and click. There you can upload an image of yourself or an avatar and tell your classmates a little about yourself. I would prefer a head shot to an avatar. You can also reset your password from this screen if you want to.
There are tool tips -- hover over a link and you should be told something about what it goes. I've not been good with doing this consistently. I'll work on that.
There are glosses indicated by gray underline that provide more on a word or phrase when hovered over. Like thisSee?.
Footnotes like this to offer additional information, background, sidebar, and in some cases links to further reading.
Dropdowns
like this one,
Some lines are highlighted for the same reason you might highlight a line in a textbook.
The Resources screen provides both user-generated content and a form, which if you are logged in you can fill out to share your content with the class, as detailed on the Assignments section. If you are logged in you can also edit your entries.
If you are logged in and writing, the system auto saves, but to be safe, you should write in a plain text editor and use basic html formatting and then login and copy and paste.
If you want to buff up your html skills, W3Schools HTML tutorial is the place to do it. Actually, that website will teach you everything you need to make 6 figures doing web design.