The Society for Radiological Protection

Web Author Guidelines

Calling all members, and particularly secretaries of and those chairing committees

Introduction
The web site is the Society's most public means of communication and publication. We are always looking for content in the field of radiation protection. These notes contain guidance on how to prepare and submit material for publication on the site. The material you submit may be a document or a PowerPoint presentation.

Duplication. First, please check that the material you wish to submit is not already on the site. You might wish to update, supplement or delete material that is already there. Please feel free to do so. We do rely on the voluntary efforts of members for this. Please bear in mind that the site needs to be kept coherent.

Personal details. You should only include someone's personal details (i.e. postal address, email address and telephone number) with their consent.

Note: The definitive electronic copies of Society documents are those on the web site.

New or revised material
Send your material to the webmaster at admin@srp-uk.org.

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Documents

File type. Brief contributions or updates are best sent as plain text within the body of an email message. Larger items should be sent in one of the following formats (in order of decreasing preference):

Rich Text Format (.rtf)
Microsoft Word 6 or 7 (.doc)
Adobe Acrobat (.pdf)

Please note that HTML pages should not be submitted.

Copy and paste crucial information to avoid transcription errors.

Links. Give the name of the link followed by its URL, for example:

Department of Health http://www.doh.gov.uk/

The URL should be exactly as in the browser's address panel, including the 'http://'. Test the URL before submission for publication. If a link is to a password protected page then the link source should say so, for example:

Department of Health (password required) http://www.doh.gov.uk/

Tables. Generally, avoid using tables, but use lists instead. (Html tables may require horizontal scrolling, they may be rendered difficult to use by a browser, and they are time consuming to code.) Where tables are necessary, we may convert your document to pdf.

Images. Images should be in jpg or gif format. Keep file size as small as possible to minimise download time (see 'Slides shows' below).

The Society. Please get the Society's details right, for example:

The Society for Radiological Protection

(with the word 'the')

Administrative Office

(not Administration)

http://www.srp-uk.org
admin@srp-uk.org

Style. Email (not e-mail). Repetition: If you use a notepaper style heading, only put it on the first page. If you write 'Registered Charity No. 1122804', only do so once.

Legal. Include the words 'Registered Charity No. 1122804' in "all notices, advertisements and other documents issued by or on behalf of the [Society] and soliciting money" in order to comply with the requirements of Section 5(2)(a) of the Charities Act 1993.

Shading will darken on photocopying (the tiny black dots enlarge) so please avoid it.

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Updating a document

A web page (ie one with an html address). Capture the current online text from the web, update it with Track Changes, then send it to the Webmaster.

The details of a procedure that works are as follows: 1) open Internet Explorer v6.0; 2) display the online page to be updated; 3) select the text by using the mouse; 4) select Edit | Copy; 5) open Word 2003; 6) open a new blank document; 7) select Edit | Paste ... you are now looking at the text to be updated; 8) select Tools | Track Changes; 9) update; and 10) Save as file type: Rich Text Format (*.rtf).

Rtf / Doc /Pdf documents. Please submit the updated document in one of those formats.

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Slide shows

Fonts. Use Arial, Verdana or Times New Roman - Adobe Acrobat may not support others.

File size. Keep file size as small as possible to minimise download time:

omit background graphics
make the background-fill a plain colour, not an image
delete coats of arms and logos
delete watermark images
reduce the number of images
crop images
resize them to the smallest acceptable size (eg with Paint Shop Pro) and
divide the show into parts each with its own file

We can further reduce file size by converting to pdf format and, if necessary, by increasing the number of slides per page and deleting images, trying to achieve a size of less than 200KB.

Naming files

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What happens next?
Most updates are done by the next working day. Your material may be edited. The Hon Secretary will look at non-routine material, and might refer it to Council for approval. We will convert word processed documents to web pages or pdf. In the interests of openness and informing the public, password protection will be used as sparingly as possible. Everything will be open unless there is good reason for it not to be.

Structure of the site. The structure of the site is hierarchical. The basic structure is shown by two sets of graphic links. One is on the home page and the other is on the members' information page. New material is placed on the site within the existing basic structure, with minimal change to the structure. The lower levels of the structure are developed where appropriate. Generally, horizontal links are avoided.

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After publication
Please:

test any links periodically and inform us of broken ones; and
tell us when the material should be deleted as no longer of use.

16 Feb 2008 Registered Charity No. updated

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