text:
This page in other languages:
SVG (scalable vector graphics) is an accepted file format on Wikimedia Commons. It is suited to diagrams, maps, and other non-photographic images. SVG is highly appreciated on commons because it describes graphical objects with a sourcecode and thus provides the best way to modify and improve content.
SVG files are used quite extensively on Wikimedia Commons. Here are a few tips to get started.
- 1 What is SVG?
- 2 Creating SVG images for Wikimedia Commons
- 2.1 SVG document declaration
- 2.2 Bitmaps
- 2.3 Animation
- 2.4 Scripting
- 2.5 External files
- 2.6 Tidying up
- 2.7 Plain SVG, compressed SVG, generic specifications
- 2.8 Fonts / text
- 2.9 Gradients
- 2.10 Blurring
- 2.11 Validation
- 3 Converting to SVG
- 4 Uploading & categorizing
- 5 SVG files in MediaWiki
- 6 Software
- 7 Cleaning up SVG-files to W3C-valid
- 8 See also
- 9 References
- 10 External links
What is SVG?[edit]
Scalable vector graphics (SVG) is an XML specification and file format for describing two-dimensional vector graphics, both static and animated. It is stored plain-text or compressed (binary). It allows embedding of raster graphics (bitmaps) and text.
- Scalable Vector Graphics for detailed description
- SVG examples
Creating SVG images for Wikimedia Commons[edit]
Programs you can use to create SVG images are shown in #General editors hereafter. Alternatively you can edit the SVG code directly with a text editor, or IDE.
The following sections explain specific features of SVG.
SVG document declaration[edit]
<svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" width="400" height="300" viewBox="0 0 400 300" >
The source code of every SVG file should begin with the basic information of its dimension and namespace. Document type declaration or DOCTYPE is entirely unnecessary. W3 insists that character encoding declaration is essential, but its validator does not. The validator will only warn (instead of reporting an "error") for its absence and this has little to no consequence even if the SVG file contains any non-English character. The actual important thing of character encoding is that the software which you create or edit the SVG file with should provide the option of choosing character encoding. UTF-8 is highly recommended for internationalization, but avoid "preamble/byte-order mark (BOM)" due to bad compatibility with older applications.
Inside the SVG element, width, height and namespace attributes are required. Add
viewBox attribute if you want to change the scale and position of the image. Of all XML namespaces,
xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" should at least be present, otherwise the SVG will not be rendered at all. If you have used the linking function in your SVG,
xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" must be included too to enable it.
There are some valuable uses of bitmap images within SVG files, such as annotating a photograph (e.g., an anatomical photography, labeling parts). However, many uses of bitmaps in SVG files are not necessary, such as for decorative embellishments, and bitmaps are often better converted or redrawn as SVG files. Bitmaps should be included if this is the best solution, but redrawn if this yields a better image. Further, use of bitmaps in SVG files may be labeled as {{BadSVG}}.
Please think carefully about using bitmaps in SVG files, and consider converting it or redrawing it as an SVG file when incorporating it, rather than including a bitmap directly. See talk page for further discussion. If you decide to use a bitmap image, please be sure to embedd and not to link the image; otherwise it won't be rendered.
SVG images can have animation built in with SMIL, but because the .svg is converted to .png for use in Wikimedia projects, the animated SVG file is only visible from the image page.
See #Tagging SVG files for how to mark it animated.
MediaWiki does not accept SVG files containing scripts.
External files[edit]
Before saving the final version, make sure you delete any references to other files you used to make the SVG; if these references are left behind, then the render is unlikely to be able to find the external file and will fail.
Tidying up[edit]
It's also a good idea to remove or "vacuum" any unused definitions (defs), as this can result in a smaller file size. Scour is an open source Python script that cleans and optimizes SVG files. There's even an online version (currently, november 2011, not available) so there's nothing to download. It has integrated in Inkscape as of version 0.47; you can use it by saving as "Optimized SVG (*.svg)".
Plain SVG, compressed SVG, generic specifications[edit]
It is generally better to save in "plain SVG" format. Usually this appears in the program's
Save As dialog box as an alternative format (as opposed to just "SVG", which might be program's own version of SVG). This is for reasons of compatibility, amongst other things.
In Adobe Illustrator or Inkscape the default file format includes information (such as user preferences) that is not needed in uploaded files. This increases the file size unnecessarily and sometimes causes thumbnails to not render properly. (See bugzilla:2888)
On the other hand, saving as "plain SVG" may lose information useful to you. In Inkscape, for example, it removes layer information. You may wish to create a plain version just for uploading and keep a 'fancy' master version for your own purposes, or tag with
{{Created with Inkscape|IMPORTANT=yes}}. See Help:Inkscape for more.
Inkscape and other programs also allow to save SVGZ (compressed binary SVG), which is not supported on Commons.
Fonts / text[edit]
Only some fonts can be rendered in the
<text> tag. You can find a list here. Note that some fonts are not available in Regular style, only Bold and others; consider alternatives like Liberation. Please do consider using these fonts and not converting fonts to path for these reasons:
- This greatly reduces the file size, particularly when there are large amounts of text. (Which would also reduce the cost of load and rendering time for all.)
- Any spelling errors etc. can be fixed without having to redraw the entire text.
- Text can be easily translated, which is important since Commons is a multilingual project. See also Template: Translation possible.
- Text can be searched with search engines easily, which may not recognise outlines unless with advanced technology.
To hint to a problematic SVG file you can tag this with
{{Path text SVG}} or for linking modifiable and non-modifiable versions of an SVG file use
{{Vector text versions|…}}.
Flowed Text bug[edit]
Text in Inkscape by default uses a Flowed Text (SVG 1.2) box which can result in problems, it will likely not render at all or render as a ('large' full filled 'black') rectangle (Bugzilla:41424 – depending on font size and color). To fix this, simply use the ‹Convert To Text› command in the Inkscape Text menu.
Alternatively, before typing the text, first select the text tool and with the mouse click without dragging on the canvas where you wish the text to begin.
Empty Flowed Text Boxes will also appear black, although they are hidden in Inkscape. To remove them, go to the XML Editor in the Edit menu. Delete the elements that are named as following:
<svg:flowRoot id="flowRootXXXX">.
Text transform limitations[edit]
Font scaling currently does not work as expected if horizontal and vertical scales (according to the effective transform matrix) are not equal (the horizontal stretch will be ignored: only the font height, computed from the matrix is currently honored); this can prevent the correct rendering in narrow/condensed or width-extended styles from another font, with text taking unexpected width and flowing out of the expected box (the alternative is to select an alternate free font family which is already narrowed/condensed).
Beware also with font metrics differences: an SVG file may look good when rendered directly in a SVG-capable (all modern) browser under Windows or Mac OS (which can use common, but non free fonts such as Courier or Courier New), but will look wrong when restricted to the list of free fonts currently supported by the MediaWiki's SVG-to-PNG renderer or when viewed under OSes like free distributions of Linux.
Writing mode limitation[edit]
Unlike Inkscape and Adobe Illustrator, librsvg used by Wikimedia and some browser fail to support the writing-mode property properly. When this property is given any non-default (left-to-right writing mode) value, all characters will clump together in librsvg (Bugzilla:63236) or the property is simply ignored in Mozilla Firefox. If the alternative writing mode is still desired (e.g. top-to-bottom mode for Asian languages), align all characters separately instead of relying on this property.
Fallback fonts[edit]
When the Arial font is found in an SVG file, the Liberation Sans font is currently (February 10, 2011) being used instead of Arial for generating the PNG files. See the following File: ArialSubstitutionTest.svg for test results. To future proof the SVG file in case Wikimedia changes the Arial substitution font, change all occurrences of '
font-family: Arial' to '
font-family: Liberation Sans, Arial, sans-serif' (leave out the quotes). Adding Arial and sans-serif as fallback fonts will help the SVG version of the file be displayed properly on machines that do not have the Liberation Sans font installed. Some other fonts are also interpreted, such as the Times New Roman font, which is interpreted as the current default font Liberation Serif.
If you are using non-Western characters, you should define those typefaces preceding Liberation Sans. For example, if your text contains Chinese characters, font-family definition should be: '
WenQuanYi Zen Hei, SimHei, Liberation Sans, Arial, sans-serif'.
Inkscape v .48 does not support fallback fonts, so the SVG file has to be manually updated in a text editor after it is saved.
Layout with text and tspan elements[edit]
Although you can use only the
text element to render simple text in the image, the
tspan element can be extremely useful to handle text which requires lot of intricate text layouts.[1] A
tspan element must be nested within the
text element, all styling defined in the parent
text element will be inherited by its child
The primarily difference with the "
g nesting
text" structure is that few important text layout behaviors are exclusive to
tspan: When multiple
text elements are lined up consecutively, they still position themselves independently; if multiple
tspan elements are lined up consecutively but the second and subsequent
tspan elements are not given absolute x coordinate, text of these
tspan elements will line up horizontally right next to the end of the character of prior
tspan in the same
text element. Even if you are going to give every text item absolute position, it is still recommended to render the text with same or similar style with
tspan and group them in the
text element, this will give you more control in case relative positioning is needed. You can, however, nest the
text and
tspan elements with
g (but not nesting
tspan with
g or another
text inside
text, which does not work) and define the common styling in this
g element, the child
text and
tspan elements will inherit the styling as well. Also a
tspan can contain another
Note that SVG (as of version 1.1) does not provide any form of line wrap (either hard or soft). Any line wrap should be done manually by repositioning new
text or
tspan elements with the same absolute x coordinate and a new y coordinate. For
tspan this can be easier organized by using relative positioning with
dy property. Although
textPath can handle the similar situation,[2] this element is not supported by librsvg/Wikimedia (Bugzilla:9420).
- Line breaks
Another SVG text rendering behavior worth noting is that under the default
xml:space definition, any line break (within
text or
tspan) with an extra trailing white-space is converted to a blank space character automatically.[3] If there happens to be multiple consecutive line breaks, they are treated as one space still. This would not be a problem if the line break is followed by a
tspan element with absolute x coordinate. If
xml:space is given the
'preserve' value, librsvg will translate the indent to a long white tab character equal to 8 space characters. Because the auto-formatting or re-indentation (indent style) of most XML editors creates indent for every new descendant XML tag automatically, so use re-indentation carefully if your SVG file contains such usage of
Note: The behaviors in different SVG renderers to this issue varies much and is usually inconsistent to the W3C specification (also the
'preserve' value of
xml:space will be deprecated in SVG 2.[4]). The only problem with librsvg is that it never converts the line break alone into space no matter which value of
xml:space is given if there is no trailing space or indent before the
tspan tag.[5] Except for librsvg, nearly all modern browsers always add the converted space character right after the preceding text, this is the reason why the
end or
middle values of
text-anchor property always align the text 1 space leftward because the new line and/or the trailing tab or space after the closing
tspan tag is converted to an unexpected space character.[6]
|XML Code
<text> <tspan>O</tspan><tspan>n</tspan><tspan>e</tspan> </text>
<text> <tspan>O</tspan> <tspan>n</tspan> <tspan>e</tspan> </text>
|O n e
Inkscape is buggy to render
tspan, for example, inheriting
text-anchor property from the first
tspan element incorrectly for the subsequent
tspan elements even if the property is specifically given a value in all
tspan elements.[7] The only way to redeem it is group
tspan with the same
text-anchor value within the same
text element and refrain from applying
text-anchor in
tspan. This fix is entirely cosmetic for appearance in Inkscape. Ignore this issue and use
tspan as you please if you are not going to open or edit the SVG file in Inkscape.
Font styling class[edit]
To ease the process of updating font family for every text or tspan elements, define the font CSS class(es) within
style element and apply the
class property in elements like this:
<style type="text/css"> text {font-size:12px; font-family:Liberation Sans, Arial, sans-serif} <!-- General font styling--> .small {font-size:9px} .special {fill:#f93500; font-weight:bold} .title {font-size:14px; font-weight:bold; font-family:Liberation Serif, Times New Roman, serif} .italic {font-style:italic} </style> <text class="title" x="10" y="20">Qridfs</text> <text x="10" y="30">Rfnkl fgkj qljf fgk gskla</text> <text class="small"> <tspan x="15" y="40">Dfj fdmnkl</tspan> <tspan x="15" dy="12" class="italic">Akgfld fkdngf mna</tspan> </text> <text class="special" x="10" y="60">Tcjgh xlij qpfj</text>
Even if one particularly style is defined once in the SVG, it is still best advised to replace the style with class for a tidier layout of XML codes. All in all, it is also good to use SVG groups instead of CSS classes (these can also produce a smaller code by lesser librsvg limitation).
Note: Bugzilla:41423 – CSS child selectors are not supported by librsvg.
Text with background edge[edit]
Sometimes the text might be unreadable because the background color has low contrast with the font color or the pattern is too complicated that confuses the reader. This can be solved by duplicating the text in the exact same position, but the back text rendered with stroke and the fore text without it like this:
<text style="font-size:12px"> <tspan x="10" y="20" style="stroke:white; stroke-width:3px; stroke-linejoin:round">Placeholder</tspan> <tspan x="10" y="20">Placeholder</tspan> </text>
- "stroke-linejoin:round" is defined to avoid sharp corner of the text stroke.
The problem by applying stroke and fill in the same text element is that the stroke will be rendered over the main body of text, making it otherwise unreadable if the font is too small but requires larger stroke to be distinguishable from the background.
If you have lot of text needs to be rendered with stroke background, include the text within
<text> and
<tspan> elements. The
<g> element which will be rendered underneath, apply the stroke, then
<use> the text group of
<text> element without stroke and fill the font with contrasting color:
<g style="stroke:white; stroke-width:3px; stroke-linejoin:round"> <text id="text_group" style="font-size:12px"> <tspan x="10" y="80">Placeholder 1</tspan> <tspan x="10" y="95">Placeholder 2</tspan> </text> </g> <use xlink:href="#text_group" style="fill:black; stroke:none"/>
W3C confirmed to include paint-order property in SVG 2.0 which allows the order to render the attributes of "fill", "stroke" and "markers" within one element arranged by the user manually, instead of following the default mandatory order.[8] Mozilla Firefox also includes this attribute experimentally but it defaults to disable in the stable release until SVG 2.0 matures. This feature can be enabled in the about:config entries of Firefox.[9]
Users of Inkscape version 0.46 may notice that images with "Fill gradients" display perfectly on Inkscape, but display "messed up" in Opera or Firefox browsers. One possible cause is that the last "stop" on a gradient has opacity set to 0. Inkscape appears to ignore this last stop, but both Firefox 3.0.6 and Opera 9.36 will render it as a white border in the filled object. Solutions are either remove the last stop (because it was probably created in error) or change the opacity (and colour) so that the image renders correctly in browsers.
Users of Adobe Illustrator CS5, CS6, or CC and who also use Firefox may notice that an Illustrator "symbol" containing a gradient will render normally as a Commons PNG file but if the SVG file itself is opened in Firefox these symbols will appear vacant. Other browsers will have no difficulty— Google Chrome, even Internet Explorer will render Illustrator's SVG symbol gradients correctly, but because of a known bug that the designers of Firefox have been aware of since 2005 (Mozilla's Bugzilla #376027 and other reports that lead to it such as #353575) but have so far failed to adequately fix, Firefox will display such symbols as empty shapes (symbol strokes and symbol paths without gradients are unaffected).
Wikimedia's SVG renderer currently supports various filter effects, but some effects such as gaussian blur (feGaussianBlur) behaves differently when the blurred object exceeds the edge of the actual image. The current version of RSVG will treat the cropped edge as the actual edge of the object to apply the effect (as if the object has applied clipPath before applying filter effect), creating undesirable filter effect against the image edge.
You may wish to put the file through the SVG validator (validator.w3.org) before you upload. This can tell you about possible problems in your SVG file. Unfortunately this validator cannot handle RDF or other metadata, should you wish to include it, but it can still find errors in your SVG. It also wanted a Doctype declaration, which is not a requirement in SVG and may actually cause problems.[10][11]
- See #Tagging SVG files for how to mark it validated.
Converting to SVG[edit]
Given an image file that is in a format other than SVG, there are various ways to convert it to SVG; see #Converters below for programs. See Commons:Transition to SVG for general considerations on transitioning a file to SVG.
Generally, there are 3 ways to produce an SVG file, given an existing image:
- Regenerate it
- Convert it
- Create a new one
If you are unable to convert an image yourself, please add the tag {{convert to SVG}} to flag that the image should be converted. Some images are not well-suited to SVG, notably continuous-tone images such as photographs. These generally should instead be stored as JPG.
Regenerate it[edit]
If the image was generated by a program (rather than drawn by hand) — for example, a chart from a spreadsheet — it may be possible to set the output format to SVG, rather than PNG or other format, and thus produce an SVG image from the same source. If possible, this is generally easiest.
Convert it[edit]
Many vector file formats can be easily be converted to SVG simply by changing the format (repackaging the existing data), by using a converter program. This may be as simple as opening the file in a vector image editor and then saving it in SVG.
For raster (bitmap) graphics, this cannot be done because the image is a set of individual pixel values, not a set of strokes (vectors). For these images (notably PNG images), one can convert to SVG via "vectorization" or "tracing" — automatically generating a vector graphic from a raster image.
Many SVG editors have tracing functions, and dedicated converters exist. In Inkscape, this is done by the potrace program.[12][13] Concretely: open the bitmap (File → Open… (Ctrl-O)), then select Path → Trace Bitmap… (Shift-Alt-B). There are various options; after using, please delete the underlying bitmap, and consider simplifying the path to reduce the number of nodes (Ctrl-L).
Adobe Illustrator also allows for the conversion of bitmap images into vectors via its Image Trace function. Care must be taken when doing so that the resulting vector image is neither ponderously large (often the result of too much conversion fidelity with regard to color and shape) nor so simple that it loses faithfulness to the original image. Converted images almost always require some manual correction after conversion. As in Inkscape, the underlying bitmap should be removed after conversion is complete.
It should also be noted that when Illustrator converts one of its files into an SVG file, it tends to convert a number of shading effects such as "inner glow", "outer glow", and gradients applied along or across a path into undesirable raster images which it then embeds in the SVG image using links. Such embedded images can often be immediately detected by viewing the image in a web browser under high zoom where they will appear cloudy or have visibly jagged edges (neither of which is ever true of a correctly rendered vector image). Adobe does not currently have a solution to this problem.
Create a new one[edit]
If an image cannot be regenerated or converted, the remaining option is to recreate it — draw a new SVG image, using the existing image as a model. This is manual and the most time-consuming option, but may ultimately yield the highest quality.
In all cases, it may prove useful to touch up the resulting image in an SVG editor — perhaps adding details which are hard or impossible to produce in the originating program, or simplifying or refining a complex conversion (such as simplifying a path described by 100 points to one described by 5 points, if extra points add unnecessary detail).
