Editing guidelines

Planning your entry
We suggest that, before filling in the forms for each of the sections in your entry, you plan your entry by first gathering all the information that you will need to input. Look at examples of entries and the demonstration entry in order to see what information you need to provide.

If you would like a pdf (Adobe Acrobat) version of these Guidelines, click here to download. If you would like to print out a pdf version of the 'Help' text for each of the sections, download here.

If you have not already registered for an entry then you should do so now. You cannot enter data about your company until you have decided which type of entry you want, have completed the registration form and made arrangements to pay. If you register for one type of entry and then wish to upgrade it later, you may do so. You can Register here now.

quicklinks

Logging in and out
After you have registered, you will be sent a unique User ID number and a password. Use these to log into the Edit menu for your company's entry. If you would like to do this here: Log in. Otherwise, use the 'Log in' button in the top, left-hand corner of the FIDICdirect website.

Please log out at the end of your editing session, or any time you need to leave your desk, by clicking on the 'Log out' text at the top of the screen. If you fail to log out, your entry could be accessed by another person to enter data without permission.

As a security precaution, you will be automatically logged out of an editing session after 60 minutes if there is no contact with the server.

You will not lose data as long as you have updated your entry by clicking on the ‘Update’ button at the bottom of each form. This means that your data will be safe if you get called away from your desk or have some other interruption.

quicklinks

Editing your entry
From the Edit menu you can access all the ‘forms’ and functions which enable you to create a new entry or edit your current entry. You may return to make changes as often as you like.

If you are already participating in the directory, you will have received your User ID and password when you first registered. If you have forgotten your User ID and password, or need it to be sent to a new contact at your company, please use the Password reminder facility situated on the Log in screen (you must enter either your User ID or company name in the box to enable us to identify your password).

On the Edit menu, those sections relevant to the type of entry you have selected are identified in the left-hand column. Simply click on each section title to access the appropriate form where you can enter new data or edit existing data. Press the ‘Update’ button at the bottom of each form to save the data you have just input. We strongly recommend ‘Updating’ frequently during input – you can easily lose a lot of data if you are timed-out in the middle of inputting a large amount.

It may take a little time to complete all the sections, and you may want to complete one or two sections at a time. However, once you have filled in your data, updating it in the future will be very quick and simple.

Help

The question mark symbols on the far right of each page links you to the 'Help' for each section and each field. When you click on a 'Help' button it will launch another browser window so that you can refer to 'Help' as you edit each section. If you would like a pdf version of the 'Help' texts for each of the sections click here.

Special characters

The AB symbol at the top right of each screen shows how to insert special characters, including those in other alphabets, in HTML code. Although some internationally-recognised characters may be read by most browsers if they are entered in text format, characters will always be repesented correctly, if you use the HTML coding. Simply copy and paste the appropriate code into your text.

Previewing your entry

At any time during the editing process, you can click on 'Print preview' or 'Web preview' to see how your entry will look in web or print format. The web preview is an exact representation of the published entry but, because of technological constraints, the print preview is an approximate facsimile.

Search

The ‘Search’ option at the top of each Editing page allows you to search the whole directory. Click on this if you would like to look for other companies, or would like to see how other companies have represented certain types of information.

quicklinks

Submitting your entry
Your entry will not be published to the web unless you let us know that you have finished entering all the information or that you have made changes and require your entry to be updated on the web. To do this you must ‘Submit’ your entry for publication. Our systems are programmed to inform us when an entry has been submitted in this way.

To submit your entry, click on 'Submit entry' on the 'Edit menu' screen and follow the instructions. You should always complete the ‘Change notes’ box to keep track of what changes are made and who made them. Your entry, consisting of all the forms, is then submitted to the FIDICdirect editorial team. You will not be able to access your entry until it has been reviewed and checked for content and style by one of our editors.

Once we are satisfied that everything is correct, we will publish your entry on the Internet in the FIDICdirect online Directory of Consulting Engineers and, when appropriate, in the printed directory. In the event that we have a query or suggest a change, we will return your entry to the editing suite with our comments in the 'Change notes' field. We will email you to advise you of this.

When you have reviewed the comments simply click on 'Submit entry’ again and we will publish your entry.

quicklinks

The space allocation for your entry

Space counter

The amount of space allocated to each entry type is determined by the amount of text that can be accommodated in the equivalent printed entry - full, half and quarter pages. Business card entries are of a predetermined fixed format.

To ensure that your text does not overrun, we have introduced a space counter that shows what percentage of available space you have used.

There are two indicators: one for the first column of your printed entry and one for the other two columns containing your general description and other sections of your entry. The counter can be viewed on the right-hand side of the Edit menu under 'Entry size'.

Please check your space counter as you fill in the data about your company.

If you go over 100%, on either or both counters, it means your text will not fit. You will need to go back and edit the text in the related fields until you get the count back to 100% or below.

Upgrade your entry

Alternatively, if you do not want to reduce the amount of text in your entry, you can upgrade to a larger entry. Select the new entry type by clicking on the Entry options button in the list on the left of the Edit menu screen and change the entry type you require. You can preview your entry in the print mode to see how it looks in the new size and add any additional information up to the space limitations of the new size.

When you submit your entry you will be charged the difference between the cost of your original entry and the new entry.

quicklinks

Keeping track of changes

Change notes

When you submit your entry you will be asked to make a note. This means that you as subscribers and we as editors can keep track of submissions, the changes that have been made and by whom. You can examine your change notes at any time. A typical example is shown below.

23/2/01 – Sarah Smith updated Typical projects to include the rail terminal project in Malawi.
24/5/01 – Sarah Smith. Complete update of entire entry.
28/5/01 – FIDICdirect editor submitted amendments to General description for approval.
29/5/01 – Sarah Smith approved editor’s changes.

Please fill in your name and what changes you have made each time you submit your entry.

Version archive

Each time we publish your entry, it is allocated a version control number sequence to enable you and us to keep track of your entry updates. You will find a log of these version to the right of the Edit menu. The first four numbers relate to the year, the next two to the version and the last two to the revision number. A new version number is allocated to track key strategic or publishing initiatives. The revision number is allocated every time changes to your entry are published. This means that should you need to return to a previous version for some reason we will be able to find it in our archives and re-publish it.

A typical version number would be 2001v02r03.

quicklinks

Feedback
We welcome your comments about any aspect of the EDITdirect online data inputting facility. We are currently developing the next upgrade to this software and if we can include enhancements as a direct response to your observations, so much the better.

You can send your comments by email either by clicking on the 'Contact us’ button on the FIDICdirect home page, or whenever you see the words ‘Contact us’ written like this.

quicklinks

For more information
If you would like to sample the editing process, click here
Details about: