General Guidelines:

• Be aware that CD projects can be expensive in terms of labor, resources, and time.
• For extensive, team-driven projects:
  • Consult AgComm before you start.
  • Agree on conventions before your team starts writing.
  • Choose a project coordinator who will ensure consistency and liaise with your AgComm editor and designer.
• Decide how simple or complex and interactive you intend your CD to be.
• Provide a flow chart of your proposed CD and a list of features, especially navigation enhancements, you want.
• Ask some colleagues to review what you have written.
• If a student has written text, note on the text that you have reviewed and approved it before sending it to AgComm.
• Secure permission to use text and images from published sources (including CDs and the Web).
• Be prepared to fill out a form detailing who owns the material. Commercial duplicators are becoming increasingly strict about intellectual property rights.
  

Guidelines for Text

• Be aware that text for a CD should be shorter than text for a paper publication. Make shorter paragraphs, and use stacked lists when possible.
• If your CD will contain new text, first provide a complete, continuous draft in double-spaced hard copy for editing.
• Make suggested changes, and address your editor's concerns.
• Provide edited text as a file, preferably in MS Word and definitely not in MS Publisher.
• Provide text in minimally formatted, manuscript form. Do not lay out the text.
  • Separate paragraphs with blank lines, and do not indent.
  • Do not use all caps or put double spaces between sentences.
• If your CD will contain previously published material, make sure it has been edited and is up to date.
• If your CD will contain previously published material, see "Guidelines for PDF and HTML Files."
• Questions? Ask your AgComm editor or designer.

Guidelines for Tables

• Submit tables as MS Word table files. The tables do not need to be separated from the rest of the manuscript.
• Text files with table columns separated by single tabs with no extra spaces or extra hard returns are also accepted.
• Provide hard copy of tables.
• Do not provide tables as graphics or Excel files.

Guidelines for Graphics, Photos, Video, and Audio

• Provide all graphics, photos, and video/audio clips at once, not piecemeal over the course of the project.
• Provide all graphic files on a CD or Zip disk (not 3.5" floppy disk or e-mail).
• If your CD will include documents you want users to download and print, provide graphics and photos at 300 dpi for those documents.
• Provide original copies of any manipulated images.
• Provide hard copy of graphics and photos.
• Take digital photos at the highest quality setting your camera allows.
• Do not embed graphics and photos in the text.
• Provide as many high-quality graphics, photos, and video and audio clips as possible so that the designer can choose the best for the project.
• Questions? Ask your AgComm editor or designer.

Guidelines for PDF and HTML Files

• Use the most recent version of Acrobat when creating PDF files.
• Embed fonts in PDF files when creating them.
• Turn off all security information in Acrobat.
• Complete all Document Properties fields in Acrobat.
• If you provide HTML files, also provide the graphics as separate files. Make sure the graphics are the highest possible quality.
• Questions? Ask your AgComm editor or designer