Once you have created an SVG image, upload it (under a new name), and tag the original raster image with {{vector version available}}, but please do not delete the raster image or list it for deletion, as it still serves some purposes — see Commons:Superseded images policy for details.
Uploading & categorizing[edit]
Image description pages[edit]
Uploading is described at Commons:First steps/Upload form.
Make sure to fill out the {{information}} box as fully as you can. Often, it's a help when an image has a complete information box as this makes categorization by others easier and allows others to make translations.
If your file has passed the SVG Validator, you can put the {{validSVG}} tag on the image page.
See the #SVG software tags section for detailed information on a SVG media.
Categorizing SVG files[edit]
All SVG graphics should be sorted into the appropriate subcategory or subcategories of Category:SVG. Please do not place images directly in the parent category as it will become overcrowded and useless (we have
thousands and thousands of more than 100,000 SVG files).
Sort subcategories which rely not on subject but on technical aspects ("created with…", "animated", "valid", and so on) by '
*' to keep them outside the alphabet listing.
The SVG categories tree[edit]
The main tree is Category:SVG, as a part of Category:Images → Category:Media types.
Concerning topical subcategories, it is not needful to rebuild the complete hierarchy tree of Category:Topics. Normally, it is enough to gather some topics to one. For instance, Category:SVG colors could contain all color-related SVG files of Category:Colors, its no use to build Category:SVG red, Category:SVG blue and so on. Maybe some subcategories will become useful later, but stay close to our existing topics tree, and do not put any SVG files only into a SVG category: Categories are primarily for finding media, not for hiding them. Do not over-categorize, so do not sort into a category for finding it, and the direct SVG subcategory for classifying, but maybe put your black colour box SVG file into Category:SVG colors and Category:Black.
- See Commons:Categories for general information.
Category naming conventions[edit]
Category names start with "SVG" followed by the topic in lowercase (unless it's a proper noun). For example, a category containing SVG files related to chemistry would be called Category:SVG chemistry. There was no naming convention for a long time, thus you may see titles that do not match this format. These will be converted over time.
Tagging SVG files[edit]
- See Category:SVG marker templates for all SVG markers available.
- Transcluded from Commons:SVG marker templates
For the software used (Category:SVG graphics by software used):
|This vector graphics image was created with Adobe Illustrator.
- {{created with bin2svg}}, sorts into Category:Created with bin2svg
- {{created with CorelDraw}}, sorts into Category:Created with CorelDRAW
|This vector graphics image was created with CorelDRAW.
- {{created with Dia}}, sorts into Category:Created with Dia
|This diagram, document, or vector graphics image was created with Dia.
- {{ElCompLib}}, sorts to Category:Created with electrical symbols library
|This SVG electrical schematic was created with the electrical symbols library.svg.
- {{Fig2SVG}}, does not sort by now (May 2008)
|This SVG vector image was created with Xfig and a Fig to SVG conversion tool.
- {{gnuplot}}, sorts to Category:Gnuplot diagrams
|This vector image was created with gnuplot.
- {{handSVG}}, sorts to Category:Manually coded SVG
|This vector image was created with a text editor. Its source code might contain additional information or higher level semantics of the topic.
- {{created with Inkscape}}, sorts into Category:Created with Inkscape, see also {{Inkscape-hand}} (which also sorts into Category:Manually coded SVG)
|This vector image was created with Inkscape.
- {{Inkscape-hand}}
|This vector image was created with Inkscape, and then manually edited.
- {{metapost-source}}, sorts to Category:SVG with Metapost source
|This vector image was created with MetaPost. For MetaPost source code please see below.
- {{created with OpenOffice.org}}, sorts into Category:Created with OpenOffice.org, pays no attention on SVG or other file formats (May 2008)
|This file was created with OpenOffice.org.
- {{created with Sodipodi}}, sorts into Category:Created with Sodipodi
|This vector image was created with Sodipodi-Inkscape.
- {{created with Scribus}}, sorts to Category:Made with Scribus, also for typesetting
|This typeset document or vector graphics image was created with Scribus.
- For other software, by now categorize as usual, see Commons:Templates# Created with... templates for an summary of software-related templates
See #Software section for a list of programs.
- For making use of elements from other SVG images available on Commons, please use {{attribSVG}} — see Category:Vector images using elements from other vector images.
|This vector image includes elements that have been taken or adapted from this: [[:File:|]] .
- All validated SVG files should be tagged {{validSVG|o}}, you will find them automatically sorted at Category:Valid SVG. Please do not categorize directly!
✓ The source code of this SVG is valid.
- {{InvalidSVG}}
×The source code of this SVG is invalid.
- For animations you can use {{Animated SVG||B|C}}
|This image is an animated SVG file. The animation uses SMIL. The .png preview above created by RSVG is not animated and may be incomplete or incorrect. To see an animation run, open it in an SVG animation capable browser or viewer, such as Opera (8+), Safari (4+), Chrome (2+), or Firefox (4+). Internet Explorer (9+) supports SVG, but not SMIL. Other SVG animations can be found at Category:Animated SVG.
- SVG files containing JavaScript cannot be uploaded at present, but this template anticipates that possibility {{scripted SVG}}.
- If you find raster images that should be vector graphics — especially diagrams, charts, graphs and some drawings —, tag them {{convert to SVG|A|B}}. Special: For Nuvola {{N2+SVG}}.
|All images in this gallery could be recreated using vector graphics as an SVG file. This has several advantages; see Commons:Media for cleanup for more information. If an SVG form of this image is already available, please upload it. After uploading an SVG, replace this template with {{vector version available|new image name.svg}}.
- To indicate that you are currently working on a vector version of a raster image you can tag it with
{{Vector wip|1=~~~|time=~~~~~}}.
|SVG work in progress.
For usage see:
{{Vector wip|…}}
This page was last revised by OAlexander at 11:58, 24 April 2014 (UTC).
- For SVG files using embedded bitmaps causing bad quality, use {{BadSVG}} and for rasters that have been superseded by a SVG file, use {{vector version available|File name.svg}}
|All the SVG images in this gallery contain embedded raster graphics.[1] Such images are liable to produce inferior results when scaled to different sizes. If appropriate to do so, they should be replaced with images created using vector graphics.
- {{TracedSVG}}
|All the SVG images in this gallery contain one or more automatically traced elements. Automatic tracing of complex images can produce overly-large files, inaccurate outlines, and often miss out smaller details completely. Please consider editing this image by hand in a vector editor to improve it.
- {{Path text SVG}}
|The file size of this SVG image is irrationally large because most of its text has been converted to path rather than using the more conventional
<text> element. Unless rendering text of the SVG file is incurably unreadable due to technical limitations, it is highly recommended to revert the text from path. By doing so will ease the process for localizing this image to other languages and greatly reduce the file size. Other SVG containing path-based text can be found at Category:Path text SVG. For more information, see SVG: Fonts and Preparing images for upload: Text.
- {{Bitmap version available||B}}
|A bitmap version of this image is available.
It should be used in place of this vector image when superior.
File:SVG [[:]]
For more information about bitmap & vector graphics, read about Commons transition to SVG.
|Sorry, MediaWiki isn't able to render this image correctly. Some details may be missing or look wrong. When you include the image in a Wikipedia or any other Wikimedia project site's page, you may want to use the other file, until the support increases.
File:SVG [[:]]
SVG files in MediaWiki[edit]
How SVG files work in MediaWiki[edit]
When you upload your SVG to Commons (or any other MediaWiki wiki), the software automatically produces PNG thumbnails, embedded in the articles and the description page. If you download the image (usually by right mouse clicking on the image), you will get the PNG image. If you want the SVG file you must save the link to the image instead of the image itself. This works (by right mouse clicking on the link under the image) only on the description page of the image, not on the thumbnail in the category page.
MediaWiki uses librsvg to convert SVG files to PNG files for display (SVG rendering), it has some long and well-known bugs that should be fixed, so you might want to check your file with that program before uploading. The rsvg-view can be used on Unix systems to preview how SVG files will look when rendered by MediaWiki. For accurately testing the display you can also test the SVG on using SVG Check (direct link).
- Further information: MediaWiki SVG limitations.
Scaling SVG files via MediaWiki[edit]
What this means: Say you want to produce a large version of your SVG for detailed maps, or using in-bitmap software like gimp, or calligraphy printed out one character per page, or something like that. You need to force MediaWiki to produce a huge PNG thumbnail, by using http://commons.wikimedia.org/w/thumb.php?f=Foo.svg&w=1000 or by doing something like
[[Image:Foo.svg|1000px]] in the sandbox or your talk page or somewhere else unimportant. Printing this giant PNG will look much better than if you try to scale up one of the default thumbnails! Of course, you can also use for-printing SVG software like Inkscape but sometimes that shows something other than what's shown on-screen (black background, other fonts, etc.).
Frequently asked questions[edit]
- What are reasonable dimensions to choose for my SVG images?
- The absolute size of the document does not matter much, since that only affects how it is displayed when viewed by itself. The file size does not depend on the document dimensions. The image can be stretched or compressed as much as a user wants, without changing quality, or file size. With that in mind, the recommended image height is around 400–600 pixels. When a user views the full size image, a width of 600–800 pixels gives them a good close-up view, while still allowing them to fit the entire image on their screen without having to zoom in or out: while 9 × 9 pixels are too tiny, 3000 × 2000 are too large. The width of the PNG rendered from SVG on Wikimedia is capped at 2048 px, so there is no point to upload SVG image which requires that much of resolution to be readable when some of the text will be too tiny after scaling down to preview size. Smallest font in SVG image should be readable in 2000-px width at least, the largest recommended rendering resolution in the image description page. Otherwise, a raster version should be provided alongside the SVG source.
- How to convert SVG file to raster format in my computer?
- For SVG file which behaves incorrectly in graphic software such as Inkscape, you can simply upload the SVG to Wikimedia then save the link which provides PNG render in other widths in the file description page. You can adjust the number-px in the link to generate the desirable width of the PNG render. For width larger than 2048 px, you may use any conversion tools such as RSVG-Convert with the only difference being the lack of anti-aliasing. If you want the raster image looks smoother, you may convert the SVG to PDF in RSVG-Convert then convert the PDF to raster version in Photoshop (Inkscape still presents some font problem when opening PDF). Another option without uploading SVG source to Wikimedia (due to non-free license) is to use the SVG preview on Toolserver which does not have the maximum width cap, but some non-Western text might be rendered incorrectly such as Simplified Chinese characters.
- Why doesn't my image render?
- This might be due to a number of reasons. Most often it is due to a reference to an external file, a leftover from tracing a bitmap, perhaps. (The rendering stops as the website tries to find this other file) To solve this problem, in your editor, make sure to remove any references to other files before saving the final version. If it is necessary to use bitmaps you can use in Inkscape the function to embedding all images (Effects menu → Images → Embed All Images). It's also possible that you use special effects like blurring. Unfortunately it's currently not well supported by librsvg. See also #Plain SVG, compressed SVG, generic specifications hereinbefore.
- Where can I get extra help with SVG images?
- Try Commons:Graphic Lab if you have a problem with an individual image. Commons:Graphics village pump can be useful for SVG discussion (as well as graphics in general). Often SVG enthusiasts will be around on those pages, and are more than willing to help.
- How do you change the document size in Inkscape?
- The document size starts out with an A4 page. To make this larger or smaller, create a rectangle with the dimensions you desire the document to be, and select it with the arrow tool. Then select File → Document Properties, and under Custom Size, choose Fit page to selection, and click OK. You can now delete the "sizing" rectangle, and move or resize the other elements to fit the space you have created.
- My text is appearing as little blocks, or isn't showing up at all after uploading to Commons!
- If you use "Flowed Text" in Inkscape, it will render as a (black) rectangle. Flowed text boxes are created when you click and drag to make you text box. To avoid this, just click once to position your cursor and then type your text. To convert a flowed text box to a normal text box, go to the "Text" menu and choose "Convert to Text".
- If this still doesn't work, some text features of Inkscape are not supported by MediaWiki's renderer, such as text-on-path. If you are not using flowed text and still have problem, convert the text to paths. Do this by selecting the command Path → Object to Path. This will convert the text to paths. Save as plain SVG, and reupload your file.
- My arrowheads/dashed lines are appearing as little blocks, or aren't showing up at all after uploading to Commons!
- Some stroke features of Inkscape are not supported by MediaWiki's renderer. Select the offending objects, and select the command Path → Stroke to Path. This will convert the strokes to paths. Save as plain SVG, and reupload your file.
- How do I get rid of the transparent background?
- Do you really need to? Usually not! MediaWiki's renderer will convert the SVG file to PNG with a transparent white background for display (displays white if your browser doesn't support PNG transparencies). Browsers that natively support SVG transparency will show the background color through the image, white! (or grey if the image is displayed as a thumbnail). Leaving your image transparent behind helps future editors, and allows the image to be displayed over other background colors without a big white square. However, if your image really needs a specific colored background, create a rectangle the size of the image, fill it with the background color of your choice, and choose the command Object → Lower to Bottom. Save your image, and enjoy the solid background color!
- My fonts aren't rendering correctly. What fonts are supported by the site's renderer?
- See meta:SVG fonts for a list.
- I am using the same fonts installed in Wikimedia, but text positioning in my SVG image still looks differently between my local render and the Wikimedia render.
- It depends on which rendering library and version your local renderer is using. Text positioning and other SVG aspects (such as "transform") are known to behave differently in different rendering libraries. For closest result to Wikimedia render, you should use whatever renderer which uses librsvg. Opera, Chrome and Safari gives accurate results. Firefox and Internet Explorer 10 are slightly inaccurate. Safari looks neater when certain font smoothing is enabled.
- I'm drawing a flag (or some other insignia) and it asks for PANTONE or CMYK colors. What do I do?
- First, if you see the words PANTONE or CMYK, try to see if they have something called RGB. Wikimedia Commons images are used a lot on Wikimedia projects such as Wikipedia, etc, and are designed for use on computer screens. If you can find RGB colors, use them in favour of others. If you can't, you can convert the colors using your program's own color picker, or, in the case of PANTONE, Color Finder,[2] from which you can extract RGB values for a color code. Make sure to indicate (perhaps on the talk page or image summary) which method of conversion you used, like "[Some Program] was used to convert CMYK values […] to RGB […]".
Many programs can handle SVG files. You may like to try one given below, though these are not the only programs around. Some are available for free download, while others are commercial software.
As SVG is just an XML specification, it is possible to write SVG files manually in a text editor, or with your own programs/scripts.[14] In fact, many SVG images are written in text editors. An editor which can highlight the syntax is helpful. Check your work with the W3C SVG validator.
- All modern web browsers render SVG natively.
- Rsvg, used by MediaWiki.
- rsvg-view is a small, simple viewer for UNIX systems (also ported to Win32) to preview how SVG files will look when rendered by MediaWiki using the same librsvg.
- Svg-explorer-extension is a free LGPL Windows explorer extension (thumbnails).
- WMF toollabs:svgcheck explained on Commons:SVG Check.
- Most SVG editors include a Raster-to-Vector-converter (tracer).
- Delineate, a free tracer, it is a Java-based interface for Potrace and Autorace. Potrace is also integrated in Inkspace under
>Path >Trace Bitmap.
- Scribus (with GhostScript) can import EPS (Encapsulated PostScript) files and export them to SVG.
- Autotrace - a library developed 2004 by Martin Weber used by ImageMagick and on autotracer.org
- pdf2svg from PDFTron, or pdf2svg under Linux.
- misc2svg can convert online AI, CDR, EPS, PDF and PS to SVG. See description: Online conversion with misc2svg.
- PDFCreator. Windows only, open source (prints directly from Office to a SVG file or to a vector PDF file, which can be imported by Inkscape; the toolbar is considered to be adware; don't forget to disable in the feature selection dialog).
- RSVG-Convert, open source W32 console SVG conversion tool; MediaWiki also uses librsvg.
- Inkscape. An open source, freely downloadable application for graphically editing SVG files. Available on Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux.
- Sodipodi. Also for graphically editing SVG files, available on Windows and Linux. Inkscape is based on the Sodipodi engine.
- OpenOffice.org/StarOffice Draw, an open source, freely downloadable drawing program that comes as part of the the Open Office suite. Can export to SVG; reads SVG with SVG Plugin.
- LibreOffice Draw (libreoffice.org) - derivative of OpenOffice Draw, can export to SVG. May be more suitable than Inkscape for some use cases such as flow charts, but in general has fewer features than Inkscape. Runs on Windows, Unix-like with X11, and OS X.
- Dia. An open source, freely downloadable application for creating diagrams. SVG export optional. Runs on Windows, Mac OS X, and Unix systems. (Currently has some bugs in SVG export.)
- Adobe Illustrator.
- CorelDraw.
- WMF toollabs:svgedit based on the Google code svg-edit project.
Specific applications[edit]
- Ipe is a free and open source editor with good LaTeX integration, for mathematical and technical diagrams. Includes converter to SVG files.
- Scour. For tidying up/create a smaller file size (in Python, also included in Inkscape).
- Graphviz. An open source application for automatic diagram layout.
- BKchem. A free software to draw chemical structures in SVG. Runs on Windows, Mac OS X, and Unix systems.
- Freemind is a free and open source mind mapping application written in Java. FreeMind.
- GeoGebra is a free and open source multi-platform mathematics software with ability to export SVG. Geogebra.
- Vector Blocks is a free web-based application for drawing simple electrical circuit schematics.
- LibreOffice Calc (libreoffice.org), for creating bar charts, pie charts, etc.
- Gnumeric spreadsheet, saves/exports charts in SVG format, cf. gnumeric.
Cleaning up SVG-files to W3C-valid[edit]
- From invalid to valid SVG: Inkscape-files
- From invalid to valid SVG: Adobe Illustrator-files
- From invalid to valid SVG: Files of other editors: BKchem, ChemDraw and CorelDRAW
See also[edit]
- Commons:File types#SVG
- Commons:Graphics village pump
- Commons:Graphic Lab
- Commons:SVG Check explains the WMF toollabs:svgcheck
- Commons:Translation possible/Learn more — How to translate an SVG file
- meta:SVG image support
- meta:SVG fonts — A list of supported fonts (2008)
- en:Comparison of raster-to-vector conversion software
- en:Wikipedia:SVG help
- en:Wikipedia:Graphics Lab/Resources/SVG
- en:Wikipedia:Graphics Lab/Resources/PDF conversion to SVG
- Category:SVG
- Category:SVG maps — The SVG branch of the map project.
- Category:Images that should use vector graphics
- Category:Pictures showing a librsvg bug
- Commons:Transition to SVG
- ↑ W3C: SVG – The 'tspan' element
- ↑ W3C: SVG – The 'textPath' element
- ↑ W3C: SVG – White space handling
- ↑ W3C: SVG 2 – The 'xml:lang' and 'xml:space' attributes
- ↑ Firefox (~v30, Gecko browser) interprets xml:space but with nonconforming opposite behavior; WebKit browser (Chrome) does not interpret xml:space but with the default behavior; IE(~11) does not interpret xml:space and also does not conform to the W3C specification. Retrieved on 2014-04-22
- ↑ librsvg still preserves this extra space character but during the middle or end text alignments, this space character is ignored.
- ↑ https://bugs.launchpad.net/inkscape/+bug/168023
- ↑ Chapter 11: Painting: Filling, Stroking and Marker Symbols. W3C (2012-08-12). Retrieved on 2012-11-28.
- ↑ paint-order. Mozilla Developer Network (2013-01-12). Retrieved on 2013-10-21.
- ↑ W3C - valid DTD list - Optional doctype declarations
- ↑ Don't include a DOCTYPE declaration
- ↑ Inkscape tutorial: Tracing
- ↑ Inkscape wiki: Tools: Vectorize/trace
- ↑ Image made with C++ code by Claudio Rocchini
External links[edit]
- SVG Primer
- SVG authoring guidelines
- openclipart.org offers more than 10000 SVG images (public domain)


