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Novell Cool Solutions

AppNotes include technical information about designing, implementing, administering, and programming for computer systems based on Novell products. Cool Solutions awards Novell rewards points (up to 650 points) for each AppNote published, depending on content.

AppNotes Editorial Guidelines

Types of Articles Accepted

AppNotes are full-length articles on topics of current interest to systems engineers, support engineers, consultants, systems integrators, and network administrators within the network computing industry. The information should be based on in-house expertise, lab/field research, or the actual field experience of the authors.

We also consider articles targeted toward network programming with development tools provided by Novell. We accept articles on topics that are of interest to in-house application developers, commercial software developers, utility developers, and others involved in writing code for use in Novell networks.

Who Can Write an AppNote

Authors can be anyone who is proficient in some aspect of network computing, such as developers of Novell products, test engineers, support engineers, trainers, or consultants. A technical person may team up with a technical writer in his or her group to write an AppNote. If outside experts are involved in the development of the material, their contributions can be acknowledged at the beginning of the article.

We also accept article submissions from third-party companies to better satisfy our customers' requests for more third-party integration articles. These submissions must have ties to Novell products, and must not contain marketing information or sales pitches for any specific products. As always, our staff will consider all submissions and determine which articles will be published and when.

Length of AppNote

While there is no mandated length for an AppNote, it is generally best to select a focused topic that can be covered in 10-15 formatted pages. Longer discussions of more complex issues are acceptable, but may be split into two or more installments.

Standard Structure or Template

Generally, each AppNote is composed of the following pieces:

  1. Title and byline: Includes the title of the article, author information (name, job title, and department), and brief acknowledgements (thanks to people or companies that helped with the article or provided equipment and software)

  2. Body of the article: Includes a one-paragraph introduction to the article, and a bullet listing of the Contents or an Index Table.

  3. Graphics: Include figures where useful in the text (illustrations, charts, graphs, tables, screen shots, and such). Authors provide their own illustrations, preferably in Adobe PhotoShop or compatible format. Please make graphics readable when sized to a maximum width of 475 pixels. If you provide a rough draft of a graphic you want us to enhance, please LABEL each item (i.e, cloud, router, desktop, server, etc). Preferably, use a unique color for the comments we should remove in the final graphic, such as the labels, and ask us to remove items in that color. Screen shots should be captured in a standard graphics format and sent in softcopy or placed in an OpenOffice or Word document.

  4. Conclusion or Summary: Each article should provide a conclusion or summary to wrap up the discussion and leave the reader with a sense of closure.

  5. Supplemental or related material:
    6. Articles can include a list of additional references or an appendix.

Style of Writing

Above all else, AppNotes must be easy to read. The writing style must be clear, precise, and to the point, using a conversational (but not informal) tone. Another important consideration is accessibility of the information. The material should be presented in such a way that it is easy for the reader to skim through and find relevant sections. When referencing product names and versions, we go by Novell's corporate Style Guide and Glossary.

Web Formatting

HTML formatting is not the author's responsibility. After the AppNote is staged on the Web by the production team, the submitter will receive the URL for review.

AppNotes Email Address

Drafts can be prepared and submitted for editing in OpenOffice, Word, PDF, or HTML format. Submit all correspondence to Coolguys@novell.com

For a listing of published Novell Cool Solutions AppNotes, see http://www.novell.com/coolsolutions/appnotes/appnotes_bytitle.html

Summary of the AppNote Writing Process


  1. Submit a proposal.

    Once you have formulated your idea for an AppNote, the first step is to complete a proposal and submit it to Coolguys@novell.com. This document should include an outline of what you want to cover in the AppNote. This AppNote editor should review the proposal to determine if it meets readers' needs.

  2. If approved, research the topic and write the article.

    Note: The first draft should contain most of the information you want to cover. It is a good idea to send a copy to your editor fairly early on to confirm that you are on the right track.

  3. Have a qualified person perform a technical review.

    The author is responsible for seeing that the article is reviewed for technical accuracy.

  4. Submit the document and graphics.

    An editor should review the submission and make changes, as necessary, to enhance readability. Once the document is technically sound and changes have been made from the first edit, it is ready to turn in to the AppNotes production staff (Coolguys@novell.com).

  5. Article published.

    6. The AppNote will be published in HTML and PDF and advertised on the magazine's home page and in the community's "What's New" newsletter, as well as added to the AppNotes by Date and AppNotes by Title pages.

Once your document is formatted for the Web, the URL will be sent to you for a review. To submit a correction, copy a phrase or sentence (OLD) and then provide the revised wording (NEW). The changes will be made and you will be notified that the URL has been updated. Submit additional changes, if desired. Authors can make changes any time to their articles published on Cool Solutions.

Specific Guidelines for Writing an AppNote

Guideline #1: Keep it technical (no marketing hype).
Information presented in AppNotes should be strictly technical in nature. The emphasis should be on the practical application of technology--how to actually use Novell products and make them work together. Novell has other means of disseminating sales pitches, marketing literature, corporate strategies, news, white papers, and so forth.

Guideline #2: Don't duplicate existing documentation.
AppNotes should not simply rehash information found in engineering and product documentation without adding some value in the form of examples, additional theory of operations, troubleshooting tips, and so on. AppNotes are intended to provide the "missing pieces" that Novell's manuals and SDK documentation do not cover. Some of our most successful AppNotes have covered areas of product usage for which existing documentation is either incomplete, confusing, or nonexistent. We need to provide information our customers can't get anywhere else.

Guideline #3: Write on topics of vital importance to our customers.
In most cases, the topic for an AppNote should be determined by feedback from our customers. In addition, technical support may find that the same questions are asked over and over again; in-house consultants or SEs may discover areas where customers are having problems; or marketing may convey top customer concerns gleaned from various other sources. Another factor to consider is whether the topic is aligned with Novell's key strategic products and direction.

Guideline #4: Write with a "how-to" orientation.
AppNotes should show customers how to solve actual business problems by using Novell products and programming tools. We want to instill a solutions-oriented focus. The term "solution" is applicable at various levels: describing how a particular technology works; leading the reader through proper setup and configuration guidelines; performing network troubleshooting; designing a large or small network that can handle a customer's particular business needs; and using a particular API or SDK to create useful code.

Guideline #5: Know your audience.
Our overall target audience consists of numerous technically astute groups who are heavily involved in working with Novell products: systems engineers, support engineers, CNEs, CNIs, consultants, systems integrators, network administrators, and developers. Often, a particular topic appeals mainly to a subset of the overall audience (for example, a troubleshooting-oriented article with problems and resolutions is primarily for support engineers). Develop articles with the needs of our readership in mind. Remember that not everyone has large networks or 10 years of experience with networking.

Guideline #6: Pay attention to details.
More often than not, it's the small things that make or break an AppNote. We need to ensure that the material we publish is complete, readable, and useful to the customer. Here are a few items to pay particular attention to:

  • Give exact locations/filenames for all referenced online files, patches, fixes
  • Provide URL and phone number for every third-party company or product mentioned
  • Give full references to articles in previous issues (title, issue, page number)
  • Give URL or part number/ordering information for additional references

Other Publication Options

Cool Solutions also accepts shorter submissions for publishing as Feature Articles, Tips, Free Tools, and From the Trenches. Possibilities include little known facts, technical support questions and answers, suggestions from support forums and other sources, survey data, and other items of interest to network administrators, programmers, and users. Acceptable length ranges from two paragraphs to a few pages, with or without graphics or screenshots.

We hope to hear from you soon. Write to us @ Coolguys@novell.com.

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