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<TITLE>The Linux Gazette Author Information</TITLE></HEAD>
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<!-- H4>"The Linux Gazette...<I>making Linux just a little more fun!</I>"</H4>
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<H1><A NAME="faq">
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<img src="../gx/lg-penguin.gif" alt=" " ALIGN="left">
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<font color="#B03060"><I>Linux Gazette</I> Author Information</font>
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</A></H1>
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Updated 27-Feb-2003
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<P>
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<EM>This page is for those who wish to write articles for Linux Gazette.<BR>
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If you have any other questions,
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see the <A HREF="index.html">Linux Gazette FAQ</A>.</EM>
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</center>
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<BR CLEAR="all">
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<p><hr><p>
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<OL>
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<LI> <A HREF="#author">How can I become an author? How can I submit my article for publication?</A>
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<LI> <A HREF="#deadline">Upcoming article deadlines</A>
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<LI> <A HREF="#html_crash_course">The <I>LG</I> authors' crash course in HTML</A>
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<LI> <A HREF="#html_style_guide">The <I>LG</I> authors' style guide</A>
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</OL>
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<P> <HR> <P>
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<A NAME="author"></A>
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<H2>1. How can I become an author? How can I submit my article for publication?</H2>
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<P> <I>Linux Gazette</I> is dependent on
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<EM><STRONG>R</STRONG>eaders <STRONG>L</STRONG>ike <STRONG>Y</STRONG>ou</EM>
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for its articles. Although we cannot offer financial compensation (this is a
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volunteer effort, after all), you will earn the gratitude of Linuxers all over
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the world, and possibly an enhanced reputation for yourself and your company as
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well.
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<p> New authors are always welcome. Read the rest of this FAQ for topic and format suggestions and submit your
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<i>completed</I> work to <A href=mailto:articlesubmission@linuxgazette.com>articlesubmission@linuxgazette.com</A>.
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If you're unsure whether the topic is appropriate, email a short description of your proposed
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topic, an abstract, to the same address and you will be informed of its suitability. The goal
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of <i>Linux Gazette</i> is to be an open community of contributors. There is no editor as such
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and we're relying on authors to be self-editing. You know as well as anybody what topics are
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interesting to the community. Additionaly, assume that your article is publishable, at most we'll
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take a cursory glance at it, spell-checking and grammar are the author's responsibility.
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<P> The following types of articles are always welcome:
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<UL>
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<LI> technical articles of a HOWTO nature. (How to set up a program,
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how to maintain it, my experience running a program even if I'm not an expert,
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etc.) <FONT SIZE=+1><STRONG>For ideas about possible articles,</STRONG></FONT>
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look in the Mailbag for questions that keep recurring. Explicit requests for
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articles appear at the top of the "Help Wanted -- Article Ideas" section.
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<EM>Even if you're not an "expert", an article discussing how you arrived at a
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solution by trial and error, and what problems you encountered along the way,
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will be of interest to many readers. These real-life experiences are one of the
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unique things </EM>LG<EM> can offer, because it's missing in most standard
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documentation.</EM>
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<LI> Articles demonstrating the use of Linux in an industry or
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environment where it might not be commonly expected.
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<LI> Software reviews, as long as it is a balanced review and
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not simply an advertisement. Comparing the pros and cons of this program with
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similar programs is a plus.
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<LI> Reports from conferences, etc.
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<LI> Anecdotes, lighthearted stuff, etc.
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<LI> Other areas I haven't thought of.
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</UL>
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<P> We have all levels of readers, from newbies to gurus, so articles aiming at
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any level are fine. If you see an article that is too technical or not
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detailed enough for your taste, feel free to submit another article that fills
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the gaps.
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<P> Articles <STRONG><EM>not</EM></STRONG> acceptable include one-sided product
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reviews that are basically advertisements. Mentioning your company is fine,
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but please write your article from the viewpoint of a Linux user rather than as
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a company spokesperson.
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<BLOCKQUOTE><EM>
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If your piece is essentially a press release or an announcement of a
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new product or service, submit it as a News Bytes item rather than as
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an article. Better yet, submit a URL and a 1-2 paragraph summary (free
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of unnecessary marketoid verbiage, please) rather than a press release,
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because you can write a better summary about your product than the
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NewsBytes Editor can. The submission address for News Bytes is:
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<A HREF="mailto:bytes@linuxgazette.com">bytes@linuxgazette.com</A>.
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</EM></BLOCKQUOTE>
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<P> Articles not specifically about Linux are generally not acceptable, although
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an article about free/open-source software in general may occasionally be
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published on a case-by-case basis.
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<P> Authors retain the copyright to their articles, but readers are
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free to copy and distribute the articles as much as they please. <I>LG's</I>
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official copyright statement is at
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<A HREF="../copying.html">http://www.linuxgazette.com/copying.html</A>.