text:
AHL Garden Supply Quality Gardening Supplies in Albuquerque, NM
AHL Garden Supply in Albuquerque, NM strives to offer quality gardening products, competitive pricing, and unparalleled customer service. We've had the same three goals since our opening day, and they are the foundation of our success and the success of our customers. We are here to provide you with the products and advice to make your garden great!
AHL Garden Supply is New Mexico's oldest and largest indoor garden supply store. We stock a wide variety of hydroponic systems suitable for everyone from novices to experienced growers. Indoor grow light systems start at just $39.95 and hydroponic systems start at $57.99! We can also special order just about any system on the market as a service to our customers. We carry a large selection of Metal Halide and High Pressure Sodium grow lights from Hydrofarm, as well as Hydrofarm T5 fluorescent and compact fluorescent light systems. AHL Garden Supply is proud to carry the best selection of organic fertilizers, soil amendments, potting soils and natural pest controls in the state. We have what you need to expand your green lifestyle into the indoor or outdoor garden. AHL has everything you need for plant propagation. Start your own seeds or root cuttings of your favorite plants. We have nutrients, pH adjusters, environmental controls, containers, trays, greenhouse enclosures, and much more. We pride ourselves on our knowledgeable employees and our outstanding customer service. We know that gardening, whether indoor or outdoor, soil or hydroponics, is a fulfilling hobby that connects people with nature and offers a relaxing break from an increasingly stressful world. For over 18 years, AHL has helped people with the products and advice they need for successful gardens and abundant harvests.
AHL welcomes your comments about our products and your experience while visiting our web site. Please email or call us and tell us what you think!
Contact AHL Garden Supply
Orders: 1-800-753-4617
Information: 505-255-3677
Email: Contact Us
Web: AHLgrows.com
Lawn and Garden
Business Type: Lawn Care Products and Services
Business Type: Nursery, Green House and Plants
Business Type: Tree Services
Business Type: Other
|Soil supplies, hydroponic systems, organics and grow lights.
|NM's Best Selection of Organic and Natural Garden Supplies
|Business Types:
|Quality Gardening Supplies in Albuquerque, NM
|Service Area:
|Bernalillo County, Albuquerque, South Valley, North Valley, Rio Rancho, NM
|Time Zone:
|Mountain Time Zone
|Zip Codes:
|87106, 87105, 87115, 87068, 87121, 87120

