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<TITLE>The Linux Gazette Author Information</TITLE></HEAD>
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<H1><A NAME="faq">
<img src="../gx/lg-penguin.gif" alt=" " ALIGN="left">
<font color="#B03060"><I>Linux Gazette</I> Author Information</font>
</A></H1>
Updated 28-Mar-2002
<P>
<EM>This page is for those who wish to write articles for Linux Gazette.<BR>
If you have any other questions,
see the <A HREF="index.html">Linux Gazette FAQ</A>.</EM>
</center>
<BR CLEAR="all">
<p><hr><p>
<!-- endcut ======================================================= -->
<OL>
<LI> <A HREF="#author">How can I become an author? How can I submit my article for publication?</A>
<LI> <A HREF="#deadline">Upcoming article deadlines</A>
<LI> <A HREF="#html_crash_course">The <I>LG</I> authors' crash course in HTML</A>
<LI> <A HREF="#html_style_guide">The <I>LG</I> authors' style guide</A>
</OL>
<P> <HR> <P>
<!-- =============================================================== -->
<A NAME="author"></A>
<H2>1. How can I become an author? How can I submit my article for publication?</H2>
<P> <I>Linux Gazette</I> is dependent on
<EM><STRONG>R</STRONG>eaders <STRONG>L</STRONG>ike <STRONG>Y</STRONG>ou</EM>
for its articles. Although we cannot offer financial compensation (this is a
volunteer effort, after all), you will earn the gratitude of Linuxers all over
the world, and possibly an enhanced reputation for yourself and your company as
well.
<P> New authors are always welcome. E-mail a short description of your
proposed article to
<A HREF=mailto:gazette@ssc.com>gazette@ssc.com</A>, and the Editor will confirm
whether it's compatible with the <I>Gazette</I>, and whether we need articles
on that topic. Or, if you've already finished the article, just e-mail the
article or its URL.
<P> If you wish to write an ongoing series, please e-mail a note describing the
topic and scope of the series, and a list of possible topics for the first few
articles.
<P> The following types of articles are always welcome:
<UL>
<LI> technical articles of a HOWTO nature. (How to set up a program,
how to maintain it, my experience running a program even if I'm not an expert,
etc.) <FONT SIZE=+1><STRONG>For ideas about possible articles,</STRONG></FONT>
look in the Mailbag for questions that keep recurring. Explicit requests for
articles appear at the top of the "Help Wanted -- Article Ideas" section.
<EM>Even if you're not an "expert", an article discussing how you arrived at a
solution by trial and error, and what problems you encountered along the way,
will be of interest to many readers. These real-life experiences are one of the
unique things </EM>LG<EM> can offer, because it's missing in most standard
documentation.</EM>
<LI> Articles demonstrating the use of Linux in an industry or
environment where it might not be commonly expected.
<LI> Software reviews, as long as it is a balanced review and
not simply an advertisement. Comparing the pros and cons of this program with
similar programs is a plus.
<LI> Reports from conferences, etc.
<LI> Anecdotes, lighthearted stuff, etc.
<LI> Other areas I haven't thought of.
</UL>
<P> We have all levels of readers, from newbies to gurus, so articles aiming at
any level are fine. If you see an article that is too technical or not
detailed enough for your taste, feel free to submit another article that fills
the gaps.
<P> Articles <STRONG><EM>not</EM></STRONG> accepted include one-sided product
reviews that are basically advertisements. Mentioning your company is fine,
but please write your article from the viewpoint of a Linux user rather than as
a company spokesperson.
<BLOCKQUOTE><EM>
If your piece is essentially a press release or an announcement of a
new product or service, submit it as a News Bytes item rather than as
an article. Better yet, submit a URL and a 1-2 paragraph summary (free
of unnecessary marketoid verbiage, please) rather than a press release,
because you can write a better summary about your product than the
Editor can. The submission address is the same as for articles:
<A HREF="mailto:gazette@ssc.com">gazette@ssc.com</A>.
</EM></BLOCKQUOTE>
<P> Articles not specifically about Linux are generally not accepted, although
an article about free/open-source software in general may occasionally be
published on a case-by-case basis.
<P> Authors retain the copyright to their articles, but readers are
free to copy and distribute the articles as much as they please. <I>LG's</I>
official copyright statement is at
<A HREF="../copying.html">http://www.linuxgazette.com/copying.html</A>.
<P> Articles should be written in simple HTML. Please read the
<A HREF="#html_crash_course"><I>LG</I> author's crash course in HTML</A> and
the <A HREF="#html_style_guide"><I>LG</I> author's style guide</A> below.
<P> <HR> <P>
<!-- =============================================================== -->
<A NAME="deadline"></A>
<H2>2. Upcoming article deadlines</H2>
The deadline is "seven days before the end of the month" unless holidays or vacations
interfere.
