Hi there,

This is some information that all new website clients need regarding the correct way to send/supply us with information to use for your website creation.

First off, PLEASE do not send us handwritten information! The best way for us to get it is either in an email, MS Word, or Word Perfect document - which we will then convert to plain text (ASCII text). If you can't do any of the above, faxing is OK, but we prefer email or regular mail on white paper in that case. If you must fax, please use a clear font style like Arial in 11-12 point size for best results. Leave out graphics and ANY formatting.

Since everything we "code" must start with plain text, please do not waste any time by formatting the text, or importing graphics into it, or using different font styles etc. You CAN do this if it will help us understand what you may want, but IN ADDITION to this "rough draft" we will need that same text also provided on another sheet of paper or in an email. (Plain old text, left justified, no special anything) When sending copy text, please make sure that each section is clearly marked as to what it is supposed to be used with/for (you can make typed notes for this purpose).

If you prefer to place the copy text on a diskette, that is fine also - as long as it is a PC formatted disk as we do not use much MAC around here :). Images being sent to us will need to be either email attachments, FTP'd to us or on a diskette. If you need to ask, "what is FTP?" then you are not ready to use that method.

Any images sent to us MUST be in a PC format. Preferably in one of the following file formats: .bmp, .tif, .gif, or .jpg (.tif & .bmp being the preferred) - The better the image, the better it will look on your website. There are other formats that we can use, but these are the most used by us. Given a choice, we prefer to receive .bmp, or .tif. These are larger file sizes, but allow us to resize etc., with minimal quality loss.

If you are sending any images or photos that must be scanned, be sure to send high quality, clean images to us. Do not send photos that have been creased, bent, written on, folded, have peanut butter drippings, or have any other mutilations on them as this will only make for a poor quality scan, and the peanut butter messes up the scanner. DO NOT arbitrarily take images from magazines or newspapers or books as you may end up with a lawsuit for copyright infringement. If you only have a so-so image for us to use - it most likely will end up looking poor so keep this in mind. "garbage in = garbage out".

Here are some links on the Web where you can purchase very reasonably, good quality images for this purpose:

http://search.photodisc.com/

http://www.photostogo.com/

http://www.photoessentials.com/

http://www.stockbyte.com/

Also, please use some cardboard or stiff papers to protect your photos when you mail them to us and write on the envelope "Do Not Bend - Photos" prominently BEFORE you place the photos in it.

If you have any questions that are not covered here, please let me know.

Thank you!