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Warren Buffett Calls CNBC Show to Ask Guest Host Jack Welch for Shoe-Selling Advice
*Important note: I drink Diet Pepsi!
It's great to be an American!
It appears that Jack had a lapse in memory - and old Warren is just as quick as always, even at 5 in the morning!
A thought Mr. President, why not put Jack Welch or Mitt Romney in charge of infrastructure.
* I'm so dreading 4 more years of a grind


text:
Be The First To
Add Photos
50% of the CEO
Stryker Warren Jr.
I worked at Urologix part-time for more than 3 years
Pros – good location and good people
Cons – old technology so not so sure about the future
Advice to Senior Management – none
Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend
I have been working at Urologix
Pros – Flexible, and encouraging people to be empowered to make decisions and be accountable
Cons – Old technology in the work place, unstable computer environment, lots of down time waiting for software programs to actually work.
Advice to Senior Management – infrastructure upgrades would be a huge benefit to everyone
Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend
I worked at Urologix
Pros – If I had to say one positive thing, it would be that Urologix is a good place to gain industry experience in medical device manufacturing.
Cons – Urologix is not a nice place to work. They do not support family / work balance and clearly do not value their employees.
Advice to Senior Management – They do not care to change so it's pointless.
No, I would not recommend this company to a friend
Would you like us to review something? Please describe the problem with this {0} and we will look into it.
Your feedback has been sent to the team, and we'll look into it.
Sorry, but your feedback didn't make it to the team. Your input is valuable to us – would you mind trying again?
Your response will be removed from the review – this cannot be undone.
Copyright © 2008–2014, Glassdoor. All Rights Reserved. Your use of this service is subject to our Terms of Use and Privacy & Cookies Policy. Glassdoor ® is a registered trademark of Glassdoor, Inc.
Simply post an anonymous review for a current/former employer or recent interview experience. Your post is anonymous – and if you're worried that someone will be able to identify your review, you can even post without telling us your job title and location. Learn More.
No thanks – I'll just look around
We do not post on Facebook
We do not post on Facebook