<P>
<TABLE BORDER>
<TR><TH>Issue</TH><TH>Deadline for Articles</TH></TR>
<TR><TD>#78 May 2002</TD><TD>Wednesday, April 24, 2002</TD></TR>
<TR><TD>#79 June 2002</TD><TD>Saturday, May 25, 2002</TD></TR>
<TR><TD>#80 July 2002</TD><TD>Monday, June 24, 2002</TD></TR>
<TR><TD>#81 August 2002</TD><TD>Thursday, July 25, 2002</TD></TR>
</TABLE>
<P>
Since we're not a paper magazine, we don't have a certain amount of space
to fill. So if you miss a deadline, don't fret; just send it in anyway and
it will go into the following issue.
<P> <HR> <P>
<!-- =============================================================== -->
<A NAME="html_crash_course"></A>
<H2>3. The <I>LG</I> Author's Crash Course in HTML</H2>
<P> Create the file using any text editor. Put a blank line between paragraphs
and begin each paragraph with <CODE><P></CODE>.
<P> Place <CODE><H2>...</H2></CODE> around section titles, with a
blank line above and below. You may use H3 for subsections, H4 for
sub-subsections, etc, on up to H6. H1 is used by <I>LG</I> for the article
title.
<P> Place <CODE><PRE>...</PRE></CODE> around program listings,
output, configuration file text, and anything else which must line up
vertically. <CODE><PRE></CODE> goes on its own line above the block, and
<CODE></PRE></CODE> on its own line below. Everything inside this block
will appear in a monospaced font, and indentations and line breaks will be
displayed verbatim.
<P> To display a literal "<" in your article, type <CODE>&lt;</CODE>
instead. For ">", type <CODE>&gt;</CODE>. For "&", type
<CODE>&amp;</CODE>. Otherwise, the browser will try to interpret them as
parts of HTML tags rather than displaying them. <EM>Look especially in program
listings since these symbols are frequently used in shell commands or
mathematical expressions.</EM>
<P> There are other HTML tags (BR, EM, STRONG, UL, OL, DL, IMG) you may
optionally use to jazz up the document; see any HTML tutorial for their
syntax and meaning.
<P> A complete HTML document requires
<PRE>
<HTML><HEAD><TITLE>...</TITLE></HEAD><BODY>
</PRE>
at the top and
<PRE>
</BODY></HTML>
</PRE>
at the bottom. You don't need to do this for a <I>Linux Gazette</I> article
because the Editor throws away your headers and footers and inserts the standard
<I>Gazette</I> header and footer (with navigation bars).
<P> <HR> <P>
<!-- =============================================================== -->
<A NAME="html_style_guide"></A>
<H2>4. The <I>LG</I> Author's Style Guide</H2>
<P> Keep the HTML as simple as possible. <I>Linux Gazette</I> is read on a
wide variety of graphical and text browsers, on new and old hardware.
<P> Articles may be of whatever length necessary. 2-15 screenfuls is typical.
<P> At the top of the article or in the accompanying e-mail, clearly state:
title, author's name, author's email, bio. (See the Author Info section on the
Back Page for sample bios. If you've already submitted a bio, you don't have
to submit it again unless it changes.)
<P> Name the article <STRONG>author.html</STRONG> (where "author" is the
author's last name in lowercase ASCII letters). If you have images, program
listings or companion files, place them in a subdirectory
<STRONG>misc/author/</STRONG> and have your hyperlinks point there.
<P> If you have images, <EM>please</EM> include the ALT text, WIDTH and HEIGHT
in your IMG tags. Proper form is:
<PRE>
<IMG ALT="Alterate text" SRC="misc/author/file1.jpg" WIDTH="140" HEIGHT="80">
</PRE>
The ALT text is for text browsers, blind users and those with images
turned off. WIDTH and HEIGHT allow the browser to display the article
around the image even before the image finishes downloading.
<P> If you have inline program listings a user might want to run without having
to type them all in by hand, <EM>please</EM> place a second copy of each
listing in a text file called called
<STRONG>misc/author/program.language.txt</STRONG> and put a hyperlink before
the PRE block, thus:
<PRE>
bla bla bla this listing: (<A HREF="misc/author/trip.sh.txt">text version of this listing>)
</PRE>
The ".txt" extension ensures the browser will not try to do something funny to
it. Since it's a text file rather than HTML, you should <EM>not</EM>
escape your "<", ">" and "&" characters.
<P> Avoid stylesheets, Javascript, unnecessary tables, excess <CODE><BR></CODE> tags
and <CODE>&nbsp;</CODE> entities, etc. <EM><STRONG>Readers care about <BIG>what</BIG> you say,
not where it lands on the page.</STRONG></EM> Stylesheets will be thrown out because the
Gazette has a standard stylesheet. (Well, it doesn't yet, but it will.) If writing in a
word processor, try to make it produce the simplest HTML possible: we don't need styles
and attributes setting the justification for every paragraph, etc.
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