Column:
Passwd:

Name:
Email:

Headline:

Introduction:

Column:      HTML?

Instructions:

The most important rule: NO PROFANITY!. Please remember that women and children will be reading your column. Save the f-bombs for private emails.

#1: Column & Password - If you cannot remember this, email or call me.

#2: Name - The name you want displayed for the column.

#3: Email - If provided, your name will be clickable to this email.

#4: Headline - This is the headline, or title, for your column. Keep it short; 5-6 words max!

#5: Summary - This is the text that will show up in the front page box for your column. Try not to make it more than 2-3 sentences, or your column box will get too long and push everyone else's column too far down the page. Try to make it descriptive of your subject, and it could even be part of your column's opening paragraph.

#6: Column - This is the full text for your column. If you are pasting in HTML, check the HTML box -- and only include the HTML between the BODY tags.

#7: Submit - This button creates your column and a "test version" of the front page. It is VERY IMPORTANT that you preview the new front page and your column for any errors before confirming. Once your column is posted, you can re-edit it by finding it in the directory at http://www.AstrosDaily.com/forms.

Some notes on formatting your column:

Since I am allowing you to upload the HTML, you are wide open in how you design your column. You can link to pictures on other sites, you can embed audio files for other sites, create your own tables, and just all kinds of mayhem. If you don't like the way your columns look, ask me for help.

Another really nice feature is the ability to automatically link to the player pages for the Astros. To do this, just put curly braces around the player's name (i.e. "{Jeff Bagwell}"), and the script will replace it with this: Jeff Bagwell. One word of warning: the script does an exact match, so these things will NOT work: {JEFF BAGWELL}, {Jeff Bagwell's}, etc. You get the point. If the script detects any curly braces AFTER trying to do all of the replacements, it will give you a warning message. This is your cue to check the column and fix the reference or remove the curly braces.

Remember that carriage-return characters are ignored by HTML. You will need to use the "br" and "p" tags to get line breaks or you can check the "auto-format" box and have it done automatically. If you have no clue what these tags are, ask me or just do a "View Source" on this page.

FINALLY: do not hesitate to get in touch with me you have have any problems or suggestions about this. I want to make this as easy and painless as possible for you, while trying to give you maximum flexibility. Thanks, Ray