Greetings to the populace (note: not the populous! I’m cracking down on erroneous homonyms for the new year!) from Karl Faustus von Aachen, Crux Australis Principal Herald.

I regret that I have no good news from the College of Arms for this month or last month, due to some hiccups in the system we use to upload submissions. That means there should be a bumper crop next month. Rocket Herald is working with the College to figure out what’s gone wrong and how to repair it, but the fact that the Herald-Geek In Chief who wrote the software has just become a new father may have something to do with the occasional slow response.

This being a new year, I wanted to let you know of some of the goodies we have in store. The big news is all around the heraldic submissions process, and the improvements you will see in the next few months. You will remember that colour-printed and colour-photocopied submissions are now permitted, under certain conditions, and that the number of copies required has reduced sharply. You now only need to send one colour copy and one outline copy of any badge or device submission, and one copy of attendant paperwork or documentation for names. You can print the colour copies from your computer or copier, provided you note the technology you used — the make and model of printer/copier, and the source of the ink or toner. This is to allow us to track poor-performing brands and make informed recommendations.

Now, a new change is coming. Over the next few months, Rocket Herald will begin accepting emailed submissions. That’s right – no printing, no signatures, no snailmail! It’s not completely simple and straightforward, because a certain amount of care is called for to get the right formats and resolutions, but provided you are willing to work with us to get it right, you’ll find it a much improved process. By Easter this year, I hope to have a full online submission process working, with the ability to generate all the right paperwork in the right format right there on a website. That requires some programming, however, and nobody ever has enough time, so it will come when it comes.

(Which means, if you’re a programmer with expertise in PHP, MySQL, CSS and JQuery, and you have some time to spare, please drop me a line. We need more herald-geeks here and they don’t actually have to be heralds!)

Hoping this news meets with your approval (I can already hear the SQUEEEEEing),

In service,

: Karl Faustus von Aachen, Crux Australis :