These guidelines apply to all articles submitted for magazine design and layout. Web guidelines will be added to the site as they are developed. In-house writing needs to adhere to these guidelines from the time of the first complete draft. Articles submitted by other sources must be made made to conform to the guidelines before they are approved for typesetting.

Formatting Considerations Before Typesetting

1. Remove all extra spaces (find and replace function in WORD). Spacing should be, in every case, one space only between words and sentences.
2. Set paragraph format to single space and remove any double spaces made by hard returns that are not needed.
3. TIP: if you have trouble getting rid of a troublesome bit of formatting, copy and paste the entire document into Microsoft Notepad and remove any extra spaces or line break or whatever else you may see there. Notepad will strip the text of its formatting. When you paste back in you will have to set all of the formatting up again, but you should be without any extra formatting garbage.
4. Format all paragraphs:
   1. First paragraphs in a section or those that stand alone should not be indented.
   2. Subsequent paragraphs should be indented ¼ inch. DO NOT use spaces to indent. DO NOT use multiple ?tabs.? The ¼ inch indent should be made by dragging the top formatting arrow (the indent tool) to ¼ inch to the right of the far left edge of the text. Alternately: highlight the paragraph(s) with your mouse. Go to the format menu and select paragraph. The .25 inch indent should be made by setting ?first line? ?.25 inch? in the indent section of the paragraph formatting dialog box. [Format: Paragraph: Indents ? first line = .25 inches]
   3. No ?hard? spaces between Paragraphs. No full line spaces between paragraphs UNLESS it is an intentional SECTION break.
5. Make call-out quote suggestions (1-2 per page of text in Word ? 2 minimum overall) and mark them in a different font color.
6. Never, for any reason, use a line across the page in WORD.
7. Use Bracketed CAPS text to indicate the start of something new or notes to designer (sidebar, etc.)

Correct:

[SIDEBAR]

Here is the sidebar title and text

Here is the sidebar title and text

7. Change the entire article into 11-point Calisto MT font if possible. If you don?t have Callisto MT, use Times New Roman. 
8. Accept all revisions to the article so the article is ?clean? of revision markings. Save an edited copy first, then accept changes and save a ?clean? copy.
9. Remove excess text, especially at the end of the article, that does not actually need to go in the design.
10. Include template instructions: list, at the top of the page, the codes for the templates to be used in the article design and any preferences concerning color or photograph choice.
11. Include ALL text that must be typeset?including bios and sidebars?in the same document.
12. Make sure numbered lists and bullet points all have consistent formatting throughout the entire document. Do not use multiple types of bullets or different bullet indent measurement unless one set is nested in the other:

Correct:

?        Bullet 1

?        Bullet 2

o       Sub-bullet 1

o       Sub-bullet 2

?        Bullet 3

?        Bullet 4

Here is a list of things to do:

1. 1. 1. 1. Suggestion
         2. Suggestion
         3. Suggestion?Notice how the text here, which is too long to fit on one line, wraps around flush with the first word of the list item instead of wrapping back next to the number, and note that the em dash is correctly formatted.
         4. Suggestion

Here is another list. Notice the same formatting and spacing as above.

1. 1. 1. 1. List item in a complete sentence.
         2. Long list item that overlaps onto the next line. Notice that it is formatted to be flush with the first word in the list item. (Note that this list is internally consistent?all list items are complete sentences and end with a period.)
         3. List item in a complete sentence.
         4. List item in a complete sentence.

Incorrect: (wrong formatting, multiple types of bullets without nesting)

o       List 1 point 1

o       List 1 point 2

o       List 1 point 3

 AND (if in the same document)

• • • • •        List 2 point 1
        •        List 2 point 2

We give the designers visual cues by making the outline portions of a document look like we want them to look in design. THIS numbered list on this page has consistent formatting. Bullets and numbers should stick out in ?front? of the text they separate.

13. Include the MEOW number of the article at the top of the page with the template instructions.
14. Upload tables and graphs separately with images. BUT include instructions in text, ie. [INSERT TABLE 1 HERE], if the tables/graphs need to fall in a particular part of the text in design. AND all tables and graphs should be listed at the end of the article: [PLEASE FIND 2 TABLES AND ONE GRAPH IN THE ADDITIONAL FILES SECTION THAT MUST BE INCLUDED IN THIS ARTICLE: FILE NAMES ARE ________ AND ________]
15. Remove extra ?hard spaces? at the end of articles using the delete button. This means if you put the cursor on the last line of text and press the down arrow, the arrow will not move down.