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<P> Articles should be written in simple HTML. Please read the
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<A HREF="#html_crash_course"><I>LG</I> author's crash course in HTML</A> and
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the <A HREF="#html_style_guide"><I>LG</I> author's style guide</A> below.
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<P> The following was written in response to an author inquiry:
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<BLOCKQUOTE>
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The article must be about Linux, about programming normally done on a Linux
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platform, etc. (Occasionally we may accept an article about a non-Linux
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open-source topic.) LG has a wide variety of readers, so technical articles,
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tutorial articles, human-interest stories and humor are all accepted. Rejected
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are mindless Linux advocacy and Microsoft-bashing that you can find plentifully
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in the advocacy newsgroups, and articles that appear to badmouth or slander a
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company unfairly.
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<P> The biggest criteria is, "Does the article provide new information, something
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that hasn't been published in LG in the past year?" An article may overlap a
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previous article in content, but is it a 100% overlap or is there any new
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information or a different perspective? We do ask that authors use the LG
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search engine and Index of All Issues to search for previous articles about the
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same topic and link to them. This makes it easier for readers to find all the
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useful information LG has on a certain topic.
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<P> There is no word limit. Most articles are 2-12 screenfulls of text, but they
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can be of whatever length necessary.
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<P> For their first article or two, new authors are encouraged to send a short
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summary or outline before writing it, to verify it will be accepted.
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</BLOCKQUOTE>
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<P> <HR> <P>
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<!-- =============================================================== -->
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<A NAME="deadline"></A>
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<H2>2. Upcoming article deadlines</H2>
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The deadline is "seven days before the end of the month" unless holidays or vacations
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interfere.
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<P>
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<TABLE CELLPADDING="5" BORDER>
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<TR><TH>Issue</TH><TH>Deadline for Articles</TH><TH>Comments</TH></TR>
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<TR><TD>#89 April 2003</TD><TD>Monday, March 10, 2003</TD>
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<TD>Early due to Editor's schedule</TD></TR>
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<TR><TD>#90 May 2003</TD><TD>Wednesday, April 23, 2003</TD>
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<TD> </TD></TR>
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<TR><TD>#91 June 2003</TD><TD>Monday, May 19, 2003</TD>
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<TD>Early due to Editor's schedule</TD></TR>
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<TR><TD>#92 July 2003</TD><TD>Monday, June 23, 2003</TD>
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<TD> </TD></TR>
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<TR><TD>#93 August 2003</TD><TD>Monday, July 28, 2003</TD>
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<TD> </TD></TR>
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<TR><TD>#94 September 2003</TD><TD>Monday, August 25, 2003</TD>
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<TD> </TD></TR>
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<TR><TD>#95 October 2003</TD><TD>Monday, September 22, 2003</TD>
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<TD> </TD></TR>
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</TABLE>
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<P>
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Since we're not a paper magazine, we don't have a certain amount of space
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to fill. So if you miss a deadline, don't fret; just send it in anyway and
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it will go into the following issue.
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<P> <HR> <P>
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<A NAME="html_crash_course"></A>
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<H2>3. The <I>LG</I> Author's Crash Course in HTML</H2>
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<P> Create the file using any text editor. Put a blank line between paragraphs
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and begin each paragraph with <CODE><P></CODE>.
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<P> Place <CODE><H2>...</H2></CODE> around section titles, with a
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blank line above and below. You may use H3 for subsections, H4 for
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sub-subsections, etc, on up to H6. H1 is used by <I>LG</I> for the article
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title.
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<P> Place <CODE><PRE>...</PRE></CODE> around program listings,
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output, configuration file text, and anything else which must line up
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vertically. <CODE><PRE></CODE> goes on its own line above the block, and
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<CODE></PRE></CODE> on its own line below. Everything inside this block
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will appear in a monospaced font, and indentations and line breaks will be
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displayed verbatim.
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<P> To display a literal "<" in your article, type <CODE>&lt;</CODE>
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instead. For ">", type <CODE>&gt;</CODE>. For "&", type
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<CODE>&amp;</CODE>. Otherwise, the browser will try to interpret them as
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parts of HTML tags rather than displaying them. <EM>Look especially in program
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listings since these symbols are frequently used in shell commands or
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mathematical expressions.</EM>
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<P> There are other HTML tags (BR, EM, STRONG, UL, OL, DL, IMG) you may
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optionally use to jazz up the document; see any HTML tutorial for their
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syntax and meaning.
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<P> A complete HTML document requires
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<PRE>
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<HTML><HEAD><TITLE>...</TITLE></HEAD><BODY>
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</PRE>
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at the top and
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<PRE>
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</BODY></HTML>
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</PRE>
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at the bottom. You don't need to do this for a <I>Linux Gazette</I> article
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because the Editor throws away your headers and footers and inserts the standard
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<I>Gazette</I> header and footer (with navigation bars).
