Site Document Standards

File Format Standards for California Agricultural Education Materials

Materials on the CalAgEd site are provided in a number of electronic file formats. By providing materials electronically distribution costs are greatly reduced and materials are available on demand. The format of the materials has been chosen for the suitability of delivery, intended use, and accessibility by the largest possible audience. In general, users will need the following software to view files on this site.

Word 97 (Office 97) or higher. The current version of Word Perfect can convert these files. A free reader is available for download at: http://www.atinet.org/help/word_viewer.htm
Adobe Acrobat Reader (Current Version). Available free from Adobe. See help page to download. User having versions less than 4.0 may not be able to read PDF files on this site.
Excel 97 (Office 97) or higher. Quarto Pro can import these files, but macros will be lost.
PowerPoint 97 (Office 97) or higher.

The table below describes the file formats in use on this site. People intending to publish materials should follow the guidelines below.

Format	Software Required	Type of Materials	Delivery Method	Platform	Comments
MS-Word	V 97 or higher. Compatible with Office 97 or Office 2000. (Not compatible with Office 95)	Materials that require editing by the user. Useful for formatted printing, but pagination may change from computer to computer. Note: Can be used for fill-in forms (document protected.)-	Un-compressed format. Small documents are acceptable for Web. CD-ROM for any size.	Windows 95/98/2000/NT or Mac O.S.	Free reader is available for downloading and can be distributed via the web or CD (recommended). MS-Word is the most common word processor program. Due to deeply discounted pricing and site licensing at CSU and CC it will become even more widely used by new teachers.
Adobe Acrobat	Adobe Acrobat Reader (V 3 or higher)	Documents that require formatted printing. Fill-in forms. Complete booklets to several hundred pages in size.	Compressed format. Preferred for web delivery since it is compressed. CD-ROM.	Windows 95/98/2000/NT or Mac O.S.	Free reader can be included on web or CD. The preferred format for booklets and multi-page documents. Easy to create from any program that can print such as Page Maker, Publisher, Word, etc.
HTML (Web Pages)	Netscape 4 or higher Internet Explorer 4 or higher.	Widest possible dissemination desired, formatted printing not needed. Hypertext documents and/or rapidly changing documents where on-line viewing is desired	Web or CD-ROM	Windows 95/98/2000/NT or Mac O.S.	Biggest strength is the ability to reach a wide audience with low technology. Weakness is lack of formatting. . Ideal document length should not exceed 3 screen pages. Browsers can be upgraded to the latest version for free.
MS-Excel	MS-Office 97 or higher	Worksheets with calculations, like budgets. Also some National Applications are provided in this format.	Un-compressed. Web or CD-ROM	Windows 95/98/2000/NT or Mac O.S.	Can be embedded into MS-Word documents (OLE object).
Delimited Text	N/A	non-relational data lists such as names and addresses or references.	Uncompressed. Web or CD-ROM	All	Can be read by MS-Word, MS-Excel, MS-Access, File Maker Pro, etc. Widely accessible.
Text	N/A	Historical Curriculum Only	Uncompressed Web or CD-ROM	All	Can be read by web browsers, word processors, etc. Formatting limited to mono-spaced fonts.
MS-PowerPoint	V 97 or higher. Compatible with Office 97 or Office 2000. (Not compatible with Office 95)	Presentations	Web or CD-ROM	Windows 95/98/2000/NT or Mac O.S.	Graphics provided in this format can be cut and pasted in to other products.
MS-Access	Office 2000	Relational Data files	Compressed. Single file database. Large Database (5000 records+) will be slow to download on the web	Windows 95/98/2000/NT	Access 2000 is not compatible with Access 97. Due to the limited use of this type of data using the current version is recommend.
Zip	PK-Zip or WinZip	Collections of files for downloading. Ex. curriculum sets.	Compressed for downloading	Windows 95/98/2000/NT
JPEG & GIF	Netscape 4 or higher Internet Explorer 4 or higher.	Graphics. Generally graphics should be less than 600 pixels wide, less than 60 K in size. All graphics should be captioned and have "alt text" (ok to use caption text).	Both of these formats are compressed and suitable for web delivery	All	Graphics can be displayed on the web then copied and pasted into other applications such as PowerPoint or FrontPage.
Crystal Reports	Browser Plugin (automatically downloads)	Data driven reports that require printing. Note: browser security may not allow the installation of the plugin. Used primarily for state staff reporting.	Web	All