Zazula

First of all, please allow me to welcome you all in the wonderful world of the TSF Wordsmiths, the people who shape ideas into meaningful and helpful articles for all TSF members to use and benefit from. If your submitted piece finally gets published in the TSF-endorsed Articles area, then you will have gotten the seal of approval from one of the top tech forums in the whole world – and this is REALLY worth it! Techsupportforum.com is a website visited by millions of people every year, so your article will have an extremely wide exposure – and hopefully help positively affect many computer users.

HOW IT WORKS

This sub-forum, which is called “New Article Submissions”, is the place where all pieces of work, submitted for consideration by TSF into being adopted as Articles, get posted in. You cannot post directly in any the official TSF Article Sub-Forums.

After having read this directive, and made sure you are ready to submit your article for review, the only thing you need to do is to prepare your piece of work accordingly and post it in a new thread in this sub-forum. Give to the thread the title you think your article should have.

That’s it! You have just entered the unique world of TSF Articles! Beware, though… It is a wonderful world, but it is not a rosy one... Whatever piece of work you submit, becomes the object of stern scrutinization; for from the moment it gets approved, it becomes endorsed by one of the biggest and greatest tech forums of the world – so it achieves a big-deal status, and therefore undergoes an almost cruel evaluation until it ultimately reaches that point. Are you ready for this? Will you retain the same great attitude of yours and not lose your self-esteem? Please understand that all critics aim at the best possible end-product; they do NOT target your hard work, neither do they (God forbid!) attack you personally.

TSF has been thriving all these years on friendliness and openness. The most important thing to keep in mind is that you should always assume good faith on the part of other TSF members, who review and evaluate your work. They ALWAYS have the Forum’s interests as their ONLY priority; and this Forum is You, also. Never assume that someone is acting out of spite or malice. If something that is posted disturbs you, then please send a polite Personal Message or E-Mail to the Articles Management ( Zazula) or to that member directly, kindly asking why this happened and what it means. You may find that you have avoided a misunderstanding and saved yourself some embarrassment. Additionally, please enforce to yourself this kind of civilized conduct when you are reviewing other members’ submissions.

There are a lot of people who “know computers” in this world. But some of them happen also to have a great attitude. These are exactly the individuals who constitute TSF’s members force! So, be prepared to receive constructive criticism, but this stern evaluation by TSF staffers & members will help you come up with a really exceptional piece – something you will be proud of.

WHAT TO KEEP IN MIND

CONTENT
TSF’s Article Forum contains the following types of content:
• Articles are self-contained pieces that cover topics of either general or specific interest, like e.g. Windows licensing or Linux versions.
• Tutorials are “how to” articles, like e.g. how to build a pc or how to use a program.
• “Quick Tips” are the shorter articles that shed light on a particular aspect of a topic, like e.g. how to check a CD for scratches.
• Reviews are “field tests”, “comparative tests” or “first impressions” for either software or hardware.

RULES
Please do not overlook the fact that the standard Rules on posting material in TSF, apply in the Articles Forum, as well. It is simply due to the very nature of this specific forum, what necessitates that additional directions and advice have to be taken into account, while compiling a piece to be posted as an Article. So, first of all read thoroughly and make sure you have fully understood the TSF Rules, and –after that– read (and keep reading again and again) this advisory to make sure your work conforms to these directions, as well.

SCOPE
You will be seeing all the time the term “self-contained” being used to describe the way that you should deal with your subject in your article. This simply means that you have to cover your topic in full; to include all that is necessary and to present a complete piece of work. Take the place of the reader for a moment, and try to relate to what they would expect from reading the title of your submitted article. Read through it, and ask yourself if those readers’ expectations have been successfully and utterly met by your piece.

NEUTRALITY
TSF Articles are informative and/or educational; they are in no way persuasive. You HAVE TO present your topic in a balanced, unbiased and unprejudiced way. If you need to include opinions in your article, make it clear it is either your or someone else’s opinion. If there are two or more reliable viewpoints known to exist about an issue you are referring to, then include them all – impartially. Failing to do so, may constitute trolling or an attempt to proselytize; and both are condemnable practices at TSF.

RELIABILITY
The TSF members, who read your article, will depend on what you have written. You have to include only what has been proven to be or do what you say it is or does. The whole content of your article has to be verifiable, and exhibit dependability of methods suggested and repeatability of results described therein. When citing a source is needed, it has to be a widely reputable one.

NEW THEORIES
TSF’s Articles Forum is not intended to be a test bed for new theories. Creating an original piece of work does NOT mean you have to come up with something that has not been proven elsewhere. Condemned approaches for a TSF article include, but are not limited to, unsupported generalizations or presumptions, as well as unverifiable or unsupported arguments – especially when used in a way to promote a specific viewpoint; this can be considered as trolling or cranking.

