The following are tech tips that help us create better content for use across all of our media properties. Please take the time to review these. I will be occasionally updating the content here.

The following links take you to guidelines set by the national organization of Assistance League.

• Assistance League Terminology (PDF)
• Guidelines for Writing Copy (PDF)
• Social Media Guidelines (PDF)
• Graphics Standards (2.8MB PDF)
• Standardization of Written Materials (PDF)

Constant Contact is our member and customer email platform. Emails can be highly formatted and used for notifications, Member Updates, Sales Flyers, and transmitting of our Minutes from Regular Meetings. It is also our platform that we use to mail out the monthly Member Newsletter.

One of the main benefits of using Constant Contact is that it protects the PRIVACY of our members, donors, supporters and customers by not sending out their email addresses with each mailing. It is much safer to protect our email privacy by using Constant Contact instead of pasting multiple addresses into the TO: or CC: lines of your email program. Plus we have pre-set email addresses that can be used for targeted groups within Constant Contact.

Learn more about CONSTANT CONTACT by following this link.

The following items pertain to editors and writers who help with the monthly newsletter.

1. If possible send text as a regular email, not as an attachment.
2. If you are sending a Microsoft Word file, please do not embed images into your prose.
3. Images: Photographs, graphs, etc. should be attached to the email and not embedded into MS Word. It makes it a whole lot easier to just place the picture directly to the newsletter vs. having to extract if from word.
4. Please identify all people that appear in any photo you send.
5. Send ORIGINAL or LARGE size (1MB or larger size) clear, color photos from your Android, iPhone, computer and any other device used for images. The keyword here is LARGE in file size. It makes for better photos on all of our media platforms (newsletter, website, history book, community newsletter, etc.)
6. Single space after periods in your text, not double space.

It’s time to get rid of the habit of typing two spaces after the end of every sentence. With today’s computers and the dominant use of proportional fonts, the need for double space vanished after you got rid of your typewriter. In the advertising, book publishing and the online industry, a single space at the end of a sentence is the established norm. Watch the video above to learn more.