Firstly, if you are considering submitting content for inclusion in INFO, Thank You!
Please start by reviewing the style guideline for information on typographical style for the newsletter. This is the guide the editor follows when reviewing content for inclusion. Following this guideline will ensure that all content included in the newsletter is consistent in formatting and typographical convensions.
INFO is typeset using LaTeX, a professional typesetting system which was first released in the early 1980s and is very widely used in academic and scientific circles. It is a plain text format which uses markup 'codes' to structure the document. A small, but complete, example is available on the Wikipedia LaTeX page. If you would like to be a regular contributor, the best option would be for you to learn the basic LaTeX formatting codes used for the production of INFO. More information is available here.
For other contributors, the preferred format is plain ASCII text. Writing content in the correct format and structure for submission is very easy. If you can write a plain text email, you are already 99% of the way there. If you have a preferred layout, for example for images, feel free to include a PDF mockup, but please supply the actual content as plain text and be aware that due to layout constraints the final newsletter may be laid out differently.
The following are the formatting rules for plain text submissions:
Do not type your article in Word and then paste into a plain text file. Word has numerous "smart" punctuation marks, such as quote marks, which are difficult to spot in plain text format but cause typesetting errors. It is much better to type your article in Notepad or Wordpad.
Include your article title on the first line and author first/last name and callsign on the second line. Eg:
How to submit articles for INFO
Darryl Ross, VK5HZ
Paragraph text starts...
Separate each paragraph by a blank line.
If you wish to use quotes around words, use a single or double backtick character (`) to start the quote and a single or double apostophe (') to finish the quote. Eg:
``Well Then!'', he said.
Designate subheadings with the heading on a line by itself with a blank line before and after and a # mark at the start of the line. Eg:
Paragraph text...
# Construction details
Paragraph text...
If you would like to include images, please supply the in the higest resolution possible and mark where you would like images to appear by using the keyword IMG on a line by itself, followed by the filename. Eg:
Paragraph text...
IMG: Antenna Farm.JPG
Paragraph text...
Please note that the exact placement may need to be changed for layout purposes and generally photos are only shown at the start of articles except for longer technical articles which may, for example, have construction images inline.