COPYRIGHTS
It is not acceptable to post, in whole or in part, copyrighted material – unless you are either the copyright owner or you have obtained all necessary permissions (which, in such a case, have to be included in your submission). Please keep in mind that the fact something is e.g. posted on a site does NOT mean it is not copyright-protected. Moreover, plagiarism is a condemnable practice; avoid it, simply because you do not need it! The best articles are usually written from either personal knowledge or through the synthesis of research from multiple sources.

SPELLING
Please make sure you have spellchecked your article before submitting it. A good practice is to compile it using a program (like MS Word) that contains proofing tools. In case you opt for either American or British spellings, please be consistent throughout the whole article.

STYLE
Make your article easy to read. Avoid using unnecessary smilies or meaningless punctuation marks. Format it as an article, the way you would have done if it were to be published in a computer magazine; for it is pretty much the same thing. Keep under control the usage of contractions, and avoid non-standard expressions or slang words. For your acronyms used in your article, please provide the words that acronym stands for in its first occurrence within the text. Consult published articles to get a clearer picture of do’s and don’ts. If you are using MS Word for proofing your work, then adjust the Grammar & Spelling Options accordingly. However, avoid coming up with a text that is too formal, because it goes to the other extreme and is also hard to read. Typically an article is not written in a single pass; so it is natural to have the fluctuations of your own mood reflected in its writing style. Read it a few times after having finished it and before submitting it, to make sure you bring it to an uniform style throughout.

INTENDED AUDIENCE
The Articles Forum is open to all TSF members and guests to read. Always assume that your article needs to be legible and comprehensible even by the least experienced computer users, and adjust it with those folks in mind. In case you need to add things that incorporate a higher degree of difficulty or are intended for advanced users, then clearly mark them accordingly.

IMAGES
A picture is worth a thousand words. By including images that help readers grasp your point visually, as well, then you enhance your end-product in the most desirable and useful way. Please be advised that there is a ten-image limit per post (including smilies). If your article contains more than ten images, then please break it down to the respective number of pieces and post them consecutively.

LINKS
Avoid linking to sites that will raise the question of using your article as a means for advertising or spamming. A best practice when in doubt regarding the reputability of a link you think of including in your article, is to prefer (1) TSF threads and pages, (2) software & hardware manufacturers and (3) governmental or widely-accepted non-governmental organizations. Anyhow, your article is supposed to be self-contained, which effectively means the need for outward linking should be kept to a minimum, and used only to avoid redundancy (if you refer to an issue covered by another TSF article) and to assure reliability (by referring to links of your resources, where applicable).

HAVING QUESTIONS?
If you have questions regarding the modus operandi of TSF’s Articles Forum, please post them in this thread; this sticky will be serving as an Answers-To-Frequently-Asked-Questions thread, as well, to neatly keep all addressed issues in a single place. In case you have questions regarding a specific article you have been working on (e.g. you cannot locate a specific topic in Microsoft’s Knowledge Base and you need it as a reference), then post these questions beneath your original article, in that same thread.

WHAT’S NEXT?
Select a topic you wish to deal with. Read the articles that are already posted in the officially endorsed Article sub-forums. Get an idea of how your own piece needs to look like. Please don't be intimidated by the other articles; if you believe that you can produce a nicely-put-together piece, then give it a try. Research your subject. Take pictures or screenshots of the procedures you are describing in your article. Shape it the best you can and, when you feel ready, post it in “ New Article Submissions”. Receive other members’ feedback and insights. Reflect upon them. Review your work again and again. Alter it, if you need to, and post all newer, updated versions in that same thread. Before you know it, you will be a prominent TSF Wordsmith – and umpteen computer users will be thanking you for taking the time to produce a tool that helped them in their everyday computer use. Welcome aboard the TSF Articles World!

__________________

Zazula

TIP #1: HOW TO EMBED IMAGES

First of all, you will need to select an Image Hosting Service (IHS are sites like www.imageshack.us or www.photobucket.com, which allow you to upload your images in their servers). It is advisable that you register to the IHS of your choice, so that you are able to access your uploaded images at any time, and use them again if needed. IN ANY CASE, ALWAYS KEEP THE ORIGINAL IMAGE FILES IN YOUR COMPUTER. Follow the procedure for uploading your image to the Image Hosting Service, and you will be given an Embeddable Code for each image you successfully upload.


