Important things to know before starting your Electronic Portfolio

1. Buy a flash drive, they are much more stable than 3.5 floppy’s or zip drives, are more universal and will hold more info.
2. Get all the papers, files, pictures, etc that you will want to use in your portfolio together and put them in one folder on your computer or on a disk.
3. Keep your file names short (<15 characters). If they are long rename them before you start the linking process. This will enable older machines to view the files. Don't use strange characters (like * ^ % etc) in your names. If you must use a space use an underscore _
4. Make sure you keep a backup copy of your portfolio and update it whenever you change the original. If your flash drive or computer dies you want to make sure you have the info somewhere else and don’t have to start from scratch!
5. Never link to anything that is outside the folder or disk you create for your portfolio/presentation, if you do the link will be lost when you move the portfolio.
6. Start early, don’t wait until the last minute. Assume that something will go wrong with the technology and you won’t be in trouble for time.
7. Test your portfolio on multiple machines before you turn it in. That will tell you if things are linking right. Don't wait until it's too late to fix the links!