text:
At Discount Toyota Parts we sell Toyota Tacoma Parts. Our location makes it possible to provide quick service no matter where you are. We offer discount Toyota parts, Scion, and Lexus parts for your vehicle. With over 25 years of combined experience our staff will be able to take care of all your Toyota parts needs.
If you are looking for factory discount Toyota Tacoma parts and accesories, we are your headquarters. We offer factory original discount Toyota Tacoma parts. These are brand new, not used or aftermarket. We offer these at exceptional discount wholesale prices. You can feel confident knowing that the items you order are the same as the ones originally designed and fitted for your Toyota Tacoma. When it comes to discount Toyota parts we are the online leader. Our parts department sells more discount Toyota parts than any other location in the US.
Click here to browse the Toyota Tacoma Parts Catalog


text:
Del Mar, a seaside retreat.
L'Auberge is located in the midst of the charming seaside town of Del Mar. It's the perfect place for a vacation to the coast, as it is located just steps from the beach and offers plenty of opportunities for shopping, dining and drinks with a view. And, to feel like a true local, check out the Farmer's Market on Saturdays for great local produce!


text:
Boys basketball: Larkin rips Geneva, locks up league title
By Erik Jacobsen firstname.lastname@example.com February 8, 2013 10:50PM
Larkin's Quantice Hunter puts up a shot in front of Geneva's Connor Chapman on Friday. | Mary Beth Nolan~For Sun-Times Media
Article Extras
Updated: February 9, 2013 2:18AM
Larkin left no doubt about its status as the best team in the Upstate Eight River on Friday night.
Behind a vintage performance where every player in the rotation fulfilled his role to the fullest, the Royals shredded host Geneva 72-52 to lock up sole possession of the UEC River championship.
The outcome was significant on several fronts as Larkin (21-3, 10-2) avenged a loss to the Vikings last month and ended an eight-game losing streak against Geneva that dated to 2008. The Royals came into the contest determined to claim the program's first outright conference title since 1993, and they accomplished the task in dominating fashion.
"We knew we wanted to beat Geneva since Geneva had beaten us the last few years, but the first thing in our mind was to win conference," Larkin senior Quantice Hunter said. "We didn't want to share anything."
Senior guard Quentin Ruff sank four three-pointers and scored 18 of his game-high 20 points in the first three quarters as Larkin steadily built a comfortable lead. Hunter then scored 10 of his 15 points in the fourth quarter to finish the job.
For Ruff, the performance made up for a subpar showing in the first meeting between the teams when he scored only one point in a 61-56 loss to the Vikings on Jan. 19. The sharpshooter sat out the entire first half of that game for a violation of team rules.
"I was just playing basketball tonight," Ruff said. "The last game I missed the first half and it was kind of hard to mix in."
Junior guard Kendale McCullum had a huge impact on the game as usual for the Royals as he finished with 10 points, seven assists and six steals. Hunter added four steals as part of a lockdown defensive effort as Larkin forced Geneva (16-7, 6-5) into 20 turnovers.
A 12-4 run to start the second quarter gave the Royals the lead for good, but the Vikings hung around and pulled within 54-45 on Connor Chapman's basket with 5:58 left in the fourth. Any hope of a Geneva comeback quickly went by the wayside, though, as Larkin ripped off 11 unanswered points and opened a 65-45 lead on Hunter's basket with 3:14 remaining.
"Larkin is a very good team and we knew they were going to put a lot of pressure on us," Geneva coach Phil Ralston said. "There were a lot of little things that we just failed to do tonight."
Chapman and Nate Navigato led the Vikings with 11 points apiece. Chris Parrilli added 10 points for Geneva, which has lost three out of four.
Derrick Streety tallied eight points off the bench for Larkin, which shot a blistering 28-for-47 (59.6 percent) from the field. The Royals also got solid performances from post players Drew Jones, Brayden Royse and Daniel McFadden.
"I'm so proud of the guys," Larkin coach Deryn Carter said. "They all played their butts off whether they were playing two minutes or 25. This is a tough place to play, not to mention all the history behind us. All I can say is I'm proud.
"There's a lot of work to do and a lot of goals to accomplish, but this is a big one."


text:
Next delta toy?
All Off-Topic items not related to kiting can be posted here. Please post all For Sale items in the Classifieds Ads section.
Moderators: BayAreaKite, WindMuch
Forum rules
Please post all For Sale items in the Classified Ads section. Thank you.
6 posts • Page 1 of 1
Re: Next delta toy?
My Photography ==> http://www.Loscocco.com
Kites:Ocean Rodeo: 2013 Razor
Boards:Ocean Rodeo: 5' 7" Surf, Mikes Lab Raceboard, Mako 140cm, Naish 5' 4"
Wetsuit:Hyperflex: AMP 5/3MM Fullsuit
Harness:Ocean Rodeo: Sessions2
Re: Next delta toy?
That would be fun, I like it.
Re: Next delta toy?
Another one - watch how she freaks out at the apex of her launch:
Re: Next delta toy?
I'm picturing Maui Mike or Big Dave on one end and Brian Smith on the other.
Re: Next delta toy?
Did you notice she got major back slap on the landing! Ouch
6 posts • Page 1 of 1
Who is online
Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 1 guest


text:
- Home
- News
- Sports
- Opinion
- Obituaries
- Features
- Special Sections
- Classifieds
- Public Notices
Forgot Password? | Not a User? Sign up
Heading into what he has said is his final year of coaching, LaRue County's Gary Canter feels like Bill Murray in the movie "Groundhog Day."
Just like Murray's character waking up to Sonny and Cher singing "I Got You Babe" each morning and repeating the day over and over, the Hawks almost have to start over from scratch every day because of so many newcomers.
"Practice has been like that movie," Canter said. "We have had so many newcomers come and go, it feels like we are starting over every day."
If you currently subscribe or have subscribed in the past to the The News Enterprise, then simply find your account number on your mailing label and enter it below.
Click the question mark below to see where your account ID appears on your mailing label.
If you are new to the award winning The News Enterprise and wish to get a subscription or simply gain access to our online content then please enter your ZIP code below and continue to setup your account.
|ZIP Code:


text:
Set in Yugoslavia in 1943, during the height of World War II, this tense and exciting scenario focuses on the struggle between Allied and Axis special operations teams to seize control of information critical to control of the Balkans. Players can assume roles as military or civilian operatives in one of four opposing factions, the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), the SS Ahnenerbe occult operations division, the Communist partisans, or the Chetnik royalist freedom fighters.
Little by little, however, the characters will begin to realize that their war is not the first to have left its mark on the region in which they are battling for supremacy - and that their actions are uncovering a powerful and dangerous evil that is beyond anything they ever expected to face.
WitchFinder is a Cthulhu Live 3rd Edition script set in the Balkans during World War II that includes introduction, timeline, prop, and costume information and character stats and bios for 30 characters. This electronic script comes with three different variants - color, black-and-white, and background-free - and each of these comes in low-resolution screen-friendly and high-resolution printer-friendly versions.
Although designed for the Cthulhu Live 3rd Edition horror live-action role-playing game, WitchFinder can easily be adapted for use with almost any other horror or action RPG.
Other products in this line include:
Inspired by the works of classic swords-and-sorcery authors like Fritz Lieber, Jack Vance, and Robert E. Howard, Swords of Kos: Hekaton is the second entry in Skirmisher Publishing LLC's fantasy fiction series and follows Swords of Kos: Necropolis. In this anthology, the island and city of Kos and the lands around it are explored through the stories of eleven authors and original illustrations and cartography by nine artists. All are set during the Hekaton, centennial observance of the great volcanic cataclysm that reawakened magic, the elder races, and all manner of fell monsters, in a fantasy world that draws upon the myths, legends, and history of the Mediterranean, Europe, and the Middle East.
Stories in this compilation include "Bloodsuckers" by Michael O. Varhola, "Rogue's Nightmare" by R.M. Aislin, "Chasing Shadows" by Richard T. Balsley, "The Misadventures of Bjoric" by Brendan Cass, "The Rite" by Christopher Van Deelen, "To the Dragon Apeiron" by Lissanne Lake, "Unfamiliar Ground" by Sharon Daugherty, "The Day Pateon Fnordseeker Gave Up Drinking" by Eric Lis, M.D., "Nithernons the Ale'er" by John Giddens, and "The Price of Land" by D.M. Fitzgerald. Join us in our adventures through the dark and fascinating swords-and-sorcery world of Kos! You can get Swords of Kos: Hekaton today for just $5.99!


text:
Personal Training / Team Training
Total Athlete Speed and Agility Training
The Wellness Studio
Special Programs
Facilities & More
Working on Wellness
By Kristina Schurr, wellness coordinator at Tompkins Insurance/VIST Bank
I began working with Jane Miller, membership director at Body Zone Sports and Wellness Complex to bring our employees a corporate membership, and it has turned into so much more. Realizing that the gym setting can be intimidating to people who may have never set foot in one, we decided to offer a Tompkins Insurance/VIST Bank employee lunchtime class. Read More
Body Zone's Massage & Muscle Therapy Studio is open to the public as well as members. What life takes away, our therapists put back. Check out the studio's online home...
Berks County Living has named Body Zone Sports and Wellness Complex "Best of Berks - Fitness Center" for 10 consecutive years. Read more...
Swimming Lessons
Facilities & More
Special Programs
Safety Certification
CPR/AED for the Professional Rescuer
The Wellness Studio
Meet Jamie
Six-year-old Jamie has come a long way since his first private swim lesson in February 2012. Filled with fear and a limited exposure to water, Jamie spent his entire first session clinging to Body Zone's Red Cross Certified Swim Instructor Julie Cantwell. A year later, that is no longer the case. Read more...
Body Zone swim school and safety certification courses feature instructors who are certified by and follow the teaching standards set forth by the American Red Cross. In addition, all of our AquaX instructors hold the highest certifications in their field.
Berks County Living has named Body Zone Sports and Wellness Complex "Best of Berks - Fitness Center" for 10 consecutive years. Read more...
Soccer Institute
Player & Goalkeeper Development Programs
Flag Football
Field Hockey
Inline/Dek Hockey
Specialty Programs
More Info
Ultimate Lacrosse Girls Summer Teams
Body Zone's fields, pool, ice rinks plus our party rooms and great staff make this a fun place to have a birthday party! Read more ...
You do not need to be a Body Zone member to take part in sports, ice or youth programs.
We have leagues in: soccer, basketball, flag football, field hockey, ice hockey and dek hockey. More
Contact Info
Phone, Fax, Address, General Email
For Your Business
Additional Info
Body Zone Sports and Wellness Complex delivers a unique and complete sports and wellness experience for the entire family. There's simply nothing like it in Berks or surrounding counties.
Our 160,000 sq. ft. facility in Wyomissing, PA houses two NHL-size ice rinks, two Sprinturf synthetic grass sports fields, a basketball/volleyball court, state-of-the-art wellness and aquatic centers and a suspended running track.
Our sports programs are diverse and include basketball, field hockey, ice hockey, lacrosse, volleyball, football and soccer. Leagues, instructional programs and camps are offered for tots to adults.
Our extensive wellness programs include group exercise, aquatics, cardio, weight training and more.
When you need to take a break from exercise, experience our Massage & Muscle Therapy Studio. With so many activities available, we're also a great place for parties.
Birthday Parties
Sports, Skating, Angry Birds, Gaga Ball, Pajama Parties & More
Adventure Camps
Tot Zone
More Info
Field Trips
More Age Appropriate Programs
Body Zone Sports and Wellness Complex offers more activities inside and outside our 160,000 sq. ft. facility than any other camp in the area. 2014 activities include ice skating, swimming, sports, Gaga ball, arts and crafts, fresh air activities and more. Weekly camp themes, special guest stars and NEW field trips make camp extra special all summer long. Summer Adventure Camp welcomes children ages 3-13. Registration Now Open
Kids have a chance to play real life Angry Birds with their friends as part of Body Zone's "Games Party" from our Birthday Party catalog. More
You do not need to be a Body Zone member to take part in an of the programs on this menu.
Youth Hockey
Adult Hockey
Scholastic Hockey
Specialty Programs
Many of Body Zone's hockey programs follow USA Hockey standards and guidelines.
You do not need to be a Body Zone member to take part in sports or ice programs.
School Night Ice Skating
See which Friday or Saturday is for your school and save on a family friendly and fun night out. Details


text:
Tokina announces a new version of its wide-angle 11-16mm lens for APS-C cameras, featuring an aspherical element, an improved surface coating ,and an autofocus motor (AF-S equivalent) called SD-M (Silent Drive-Module).
Nikon D3100 and D5100 owners will be happy about this last addition because the previous version had to be be mounted on a motorized unit which isn't the case of these entry-level cameras.
In term of optical quality, this new model seems to be a very limited evolution of the Tokina AT-X 11-16mm PRO DX, so we expect this new model to be as good as its predecessor which we tested last week.
The Nikon version is announced for March 2012 for less than 900 euros, while the Canon version will follow in July.
To provide photographers with a broader perspective about mobiles, lenses and cameras, here are links to articles, reviews, and analyses of photographic equipment produced by DxOMark, renown websites, magazines or blogs.
As we continue our survey of wide-angle lenses currently on the market, let's take a look at the Tokina AT-X 11-16mm PRO DX on a Nikon D7000 and on a Canon EOS 7D.


text:
Composers and Performers Pages
Individual Composers Web Pages
- J.S. Bach
- Hildegard von Bingen, nun, mystic, and amazing composer.
- Henry Purcell
- Comprehensive Soler Concordance reconciles the various editions of the music of Antonio Soler
- Vivaldi Works Concordance, yes, all catalog systems are reconciled here !
- The Kurt Weill Foundation
Individual Performers
(still coming)
Major Symphonies and other Orchestral Ensembles
Major Symphony Orchestras
- Atlanta Symphony Orchestra
- Boston Symphony Orchestra
- Chicago Symphony Orchestra
- Cleveland Orchestra
- Classical Symphony Orchestra, Chicago
- Dallas Symphony
- Houston Symphony
- Los Angeles Philharmonic
- Minnesota Orchestra
- National Symphony Orchestra
- New York Philharmonic
- Oregon Symphony
- Portland Baroque Orchestra
- Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra
- San Francisco Symphony
- Seattle Symphony
- Toronto Symphony Orchestra
this list is culled from a longer list that is available in the March/April 1997 issue of Symphony: The Magazine of the American Symphony Orchestra League. Please note that several of these address have changed since the article appeared. They have been corrected here.


text:
Introduction to pericoronitis
Comment on this
Pericoronitis is a dental disorder in which the gum tissue around the molar teeth becomes swollen and infected. This disorder usually occurs as a result of wisdom teeth, the third and final set of molars that most people get in their late teens or early twenties.
© 2005-2014 WebMD, LLC. All rights reserved.
Patient Comments
Viewers share their comments
Pericoronitis - Symptoms Question: What were the symptoms associated with your pericoronitis?
Pericoronitis - Diagnosis Question: Please discuss the events and tests that led to a diagnosis of pericoronitis.
Pericoronitis - Treatment Question: What types of treatment, including medication, did you receive for pericoronitis?
Pericoronitis - Experience Question: Please describe your experience with pericoronitis.


