Do's and Don'ts

1. Have a copyright statement.
2. Watermark all of your screenshots and graphics that you have done.
3. Have an e-mail box set up for questions and comments.
4. When using a graphic from a particular artist ask their permission to use the graphic and make sure you include a link to their site.
5. If using a graphic that you do not know who the artist is, mention that in the tutorial and ask if anyone knows who it is so you can contact them.
6. If you see someone else's tutorial and like the basic idea but think you can expand on it write to that author and tell him/her what you would like to do and ask permission. THEN, after you get permission, in YOUR tutorial tell people where you got your inspiration and offer a link to their site.
7. Have a good tutorial tester or two. They will look at your tutorial with fresh eyes and be able to save you a lot of heartache and embarrassment down the road.
8. When using a filter ask the inventor of that filter if he/she would prefer you send them to their site for download or if you may offer a zip from your site.
9. Try to do screenshots or be as explicit as possible in your directions.
10. When using commercial links have a link to their site for downloading and purchasing.

DON'T

1. Don't take someone else's tutorial and put it on your site and claim it as your own.
2. Don't take someone else's tutorial and rewrite it in your words and then use their selections.
3. Don't offer a commercial product for free as a download from your site.

My thoughts on the above statements

Regarding copyright ~~ I always date my tutorials as to when they were created at the top of my tutorial. I put a longer statement at the bottom of each tutorial page. You can get the general idea by reading my copyright statement on all my tutorial pages.

Watermarking your images helps insure that someone cannot "lift" them and use them on their own site, at least not as easily.

Graphics ~~ This one is pretty self explanatory. You are requesting that they ask you if they can use your tutorial for a lesson in their groups or whatever, so ask the artist for permission also and make sure that you link to their site. If you are not granted permission from the artist please don't use their graphic.

Expanding on someone else's idea ~~ It's only common courtesy for doing this and you will become respected in the community.

Testers ~~ Not only is it important to have one or more people test your tutorial it is also a good idea to have someone that is really good with the English language. Your spelling and grammar skills are essential to having an excellent tutorial. I am so fortunate to have Elkay as one of my tutorial testers as she will nit-pick everything and that is what I want! I want to be proud of my tutorials and I'm sure you do too.

Filter Inventors ~~ When I approached Philipp Spoeth, the creator of the Sinedot Filter, if he would like me to link to his site or just include my zipped filter on my site, he requested to link to his site. A few days later he sent me a very excited e-mail regarding the number of additional hits his site had received! On the other hand when I approached NVR they told me just to include my own zipped filter on my site. I saved that e-mail so I would have it as a reference if anyone questioned me.

Screenshots ~~ Screenshots have always been a sore spot for me as I don't do them very well. When I first started writing my tutorials I explained everything that the screenshot would entail. If you do this and one of your settings is a negative figure make sure you write out the word "minus" in lieu of the "-" sign. Since Larry has gotten me the Wacom Graphire Tablet, I am now able to create my screenshots using one of their programs. I have a tutorial on how to do your screenshots in PSP HERE.

Commercial Filters ~~ Always send them to the site for purchasing or getting a trial download. If you use your zipped filter you could be liable for the cost of all the purchases that were downloaded from your site.

Using Other Tutorial Writers Material ~~ Is a very big NO-NO! You never want to copy someone else's words or use their selections for your own tutorial. A lot of hard work goes into creating a tutorial and you wouldn't want anyone to steal your work so don't steal theirs. You will be branded in the community and it will take you a very long time to get your credibility back.

Let's Get Started!

Tutorial written and created by Patti Wavinak for Moon's Designs. These Tutorials are copyrighted by law. You may LINK to them only. You may not remove any of the graphics, zip files or html within these pages to reproduce these Tutorials, without the expressed permission of Moon's Designs. These pages may not be removed from this website and sent via e-mail, nor saved, stored or archived in files in YahooGroups or other mailing list sites, nor may they be translated and placed on another site.
Creations made from these tutorials are your creations.

Moon's Designs holds the copyright to all selections, original tubes and original images that I have created and provided for use within my tutorials. Page backgrounds and images are created exclusively for this website and may not be downloaded or used without written permission.
If you would like to use any of my tutorials for group lessons please contact me.