Steel Joists refer to prefabricated steel trusses. The RAM Structural System does not perform a truss analysis on these members, but the RAM Steel Beam module can select the appropriate size from Steel Joist load tables.

Choosing Steel Joist from the Material menu puts you into "Steel Joist Mode". This means that all beams modeled after entering Steel Joist Mode will be modeled as Steel Joists until the material is changed. If columns are modeled in Steel Joist Mode, they are considered to be steel columns.

You will notice that choosing Steel Joists from the Material menu has an effect on the Layout menu; specifically, a Layout - Joist command replaces the Layout - Beam command. Several of the commands under the layout menu are material dependent.