text:
To embed, copy and paste the code into your website or blog:
Update on EU and Italian laws & regulation in Financial Markets, Funds, Banking and Insurance, 24 - 30 September 2012.
Firefox recommends the PDF Plugin for Mac OS X for viewing PDF documents in your browser.
We can also show you Legal Updates using the Google Viewer; however, you will need to be logged into Google Docs to view them.
Please choose one of the above to proceed!
LOADING PDF: If there are any problems, click here to download the file.
Published In: General Business Updates, Finance & Banking Updates, Insurance Updates, Securities Updates
View Profile »
See more »
Back to Top
Copyright ©


text:
Soft Structured Carriers
Two Mommas Designs Buckle Tai
" Love this carrier. Super easy to use and my son loves being in it. " --Alesha
Chicco UltraSoft Infant Carrier
Designed in Italy, the Chicco UltraSoft Front Infant Carrier provides soft breathable mini-vented lining giving baby a cool, padded & comfortable ride. Adjustable padded straps give parent the proper shoulder fit and comfort. The carrier features an exclusive cuddle pocket to soothe and comfort baby, as well as a washable snap-on cloth to protect clothes from dribbles and drools. Vented...
Ergo Baby Performance Carrier
Ergo Baby Performance Carrier - Charcoal BlackAnother exciting addition to the ERGObaby Performance line of baby carriers! With the same rugged, high quality features as the rest of the line, this versatile Charcoal Grey ERGObaby Carrier is perfect for a day on the trails or a day at the mall! Features high-performance polyester exterior, ideal for outdoor activities in all climates; a...


text:
Professor Leslie Holmes is an expert on post-communism, government legitimacy, comparative corruption, organised crime and corporate crime in Central and Eastern Europe.
General media enquiries:
+61 3 8344 4123
The Media Office is staffed from
8am - 5pm Monday to Friday.
For urgent after hours media queries +61 (0)432 754 232
The local time is:
18:12, April 25 2014 AEST
Subscribe to the latest news from the university


text:
Dallas Travel Guide
"There is always something going on," he says. "In addition to the performing arts center, we have all major professional sports—hockey, baseball, football, basketball—and we have minor league sports." For outdoors enthusiasts, "We have some very large lakes where a lot of people go to on the weekends to boat and fish. And it's a short drive to the hill country in Austin."
Locals say that Dallas is known for three things: being the home of America's Team, also known as the Dallas Cowboys, and after that, eating and shopping. If you want to shop, Affeldt recommends Neiman Marcus downtown, as well as the upscale NorthPark Shopping Center and Galleria malls.
Clearing up a common misconception, Affeldt says that people have the wrong idea about Dallas weather. "They think it's intolerably hot, and it's not. I have lived in places with great, great, great weather, and while it's hot in Dallas in the summertime, we don't have the humidity that Miami and Washington, D.C., have in summer. I think the climate gets a worse rap than it deserves.
Affeldt's Address Book
Four Seasons Resort and Club in Las Colinas
4150 N. MacArthur Blvd.
Irving, TX 75038
"It's so easy to get here from the airport," Affeldt says of this golf-centric property.
The Joule Hotel
1530 Main St.
Dallas, TX 75201
With its rooftop pool and sleek elegance, this fairly new property already has an excellent reputation, Affeldt says.
Rosewood Mansion on Turtle Creek
2821 Turtle Creek Blvd.
Dallas, TX 75219
This Dallas icon "is well known nationally, and it's a great, great property," says Affeldt.
W Hotel
2440 Victory Park Ln.
Dallas, TX 75219
If you're in Dallas to see an event at the American Airlines Center, Affeldt recommends that you try the "architecturally interesting" W Hotel in Victory Park, a posh playground close to downtown.
4511 McKinney Ave.
Dallas, TX 75205
This high-end favorite is one of Kent Rathbun's several restaurants in Dallas. Rathbun, who beat out Bobby Flay on Iron Chef, offers global cuisine with Pacific Rim influences.
Hibiscus 2927 N. Henderson Ave.
Dallas, TX 75206
Often referred to as the best restaurant in Texas, this upscale, Pacific-influenced chophouse is Affeldt's top choice.
Joe T. Garcias
2201 North Commerce St.
Fort Worth, TX 76164
If you want to try classic Tex-Mex, Affeldt suggests this spot, famous for its margaritas and homemade tortillas. "It's one of those places where you just have to say you've been, even though there are places with better food."
Rangers Ballpark
1000 Ballpark Way
Arlington, TX 76011
"Going to see the Texas Rangers at Arlington Stadium is one of my favorite things to do—especially since they made it to the World Series last year for the first time," Affeldt says.
Gleneagles Country Club
5401 West Park Blvd.
Plano, TX 75093
You didn't think Affeldt would forget to mention golf, did you? ClubCorp has 12 properties in the Dallas Fort Worth Metroplex. "You have everything from high-end, daily fee resort properties—like the Cowboys Club, which is popular—to some of the best private golf in the country between Dallas National and our own club, Gleneagles," he says.
Dallas Museum of Art
1717 N. Harwood St.
Dallas, TX 75201
Amon Carter Museum of American Art
3501 Camp Bowie Blvd.
Fort Worth, TX 76107-2695
Nasher Sculpture Center
2001 Flora St.
Dallas, TX 75201
"Dallas Museum of Art is fabulous. And in Fort Worth, there is the Amon Carter Museum of American Art, which has all Western art—Frederic Remington and Charles M. Russell—and you just aren't going to find that anywhere else in the country," Affeldt says. If you want to see modern and contemporary sculpture, visit the Nasher Sculpure Center and its unusual garden.


text:
Jessica Ennis celebrated winning a gold medal at the London 2012 Olympics with a sparkly new manicure. That's our girl!
Team GB's heptathlon star is said to have opted for a glittering gold shade as she enjoyed a good ol' pampering session after her victory last week.
Talking to the Mail Online about her post-Olympics beauty regime, she said: "I didn't like to get my nails painted gold beforehand, so waited until now.
"It would have been tempting fate to go for gold while I was competing, but there's no reason not to now!"
Jessica's much-deserved gold manicure was created with Max Factor Max Effect Mini Nail Polish in Bronze and Mellow Yellow, both £3.99 each.
Will you be giving your nails an Olympic makeover this weekend?
HOW-TO: Union Jack nails like Rebecca Adlington
NEW! Calvin Klein one colour launches online at Debenhams
NEW! M.A.C Cosmetics launch first Nail Lacquer collection
VIDEO: The GB Women's Beach Volleyball Team talk sun, sand and skincare
More Beauty articles from handbag.com
handbag.com Competitions and Offers


text:
Fresno >Arts & Entertainment > Richard's
1609 E Belmont Ave, Fresno, CA | Directions 9370136.750550 -119.791355
Mon: 4pm-10pm, Sat: 4pm-10pm, Tue-Fri: 4pm-10pm, 11am-3pm
Neighborhoods: Central, Central Fresno
Billing error never corrected – I was overcharged bigtime for my meal on a credit card and the owner, whom I spoke to, never corrected the error.
FOOD SUCKS,BAD SERVICE,TOO EXPENSE FOR WHAT YOU GET – well i knew my wife and i were right about this place,we wish we would have read the reviews before we spend a penny in this ,the service sucks,the chicken sucks,and the other guy that wrote is right, thimbel size shrimp seafood cocktail,what a joke,my bill was about $72.00 for about $10.00 worth of food,i could of gone to sizzlers for $10.95 a piece,and got treated better and eat alot better,,,,, so do your self a favor read the reviews so that you don't get ripped off,,,this place is terreble,now i know why they keep the lighting SO LOW,THE SMALLEST BAKE POTATO I HAVE EVER SEEN.....
Naked portraits of women and it went downhill from there – Came for dinner and was seated in the bar area instead of the dinning room. Naked portraits of women adorned the walls. Waitress seem not to care about the specials, had to ask if there was any. We ordered the Seafood platter and Prime Rib. Dinner came with shrimp cocktail (thimble full of bay shrimp). Salad (right from a bag with water down dressing). Chicken noodle soup (with bacon????). The garlic bread like Goldilocks had pieces burnt, undercooked and just right. Prime Rib was fine, but the seafood had been frozen, likely right from the Gordon's fisherman at the supermarket. Baked potato had a large scoop of butter in it, too much for my taste. And the price was more than Black Angus or other similar chains, which I would advise you to go to in Fresno than this restaurant that even Chief Ramsay couldn't save!
Valentines Day Dinner – We were asked if we had a reservation. We did not . While we were waiting for a table for two we overherd people complaning that Richards did not take reservations for less than a party of three. Couples were seated that had arrived after us without any reservations. The staff explained to me that he took their name before ours. They have no organized list I understand that all the restruants are very busy so you need a list of names in an organized fashion not to unfairly treat couples. I was told that he would have to ask us to leave. No appoligy of any sort. Very rude. By this time (8:30pm) we left for another restruant and were seated within 10 minutes of waiting. During all this time at Richards we learned that in July of 2005 these people took over the restraunt.
Some of the best restaurants are found in the oddest places; people come to Richard's year after year, in spite of the lounge atmosphere and bare-breasted oil paintings of young women adorning the wa – The Scene:
Adjacent to a used car lot in a not-so-nice area of the city, many people go to Richard's to celebrate significant life events, wedding rehearsals, birthdays, or graduations. For places like Richard's to remain in business they must excel at something, and at Richard's, it's the beef. The Prime rib, New York steak, and filet mignon are delicious enough for people to continue coming back time and time again. The place has a familiar feeling to it and the staff is very friendly. If you don't mind eating in a darkened room where all that's missing are lava lamps, travel down to Richard's because the beef is definitely worth the trip.
If you order one thing:
Get the Prime Rib.2000
Sign in with Facebook Sign in with Facebook to see what your friends are up to!
Do you have a review of Richard's on your blog? If you include the Citysearch image link (shown below) in your post, we'll automatically link to your review from the business profile page. Here's how our Linkback system works:
The Linkback system is free and automatic. It's really that easy.
To link to our business profile page, copy the html below to your web page.


