CREATING AN ACCOUNT AND INSTALLING DISCORD
One of the reasons we love Discord is because of its accessibility. For one thing, it’s completely free to use. Users do have the option to pay for Discord Nitro for access to premium features, but we’ll touch more on that later on. Secondly, Discord is available both in web version (via desktop browser) and as a downloadable app for your computer or mobile devices. We’ll talk about mobile later, but first, let’s start with the computer.
To create your Discord account, go to discord.gg. There, you will see the option to either download the app to your computer or open Discord in your browser.
If you are going with the latter option, click “Open Discord in your browser,” create a username, and check the box for Discord’s Terms of Service and Privacy agreement. After you confirm that you are not a robot with a quick CAPTCHA test (online test to determine whether a user is a human or a bot), you will be brought to a “Welcome to Discord!” screen. Enter your birthday and voilå! You’re ready to go. Before you exit the browser window, Discord will prompt you to claim your account by signing up with an email address and password. Claiming your account is an important step for storing all of your chats and server activity — be sure to do it!
If you prefer to use the desktop app, click the download button and then double click on the file to begin the installation process. Once the app is on your computer, double click the Discord icon to finish the installation and launch the app. It will detect and sync up with the existing account you created via the browser version. If you are starting out with the desktop application, you will have to create your username and password and enter an email address.
Making a Server
Perhaps you want to create a server of your own. Hit the plus sign on the left hand side to add a new server.
When the prompt window pops up, click “Create My Own” and then Discord will take you through a series of prompts to help you get set up.
Being the only member of your server is no fun…as the admin or mod, you’ll want to invite others to start building your community. Right click on your server icon and click “invite people.” You can either invite friends that already have Discord accounts or you can create an invite link to distribute wherever you like.
HOW TO CREATE A CHANNEL ON DISCORD
Within each server exist “channels” where members can gather to communicate via text or voice. Basically, if joining a server is like joining an online club, starting a channel is like starting a conversation with your club members. As you might have guessed, text channels allow members to chat in written form while voice channels are video and audio-based. The former are denoted by a hashtag symbol while the latter are represented by a speaker.
Just like you name your server, you will have to name each of your text and voice channels. For organization’s sake, you can then group several channels under a category, which also has its own name. In the above example, “Text Channels” and “Voice Channels” are the categories while “general,” “Kitchen 🍕☕️🍩🍟,” “Igloo (meeting room),” and “Twitch Studio (lounge)” are the various channel names.
Click on your server name at the top of the screen and then choose “Create Category.” You will then be urged to enter in a category name. Once created, your new category will appear on the left hand side of the screen. From there, click on the ➕ button next to your category name to create a new channel. Decide whether you want your channel to be text or voice, and then give it a name. Your new channel will then appear on the left hand side underneath its corresponding category. Note that you can create your categories first, and then your channels or vice versa. Once your categories are created, simply drag and drop channels under categories to organize them as you like.
Ultimately, the main purpose of channels is to create micro communities within the larger server group. To create the best experience for your community members, we recommend starting off with simple channels to meet general needs, and then expanding as you learn more about your community’s different interests. For instance, when the VeeFriends Discord was first launched, the primary objective was to educate Gary’s community on all things NFTs, blockchain technology, and security/privacy. The team wanted to make sure that people had all the information and understanding they needed to be able to safely participate in the project, and the server’s early channels reflected those needs.
It’s only just getting started! As the community continues to grow, the VeeFriends team will continue to build out more roles and channels to create an even better experience.
For more on how to make a discord community: [ Ссылка ]
