Content: Frequently Asked Questions

Editors Only

Editor's Checklist: Website Consistency

We're looking for consistency, but writers submit their work in all kinds of formatting. Some people are visually impaired and have trouble seeing what they submit in anything less than 12 pt. Sometimes, people produce their work on a blog site that does not allow them to change the font or size, and then copy that work into the Positive Psychology Article Textbox. So, they will always submit it differently than what we want. We understand this. As web editors, you need to know how to change the formatting to adhere to Positive Psychology preferences (see asterisked items below).

First, highlight all the contents of the article box (make sure your cursor is inside the article text box -- hit CTRL A). Then select the correct size, font face, or color.

But sometimes, this doesn't work. There are two other ways to fix the formatting: using Notepad, or using HTML code. If you can't fix the font size or face, don't accept the article. Just make the edits you can make and leave the article for someone who can fix the font size and face.

Fixing the formatting, using Notepad. (Windows users will find Notepad after hitting START, Programs, Accessories.) Copy and paste the article into Notepad. If the article has any embedded links, also copy it into your regular word document. Fix the formatting while in Notepad, then delete everything in the Article Textbox. Copy and paste all from Notepad into the Article Textbox.

Copy the links from your Word document into the correct place in the Article Textbox. Long URLs must be embedded (see below).

Fixing the formatting with HTML. As a web editor, knowing HTML basics is a great skill to have; here's a free online tutorial . Once you understand how HTML works, you may find this cheat sheet handy -- scroll down to the HTML Tags Chart. HTML code p inserts two lines and HTML code div inserts a single line (each HTML code must be enclosed in the less-than and greater-than signs).

This is what Positive Psychology wants for all articles (as with any set of rules, there will be exceptions that require a judgment call):

** Font face: Verdana 10 pt (size 2) non-bolded black type, single space, left justified.

** No indentation at the beginning of a paragraph.

** First letter caps on article titles -- no ALL CAPS titles. There will be exceptions, e.g. if the news is BREAKING: or EXCLUSIVE: followed by regular 1st letter cap rules. See Chicago Manual of Style for headline capitalization rules if you are unsure. (In the 15th edition, it's Rule 8.167, including the other rules it references.)

** EMBED LONG LINKS:

In MSWord, copy the URL, highlight the word or words you want to embed, hit CTRL K, CTRL V, return.

In WordPerfect, copy the URL, highlight the word or words you want to embed, then click on Tools, Hyperlink, CTRL V. Hit OK.

To embed URLs:

Here's the short explanation: If you highlight a "word/title/phrase" in the edit box, then click on the "link" button in the editor, a box will appear enabling you to paste the URL address in the box. Hit INSERT and you have a highlighted link that is functional.

Here are detailed, step-by-step instructions:

Highlight any word or words you want to embed (For example, USDA says, "raw milk is bad for you."). Highlight the words, 'USDA says'

Once you highlight a word, the chain link icon lights up. (Try it - if you then click on an empty space, you can turn off the chain link icon; if you double click on a single word, you turn the chain link icon back on; or you can turn on the chain link icon by highlighting more than one word.)

Notice the chain link icon has a broken link icon and an unbroken link icon. (Use the broken link icon to remove an embedded link or to turn off the icon.)

Now that the chain link icon is lit up, click on the unbroken chain link. A dialog window opens up. Follow the instructions - paste your long URL into the appropriate spot. CTRL X will cut the URL from the article box. Put your cursor in the URL link box in the dialogue window. Hit CTRL V to insert the URL into the link box.

The words you want to embed go in the spot called 'Title' - you can copy them (CTRL C) from the Article Text box and then paste them into the chain link icon dialogue box (CTRL V).

At "Target" I suggest you click on the down arrow and select Open in New Window. This lets people click on a live link in your article where a new window will then open up for them - without removing them from your article.

Don't worry about "Class" - ignore it.

Then hit INSERT at the bottom left of the dialogue window.

** Emphasis within articles -- sometimes putting ?!? in the article makes sense and fits what the writer is doing. But, too often, some writers overly rely on bolding, italics, large type, color changes, and exclamatory punctuation to stress their points. This is usually the mark of poor writing, or of an advertisement. If it's a piece about several events -- then these tools are useful, but in a well-written op-ed piece, bolding and italics will be sparingly used, if at all. Bolded headings within an article represent another exception, especially in long articles.

** Remove the byline from the article text; it's okay to leave the author name in the article text if it's at the bottom and includes copyright info, or bio, or other relevant info related to the author. Italicize the bio at the bottom. EXCEPTION: If the member's "handle" is a blog-type pseudonym, but the author includes his/her real name at the top of the article (so that it doesn't get posted as a diary), then the byline at the top of the article stays. ANOTHER EXCEPTION: Sometimes, articles are posted in a member's name but have been jointly written with someone else. The byline indicating full authorship should be at the top.

** Remove "THE END" or #### or any other indication that the article has ended. This includes press releases.

TITLES

** Titles do not end in a period; they can end in a question mark or, rarely, in an exclamation point, but only one. None of this !!!! or ?!?

** Remove the title from the article text. We already have a spot for title and author. The article textbox is just for the text of the piece (with exceptions noted above).

** Think about the title: Does it convey what the article is about? Is it brief? Now, most folks don't like their title changed -- so be very judicious with this, but remember, we specifically state in our Writers Guidelines that Positive Psychology reserves the right to change titles. Sometimes, the title is deliberately obscure, so you'll have to use your judgment. But many article titles need help; those that do usually need to be shortened. One way of compromising with authors who write long titles is to change the title as you see fit, but then put their full "title" as a header on the first line of the article. You can even bold it for emphasis.

Also see these tips on how to make your titles Search-Engine Optimized , so that the search engines pick up your article and allow more people to read it.

** Look at the article description box. Check for spelling or punctuation errors. Does the description fairly represent the article? Is it provocative or interesting? Remove "This article is about..." or "This article describes..." Make the description direct, e.g.

DON'T: This article is about how climate change is melting the ice caps. It describes the feedback process of methane release that further warms the surface air.
DO: Climate change is melting the ice caps. As the caps melt, methane is released, further warming the surface air in a feedback loop.

In other words, when describing the article, assert its theme directly.

** In the article itself, check for spelling, punctuation and grammar; sentence construction; logical flow, etc... all the regular things editors look at when editing.

** Fix the paragraph breaks if necessary (use HTML code: p surrounded by the less-than and greater-than signs; or use Notepad). If you get a submission that's a single paragraph, you can reject it for formatting. But, if it's 500 words or less, you can usually figure out where the paragraph breaks should be.

** You can correct factual errors, too; authors greatly appreciate this.

** Make sure the article is in the correct category-- op-ed, news, life/arts/science, or diary.

Finally, once you've made the changes and are about to accept the article, ask the writer to submit their work in black, 10pt Verdana, single space, left justified.