First alternative

As soon as the upload concludes, you can see the direct link to your image. Select the URL and press CTRL+C to copy it:


Use the Taskbar or press ALT+TAB to switch to your Internet Browser window that displays your TSF post you are preparing to submit. Press on the Insert Image button:


A script box pops up; select the "http://" showing on the line, and then press CTRL+V to paste the URL of the image:


Press OK on the script box; the necessary BB Code has been included in your post. Press the Preview Post button, to make sure your image shows the way it is supposed to.


Second alternative

Browse through your uploaded images, and locate the one you want to embed in your article. Locate the Embeddable Code for Forums next to it, select it, press CTRL+C to copy it, switch back to your post, place your cursor where you want that image to be, and press CTRL+V to paste the code:



TIP #2: HOW TO SUBMIT YOUR ARTICLE

As it has already been suggested, the best way to prepare and compile your article, is by using a program that incorporates checking your spelling and even grammar or style (e.g. MS Word). When you are finished in the word processing program, and you have posted all necessary images in an Image Hosting Service, you are ready to post your article.

Go to the New Article Submissions sub-forum, and press on the NEW THREAD button; the Post New Thread window opens.

Switch back to your word processor's window, and press CTRL+A to select the whole text, and then CTRL+C to copy it. Switch again to the Internet browser windows, click on the big white box, and press CTRL+V to paste the text you've copied. Press on the Preview Post button to see how it looks.

Now it's time to add any images you want to; use the procedure described in tip #1 above. Keep pressing the Preview Post button from time to time, to make sure things are laid out the way are meant to. When you have finished adding your images, start formatting the text of the article. Above the white box where you work on your text, lie some buttons that help you with the formatting (you can see them at the second picture of tip #1). For a complete reference of all the tools available for formatting your article, please read through the vB Code List.

NOW COMES THE MOST IMPORTANT PART! Open Notepad in your computer. Switch back to your post-to-be-submitted. Click anywhere within the text box, and then press CTRL+A, followed by CTRL+C. Go to the blank Notepad document. Press CTRL+V to paste your article in its vB Code form. Save the Notepad text file. Now you have your article saved in a way that retains all the hard work you have done when adding images and formatting. When you will wish to update it, you won't need to repeat this work again; you will copy this text in whole, paste it in the Reply Post, and start at exactly the point you were when you submitted your original piece - and you'll then have to focus only to incorporating any necessary changes and/or additions.

Even further, I suggest you have this text file active in Notepad while you are still adding images and formatting your article; and keep saving it from time to time while you are still working. In case your computer crashes or your Internet connection is lost for any reason, at least you won't lose ALL the vB Code work you've done in the meantime.

__________________

chauffeur2

TIP#3: WRITING STYLE

Please make your article easy to read by following these guidelines:

Avoid using unnecessary “smileys” or meaningless punctuation marks.
Format it as an article, the way you would do if it were to be published in a computer magazine.

Keep the usage of contractions to a minimum, and avoid non-standard expressions or slang words.
For acronyms used in your article, please provide the words that acronym stands for in its first occurrence within the text.

Example:
Rather than using phrases, such as: "To start your O/S..."
It is much better to make a statement like: "To start your Operating System [O/S]."

Always consult published articles, as a reference, to get a clearer picture of do’s and don’ts.
Should you be using MS Word™ for proofing your work; then, adjust the "Grammar & Spelling Options" accordingly.
However, avoid creating a text that is too formal, because it goes to the other extreme and is also hard to read.

There will be times that people reading articles are doing so to gain knowledge and interest about the content of the article.
When an article is full of unintelligible words or phrases, these readers probably will not continue reading; hence, you loose your 'captive audience'.

It is never advisable to assume that your audience knows all the slang and acronyms, no matter what level of reader you are attempting to communicate with.

In case you are wondering whether you should add an explanation for a technical term or not, it is always better to add it; hence, remain on the safe side.
To do this, you can place the explanation in brackets or parentheses.
Should this approach harm the clarity of a paragraph (or if there are already brackets used in that paragraph as a part of the article's text), you can use a Footnote or Endnote as an alternative.
In the event that the necessary explanation is either too lengthy or deemed out of scope, you can simply add a link to a definition page (e.g. a Wikipedia™ article or an international organisation’s relevant webpage).

Furthermore, all articles ought to be written in the 'third person' rather than saying "I this" and "I that".
Your treatise will better understood if only factual statements are made, rather than a purely personal conjecture or assumption.

Typically an article is never written in a single pass; it is natural to have the fluctuations of your own mood reflected in your writing style.
Read thoroughly through it a few times,when finished, and before submitting, to make sure you bring it to a uniform style throughout.
It is not unusual to write 3 or 4 'drafts' before submitting the article for publication.

__________________
Dave T.

Submit New Articles

Especially if Bill Gates had anything to do with it!!