text:
The Tuition Guarantee Plan applies only to tuition. Fees may increase during the four years.Tuition and Fees Tuition - Fall 2006 Tuition - Fall 2005 Tuition - Fall 2004 Note: A health insurance fee is assessed to all undergraduates enrolled in 12 credit hours or more. The health insurance fee is to be announced. New students will also be assessed a $10 transcript fee at the time of their first registration.
Find us on Facebook
Follow us on Twitter
Watch us on YouTube
View our photos on Flickr
© 2012 Northeastern Illinois University, 5500 North St. Louis Avenue, Chicago, Illinois 60625-4699, 773/583-4050


text:
Click here for the complete January 2004
Special Report on Event Marketing
No longer a bit player, event marketing moved to the top of the bill in 2003. At one time, marketers might have thought of events in terms of a stand-alone mobile unit parked at Wal-Mart to introduce new hair care products, or a guerrilla team working the streets of New York or Chicago to pass out coupons for a cellular phone. Now, events are integral to the marketing mix — not necessarily always the centerpiece — but an element in an orchestrated promotional mix that boils down to success.
Marketers dropped a total $132.3 billion into the event marketing bucket in 2002, a 15% jump over 2001, and the numbers continue to rise. Last year, budgets for event marketing reached an average $827,911, according to PROMO's 2004 Event Marketing Study, the first time the study has been conducted. (See Chart 1.) Agencies reported budgets of $1.2 million for the year, compared to manufacturers at $885,083 and retailers and the service industry at $574,297. Budgets are expected to rise another 15% to 20% this year, with 36% of respondents planning an increase compared to 45% who expect budgets to stay about the same and 8% projecting a decrease. (See Chart 3.)
Funding for event budgets, and promotion in general has been siphoned away in recent years from traditional media advertising as promotion takes the marketing lead, and plenty of funds are being earmarked specifically for events.
"It's not just a shift out of advertising [dollars] anymore," says Jay Lenstrom, CMO of the Radiate Group, New Berlin, WI. "These budgets are being built from the ground up and they're coming in quite a bit larger than they were two years ago."
As budgets grow, so too does the interest of top-level executives, especially CEOs and CFOs.
According to the survey, 39% of owners, CEOs and other executive-level management and 33% of directors want a say in the decision-making. The stakes are higher too. With more money being invested, the call for return on investment (ROI) has reached near-deafening levels. Marketers want to know exactly how much bang they're getting for their buck.
"People are looking at every nickel," Lenstrom says. But measuring ROI can be tricky. Just ask the Promotion Marketing Association's Event Council, which is working on a number of initiatives to demystify ROI, says Claire Rosenzweig, president of the New York City-based PMA. It is developing guidelines on how to measure the impact of events on brands (see p. 40 for related story) and is offering a Web seminar Feb. 10 called "How To Measure Event Marketing."
Developing pre- and post- event measuring attributes has become of full-time job for many brands. Financial services company ING developed a full-scale research process three years ago when it began branding in the U.S. and continues to evolve the process for every sponsorship and event in participates in.
"It's vitally important," says Steve Baskin, ING's head of advertising and sponsorships. "We wouldn't be able to justify the sponsorships without some level of effectiveness. We measure every move we make."
ING was the title sponsor of last November's New York City Marathon, the first time in the city's 34-year history that it had signed a title sponsor.
PROMO's survey found that counting heads (67%) was the favored method of determining ROI, followed by sales (49%), the number of samples or coupons distributed (35%) and hits or other measurable activity on the the Internet (28%). (See Chart 2.)
Among other methods used by respondents were: feedback from attendees and clients, new clients, number of leads, premiums distributed, redemption, registrations and retailer satisfaction.
"With an increased awareness of accountability at all levels of corporate behavior, [ROI] is an issue that is always up for discussion and evaluation," says Lisa Holland, a partner with OPTS Events in Sausalito, CA, and New York City.
The standards by which the success of an event is measured vary widely, of course, depending on whether it was intended to create brand awareness, introduce a new product or generate sales or trials. According to the survey, the No. 1 goal was to boost sales (79%), followed by raising brand awareness (at 74%) and capturing market share (at 64%). Marketers also indicated a desire to meet customers face-to-face, capture customer data, generate trial, introduce a product or service or brand, and foster retail relationships.
When planning an event, 79% of respondents worked with an in-house marketing or event department, as compared to a full-service promotion agency (22%), event marketing agency (19%) and independent event planner (17%). (See Chart 5.)
The invitation
Getting the word out about an event is a key component that can make or break the event's success. Marketers reported that direct mail (64%) was the top method used to drive attendance, followed by local radio (46%), in-store promotion (43%), and guerrilla marketing (41%). Local TV pulled up the rear with 24% of respondents saying was a preferred traffic driver. (See Chart 4.) Experts say integration is key and that a mix of direct mail, radio and in-store merchandising proves a great recipe for success.
"Direct mail is by far the best mechanism, because it can be so targeted," says Clint Pierce, CEO of Pierce Promotions & Event Management, Portland, ME. "Databases allow you to select a group within a particular area and be very targeted, but it's really about integration. We know that's the most effective way to drive attendance because you're reaching people in different ways."
Traditional advertising often plays a part as well. "Advertising allows us to force the issue and events allows us to get on the ground with the consumer and be more a part of their consumer's neighborhood and community," ING's Baskin says. "Both are very important to us."
Tag on or go it alone?
An inevitable question is whether a brand should initiate and host an event or "tag along" with a partner as a sponsor. Sponsorship can be attractive for a number of reasons. It offers a lower entry point than hosting an event as a solo player, and places a lower burden on internal staff. Partnerships can easily be fostered. "It allows you to put your toe in the water and see if this is something that provides return without going to the full expense of hosting," OPTS Events' Holland says.
Of the 72% of respondents that indicated being involved in event sponsorships last year, 45% reported increased participation over 2002, compared to 19% who reported a decrease. Forty-two percent indicated a jump in sponsorship spending last year, a number that falls slightly to 38% this year. However, fewer respondents plan a decrease in spending, with only 9% planning a drop this year compared to 21% in 2003. (See Chart 6.)
The downside to sponsorship may be the spotlight-sharing that is central to good partnering. Brands can get lost in comparison to the main sponsor and the event may not provide sufficient resonance with attendees; or, since the brand may have little or no control over content and marketing, the event may not match brand attributes, Holland cautions.
Hence the 60% of respondents who reported hosting an event. When hosting their own event, brands can create an original program to align with its character, marketing message and target demographics. "It can provide a boost over the competition in specific market segments where competition is high and advertising is not enough," Holland says.
Forty-seven percent of the respondents in the PROMO survey pool increased their participation in hosted programs in 2003 over 2002. This compares to 33% of respondents who said hosting spending stayed about the same, and 13% who indicated a decrease. Spending on hosted programs jumped in 2003 for 46% of those surveyed, compared to 32% who said it stayed the same and 14% who decreased expenditures. As for this year, the number of respondents planning an increase in hosted event spending drops off to 37%. (See Chart 8.)
Staffing up
Finding field staff has become a high-wire act in itself. Many agencies have built elaborate established networks of staffers throughout the country (and beyond) eager for work. Experts say the time is ripe to find hard-working employees after years of corporate downsizing left an abundance of talented marketers without a job. The survey found that the most popular ways to find field staff were from an internal database (41%) or through an agency (34%).
Staff is most often trained in person (78%), or via the Internet or CD-ROMs (11%). A surprising 19%, however, provided no training to field reps.
Compensation can vary depending on who is doing the hiring. Field reps earn an average $12 per hour, with agencies offering the highest pay at an average $14 per hour versus $11 for those hired by retailers and service firms. Staff paid by the day earns an average $83, with agencies paying $97, compared to $76 for the retail and service sector. (See Chart 7.)
"If you have enough scale and enough clients, you can keep these people working, and that's a huge advantage," Radiate's Lenstrom says.
Leading Role
WHEN EXPERIENTIAL and event marketing "burst" onto the marketing scene a few years ago, it was much like the overnight Broadway star who had actually been in show business for years. Event marketing isn't new, but it is newly recognized for its potentcy and still-untapped potential. In this special report, PROMO editors take a fresh look at the directions in which event marketing is evolving, how it is viewed by consumers and where its impact is seen most strongly. And because quantifiability of this tactic remains elusive, we also share our first-ever Event Marketing Benchmarking Study. We plan to build on this research, so let us know what you think by emailing us at firstname.lastname@example.com.
A questionnaire developed by PROMO editors was e-mailed Oct. 22, 2003 to PROMO subscribers selected on an nth name basis. The base list included readers from corporate brand, agency, retail and service companies. Ultimately, 305 surveys were analyzed by an independent researcher, resulting in a 8.4% response rate.
Among Other Survey Findings
ADDITIONAL marketing goals for events included creating good will, game education, increased retention and loyalty, leadership by example, opportunities to mix with sales channels, relationship marketing, rewarding largest customers and satisfying retail customers.
MEASUREMENT of ROI is top of mind for all marketers. Written comments about how ROI is measured at events included anecdotal, custom research, evaluations, event call-backs, feedback from attendees and clients, fundraising revenues, the number of leads generated, questionnaires, ratings, redemption rates (coupon or premium offer) and registrations.
TRAINING field staff can be a challenge when events take place across the country and staff is pulled regionally. Some respondents noted that field staff may be trained by both a "classroom" meeting and printed material, by the client, in-house, on the job and via written instructions.
AS FOR HOURLY field staff pay, 3.6% of respondents paid the minimum wage of $5.15; 3.6% paid from $5.16 to $5.99; 19.6% shelled out from $6 to $8.99; 35.7% offered from $9 to $12.99; 17.9% paid from $13 to $15.99, 7.1% anted up from $16 to $19.99, and 10.7% paid $20 or more.
WHEN PAYING by the day, respondents reported the following pay for field staff: 11.3% offered less than $50; 27.8% paid $50 to $74; 15.5% paid $75-$99; 17.5% paid $100-$124; and 16.5% offered compensation of $125 or more for a day's work.