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United States Department of Agriculture Food Safety and Inspection Service
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Technical Assistance
Here is some helpful information on working with various file formats you will find on this site. Technical problems such as broken links may be reported to fsis.webmaster@usda.gov
Use of FSIS Information, Fact Sheets, and Web Content
Information presented in FSIS Fact Sheets, or on the FSIS Web site is considered public information and may be distributed or copied. Authorization to reprint is hereby granted.

Use of appropriate byline/photo/image credits is requested. Please credit the sponsoring agency as U.S. Department of Agriculture, Food Safety and Inspection Service.

Specific usage guidelines apply to materials that are part of the Thermy™, Fight BAC!®, Be Food Safe, and other educational campaigns. These guidelines are available on the respective Web pages. See Thermy™ usage guidelines, Be Food Safe for Educators, and Fight BAC!® usage guidelines for more information.

Widgets (gadgets) may be used in their entirety, following instructions given on the page.

Use of commercial and trade names does not imply approval or constitute endorsement by USDA or the Food Safety and Inspection Service.

TIPS & TRICKS

Printing Just the Center Content or a Portion of a Page
To print content without the left, right, or top navigation elements, highlight the desired text. From your browser's "File" menu, select "Print," then "Selection."

To Save a File or Image
To save a file or image, right-click over the link and choose "Save Target As" (Internet Explorer) or "Save Link As" (Netscape or Firefox) to download. You may also use the "Save" options on your browser's File menu.

TYPES OF FILES & FILE FORMATS

Really Simple Syndication (RSS)
RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication. It's an easy way for you to keep up with news and information that's important to you, and helps you avoid the conventional methods of browsing or searching for information on websites. Now the content you want can be delivered directly to you.  This content is called a "feed." RSS is written in the Internet coding language known as XML (eXtensible Markup Language).

FSIS offers RSS feeds which link back to the content for the full story. We also offer audio podcasts in MP3 format available via RSS and iTunes

To Get RSS Feeds:
RSS is an XML-based format for content distribution. If you click an RSS link, you will see styled XML (eXtensible Markup Language) code in your browser.

To get or view RSS feeds, you will need an RSS reader. A wide range of RSS readers can be easily downloaded or accessed from the web, and RSS reader capabilities are built into newer web browsers. Some readers are web-based, while others require you to download a small software program onto your desktop. Most are free to use. Once you have the reader:

  1. Click on the orange XML button and copy the URL
  2. Paste the URL into your reader.
  3. The RSS feed will start to display and regularly update the headlines for you.

Podcasts
Podcasting is a method of publishing files to the Internet, allowing users to subscribe to a feed and receive any new files automatically by subscription. Podcasting uses XML technology similar to RSS Feeds, however the individual Podcasts are of either audio or video content, rather than just text.

Receiving podcasts requires "podcatching" software (a type of aggregator) that periodically checks for and automatically downloads new files. "Podcatchers" include PodSpider, iTunes, Odeo, Podcast.com, Juice, Wizz, RSS News Reader, Winamp, and many others available on the Internet. (These are examples only. USDA does not endorse specific products, services or organizations.)

Once you have the software installed, you will need to subscribe to the podcast feed in order to begin receiving files. Consult the Help for your particular application for detailed instructions.

If you select a link to an RSS file and you do not have podcatching software installed, you will see only the page code, written in a language called XML. When that happens, you can copy the URL/address from the address bar in your browser and paste it into the appropriate place in your software to manually subscribe.

If you don't want to subscribe to the podcast feed, you can still play the MP3 files on your computer using your browser's default audio player.

Adobe PDF Files
To read and print a PDF file, you must have Adobe® Reader (or an equivalent product) installed on your PC. You can download a version suitable for your system, free of charge, from Adobe. Adobe also provides tools and information to help make Adobe PDF files accessible to users with visual disabilities at http://access.adobe.com.

Forms identified as "fillable" have been created using interactive form fields and may be filled out electronically using the Adobe Reader 5.1 or Adobe Acrobat 5.0 (or later). Once the form is complete you can print a copy. (Note: The full version of Acrobat 5.0 or the Adobe supplemental software Approval is needed in order to SAVE a completed form.) For more information, go to the Adobe Reader Web site.

Our newest PDF forms have been created using Acrobat 7. Some have fill and print capability; others will have save and send capability. For best results, use the latest version of the Adobe Reader.

Video Files
Real Networks' RealPlayer is required to view some video clips. If you do not have RealPlayer, you may download a free version from http://www.real.com/player/. Only the free version is required. Installation instructions are available on the RealPlayer web site.

Newer clips will play in Windows Media Player. Some are offered in multiple formats.

Flash Animation
If you need the Flash player to use the Food Safety Mobile Game or other animated files on this site, you may obtain it from the Adobe Flash Player Download page.

Graphic File Formats
Graphic art on this site is offered in multiple formats. Most of the images you see are low-resolution files (gif or jpg) suitable for viewing on the screen. When using other formats, please note the following:
  • PDF, the Adobe Portable Document Format, preserves the look and feel of the original document. For some printing and duplication purposes (classroom use, for example), this is a good choice. To read and print a PDF file, you must have the Adobe Reader installed on your PC (see "Adobe PDF" above). We recommend using the latest version of the Reader.
  • The TIF (or TIFF) and EPS formats are higher-resolution formats. Files in these formats may be quite large. We suggest having your printing professional download the files from this site, or saving them to a computer hard drive (space permitting), high-capacity disk (e.g., Zip® or Jaz®), or writable CD. (Note: your system's download manager may show the file extension EPS as PS.)
  • Some educational materials (brochures, posters, etc) may be offered in the high-resolution SIT format. These files are intended for professional offset printing. SIT files were prepared on a Macintosh G3 using programs such as Adobe Pagemaker, Quark XPress, Adobe Illustrator, and Adobe Photoshop. To facilitate downloading, the files have been compressed using Aladdin's Stuffit Deluxe and archived in a SIT file. To expand or open a SIT file you will need a copy of Stuffit Expander. You can download a free copy from the Stuffit web site at http://www.stuffit.com/. PC users will not be able to open or manipulate the files contained in the SIT archive files. PC users will need to work directly with a professional printer, graphic designer, or service bureau to open, manipulate, and print the files. File sizes listed on web pages are for the compressed files.


Last Modified: May 6, 2010

 

 

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