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<P> <HR> <P>
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<!-- =============================================================== -->
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<A NAME="html_style_guide"></A>
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<H2>4. The <I>LG</I> Author's Style Guide</H2>
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<P> Keep the HTML as simple as possible. <I>Linux Gazette</I> is read on a
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wide variety of graphical and text browsers, on new and old hardware.
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<BLOCKQUOTE><EM>
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Word processors (StarOffice, Microsoft Office) and HTML editors
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are notorious for doing the "bad" things below, in an attempt to make the HTML
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document look exactly like the word-processing document. Readers care about
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your <STRONG>text</STRONG>, not about your fancy formatting. If your
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word processor has an option to produce <CODE>simple</CODE> HTML without
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styles, please use it. Or save the document as text and add the simple
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HTML tags by hand. (The <CODE><P></CODE> before paragraphs and
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<CODE><PRE>...</PRE></CODE> around program listings are the
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only tags that are vital.)
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</EM></BLOCKQUOTE>
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<DL>
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<DT><STRONG>Good</STRONG>
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<DD>
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<UL>
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<LI> <CODE><P></CODE> before paragraphs (<CODE></P></CODE>
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after paragraphs optional).
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<LI> Standard markup tags (<CODE><A></CODE>, <CODE><EM></CODE>,
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<CODE><STRONG></CODE>, <CODE><CODE></CODE>,
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<CODE><BLOCKQUOTE></CODE>, <CODE><UL></CODE>,
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<CODE><OL></CODE>, <CODE><DL></CODE>, etc).
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<LI> <CODE><H1></CODE> around section headers. <EM>Use this instead
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of a bold paragraph--that's what it's for!</EM>
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<LI> <CODE><PRE></CODE> around program listings and output.
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(Please also make a text file of the program listing; see
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below.)
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</UL>
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<DT><STRONG>OK, but don't overuse</STRONG>
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<DD>
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<UL>
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<LI> Images. Include the <CODE>ALT=</CODE>, <CODE>WIDTH=</CODE> and
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<CODE>HEIGHT=</CODE> attributes in the <CODE><IMG></CODE>
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tag.
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If the image is > 600 pixels wide, link to it rather than
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using an <CODE><IMG></CODE> tag. PNG or JPG only,
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<A HREF="http://www.burnallgifs.org/">no GIFs</A>.
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<LI> Tables. Use mainly for columns of data, not for layout.
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<LI> Fonts & colors.
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</UL>
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<DD>
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<DT><STRONG>Bad</STRONG>
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<DD>
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<UL>
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<LI> Styles.
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<LI> Decorations and doodads on section headers. Sometimes these
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are tolerated for variety; other times they are removed by the
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Editor.
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<LI> Extra <CODE><BR></CODE>'s and <CODE>&nbsp;</CODE>'s
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to achieve precise indentation or vertical space. The
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reader cares about your text, not about your fancy formatting.
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<LI> Platform-specific fonts. The only words you need are
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<CODE>"helvetica"</CODE> (sans serif) and <CODE>"courier"</CODE>
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(fixed-width). The default is roman (serif).
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<LI> Javascript.
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</UL>
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</DL>
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<P> Articles may be of whatever length necessary. 2-15 screenfuls is typical.
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<P> At the top of the article or in the accompanying e-mail, clearly state:
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title, author's name, author's email (as it should be published) and bio. The bio
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is a few sentances about you for readers who are curious. It may be professional
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or personal, funny or serious, whatever you wish. See the bios at the bottom
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of most articles for examples.) The same bio will be reused for future articles
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until you submit an updated one.
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<P> Name the article <STRONG>author.html</STRONG> (where "author" is the
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author's last name in lowercase ASCII letters). If you have images, program
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listings or companion files, place them in a subdirectory
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<STRONG>misc/author/</STRONG> and have your hyperlinks point there.
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<P> If you have images, <EM>please</EM> include the ALT text, WIDTH and HEIGHT
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in your IMG tags. Proper form is:
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<PRE>
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<IMG ALT="Alterate text" SRC="misc/author/file1.jpg" WIDTH="140" HEIGHT="80">
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</PRE>
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The ALT text is for text browsers, blind users and those with images
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turned off. WIDTH and HEIGHT allow the browser to display the article
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around the image even before the image finishes downloading.
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<P> If you have inline program listings a user might want to run without having
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to type them all in by hand, <EM>please</EM> place a second copy of each
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listing in a text file called called
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<STRONG>misc/author/program.language.txt</STRONG> and put a hyperlink before
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the PRE block, thus:
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<PRE>
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bla bla bla this listing: (<A HREF="misc/author/trip.sh.txt">text version of this listing>)
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</PRE>
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The ".txt" extension ensures the browser will not try to do something funny to
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it. Since it's a text file rather than HTML, you should <EM>not</EM>
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escape your "<", ">" and "&" characters.
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