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We’ll monitor comments and respond to questions and requests. An article might require an update or CSS or JavaScript enhancements a while later. We might work with an illustrator to come up with custom illustrations for the article. And sometimes an article requires fancy technical integration and front-end trickery.
The Smashing experts panel, introduced about six years ago, plays a crucial role in this process. It’s an editorial board with over 90 invited experts on topics ranging from accessibility to performance to JavaScript architecture to user experience design. These well-respected members of the community regularly provide technical review of articles, along with feedback and ratings, to ensure the high quality of published articles. We should note that feedback is usually shared anonymously, so that no bias is involved when giving feedback — very much like how it’s done with academic papers. We don’t accept any hidden advertisements on Smashing Magazine — a compromise is out of question.Smashing Magazine is a professional and independent online publication. Neither our advertisers nor our partners are influencing our content or editing process.
These might include screenshots of the work in progress if writing a tutorial, or examples of websites that highlight a point you are making. As detailed in the article template these should include Captions and alt text, and remember to send us a zip of all images in your article along with your final draft. When writing a more advanced piece about a tool or technology, mention in your introduction your assumed level of knowledge. You can also use that to point the reader to a good introduction to the subject that they should read before reading your article. This style guide includes details of the Smashing Voice and Tone, as a guide for anyone writing a Smashing article.
If you have not written for us before, it can be helpful to include links to other pieces of writing — they could be blog posts or similar. You should then be contacted by a subject-specific editor with initial thoughts and feedback. “Understanding Privacy,” the new Smashing Book by Heather Burns, will help you create inclusive, safe and privacy-aware digital experiences. In this article, Ashish Bogawat shares some of his favorite ways how to boost productivity and do things faster, better, and probably more fun by using efficient tools and workflows.
A good outline will include the main headings or sections of the article, along with an explanation of what will be taught in that section. Recently, I had a chat with Chris Coyier and Dave Rupert over on the Shoptalk Podcast about writing for publications such as Smashing Magazine and CSS-Tricks. One of the things we talked about was submitting ideas to publications — something that can feel quite daunting even as an experienced writer. The time commitment varies between articles and authors. Some authors will need very little help, others may need more handholding. The most important thing is that you are responsive to author questions, so they are not left hanging, and keep us updated so we have an idea of what we have incoming for the schedule.
The article is sent to at least two independent reviewers, anonymously. Within a few days, we receive feedback, which we review, weigh against editorial concerns, adjust and summarize, and then forward to the author for them to make further adjustments to the article. In this article, I’m going to go through the process for pitching, heavily based on my own experience as a writer and as Editor in Chief of Smashing. However, I’ve also taken a look at the guidelines for other publications in order to help you find the right places to pitch your article ideas.
This type of candidate will have a better understanding of how to position a topic from the developer or designer perspective which is precisely what we want for our audience. We also have talented in-house editors who’d love to work with you on creating a new tutorial or a new round-up . Round-ups with a technical background also work very well here on Smashing .
Your outline should give us enough detail to understand the subject and your specific take on it. Please make sure to include the following information. You are the expert on your topic so if an editor makes a suggestion you don’t agree with you are, of course, encouraged to state your case!
The hints in our style guide give some tips as to the voice and tone of Smashing articles plus hints for clear writing. You can always share early ideas with your editor as you are working if you want or need some feedback. All of us want to create inclusive, safe, and privacy-aware digital experiences, but where to begin? Our brand new Smashing Book, “Understanding Privacy,” written by Heather Burns, can help you lay the ground for future developers, designers, and project managers to build a better web for tomorrow. If writing an article for an audience new to a tool or technology, outline in the introduction what the starting point is, and your intended audience.