In order to support as many platforms as possible, the IPPS/SPDP 1998 CD-ROM publication follows the ISO 9660 Level 1 standard. Certain guidelines must be followed when naming files and directories under the ISO 9660 standard:

1. Filenames are limited to eight single-case characters, a dot, and a three character extension. The extension is optional. However we request that authors use standard file name extensions, for example:

   yourfilename.ps for PostScript files
   yourfilename.tex for TeX/LaTeX files
   yourfilename.doc for Word files
   yourfilename.dvi for DVI files
   yourfilename.tex for ASCII files
   

2. Filenames must contain single-case letters, numbers and underscores.
3. Directory names are limited to eight single-case characters.
4. Filenames and directory names cannot contain any other characters.
5. Up to eight levels of subdirectory nesting are supported.

It is important that, for a complex project involving a number of external files -- a LaTeX document incorporating .eps figures for example -- that the external files are named correctly and consistently. If an invalid filename is included in another document and that file is subsequently renamed, the link will be broken.

In addition, please use only relative pathnames in your document when referencing external embedded files. That is use: Images/fig1.eps or ../Images/fig1.eps instead of /home/DirName/Images/fig1.eps or ~DirName/Images/fig1.eps. By doing this, and preserving the directory structure during the ftp process, your source files become more portable.

The following examples show valid and invalid filenames:

VALID sponge.doc fig_17a.tif database.htm README

INVALID Sponge.doc figure_17a.tif database.html README!

REASON mixed letter case too many characters too many characters illegal "!" character

The following examples show valid and invalid directory names:

VALID DATABASE figures datadir

INVALID Database my figures database.dir

REASON mixed letter case too many characters & space cannot have dot-extension

Certain standard filename extensions should be used in the preparation of your electronic material for consistency and ease of use. Several of the more relevant ones were listed previously. Below are more examples of file types and their corresponding extensions:

	EXTENSION .mov .mpg .pdf .gif .tif .jpg .htm		FILE TYPE QuickTime animation MPEG animation Adobe Acrobat PDF GIF image TIFF image JPEG image HTML document

Parity Computing gratefully acknowledges Stephen Spencer, Director of SIGGRAPH Publications, as the source of this material.