Style and formatting guidelines

ClarionMag is home to a wide variety of content, from very short pieces to full length articles. 

If you're writing a full length piece begin with an introductory paragraph or two. Tell the reader what you're going to be covering, and why it's important. Similarly, finish the article with a summary of your main points.

Shorter pieces can be less structured.

Avoid the use of the pronoun "we" unless the article has two or more co-authors, and even then keep it to an absolute minimum. For instance, instead of:

"Next we type the following:"

simply write:

"Type the following:"

If you feel it's necessary to refer to yourself in the article, use the first person singular.

"In the previous article in this series, I explained ..."

Keep your audience in mind at all times. Most articles are directed at Clarion developers with several years programming experience, but a percentage of articles are designed either for the novice or the glass-eating, blood-drinking hand coder. If you're not sure of your audience, your editor will be happy to assist you.

Screen shots

Later versions of Windows offer semi-transparent title bars. This tends to make for ugly screen captures particularly if there's text underneath the title bar. Please turn off transparency before taking screen shots, or ensure the window being captures is set against a uniform background.

Please do not use any special effects (drop shadow, torn edges etc.).

Note that you can paste images directly into the page editor from the clipboard.

Source Code

For single lines of code you can apply the Preformatted style. For multiple lines of code you should use the Code Block Macro.

Please attach any relevant source code to the article as a zip file. If your article involves source code then ideally you will also include a sample application.