What Can We Submit?
Any official communications that normally go into print can be seen here first. We all know what these items are, business/events from committees, the President, the Board, and so forth.
Over the years, certain events have become Club-wide, and from time to time, new initiatives gain prominence. Any questions about a particular item for publication on this BB should be directed to the General Manager.
A Flashback to Grammar School
This may seem trite but, bear with us for a minute. If it doesn't do this, who, what, when, where, why, and how (much), it's not complete. Let's think about our new members, or members who are around on a less regular basis. We should probably adjust our thinking, and add some details or explanation that the rest of us just take for granted. We want to fully inform the widest audience we can.
The Ideal Format For Submitting Your Info
If we can set the following as a goal, it might well save time for you, and it will definitely save time for us.
1) Use Plain Text
Think about this as just composing an email first, as opposed to a MS Word attachment with formatting, bullet points, etc. This makes publishing to the BB nothing more than copy, paste, publish, and then the whole world knows about your announcement.
The formatting from a Word doc will not fit in the BB display, so it will need to be rearranged anyhow. You will still have your plain text, which you can then choose to copy, paste, and format for print versions, or, just leave it to the BB.
Feel free to enrich your content by including any pertinent links to web based information that will help inform other members. We will handle the hyperlinks for you.
2) Can We Use a Special Photo or Logo?
In a word, yes. But, remember those stickers in the days of VHS rentals? "Please be kind and rewind". Let's call ours, "Please be wise and resize".
You are more than welcome to include any special photo or logo, as long as we are not violating anyone's privacy. We only request that those images be in a common format, (jpeg, we like, gif is also fine), AND be resized to 160 pixels in width. These can be attached to your plain text email, and easily dropped into your announcement.
Readers view the BB in a number of ways such as email, on a homepage, in a reader, or by way of a bookmark. All of these are in varying screen resolutions. 160 pixels wide gives a nice display for everyone without making the text hard to follow.
Height is irrelevant, as most photo resizers, (such as the one in MS Office), automatically keep photos proportional anyway. Auto-Resizers will also compress the file size, so the BB loads on our screens in a timely way.
3) But We Like Print Shop?
We certainly don't want to increase anyone's workload. Projects from Print Shop, or similar applications are fine. Just send them along as an email attachment. There is no reason that a project from such applications cannot be used on the BB, as long as it answers the 5 W's from grammar school, and under the following conditions.
**NO PDF's
If there is a way for the BB to host PDF's we haven't found it. Even if there is, a PDF is a relatively huge file, (as we shall see), which requires our PC's to launch an external application, (Adobe Reader). The process is clunky to view, and more so if we download. PDF's are nice for multi page corporate presentations, but the vast majority of our projects are more like table cards, or one page flyers.
**Send Your Print Projects as an Image
Yep, no different than attaching a photo to your email. Here is how to convert your Print Shop item into an image, the process has to be similar in other softwares:
A) Next time you finish a piece in Print Shop, go to the File menu, and drop down your options. One of these is called "export" or "export as". In many versions, this option will be "grayed out", that is to say, it is not active if we try and use it.
B) We activate it by taking our cursor, and placing it at the edge of our project in the work space. Then left click one time, on the edge. Do nothing more.
C) Return to the File menu, click to bring the options down. The export function will now be in bold, that is to say it is active. Choose it.
D) In the dilaog box we will be able to choose the type of file we want to export the project as. Choose jpeg, give it a file name, and save. Then when you wish to submit to the BB, just attach that jepg as you would any other file or photo to an email.
Advantages
A jepg image of the monthly calendar is a file that is 95% smaller than a PDF of the same document. There is virtually no loss in quality, and it has a host of added flexibilities to promote the club and keep us informed. Take a look at this example of the June, 2008 calendar in jpeg format to see.
Your table card or flyer from Print Shop or similar applications will appear on this BB in the same way.
4) What is the Time Frame?
The automated emails go out at around 1:00 AM of the day after a notice is posted here. So, if you have some fast breaking news, we will need to receive it the day before. For other kinds of subscribers, say where the WLCC BB is delivered to a home page, the notification is much more instantaneous. People should get it the next time they log online.
5) Great, Where Should We Send Out Stuff?
Email for this BB is checked daily, send your email to the following address, shown here in anti spam format:
wlccblog (AT) gmail (DOT) com
Thanks for taking the time to read this.
Filed Under: General Manager
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