I’ve collected various guidelines for the puzzle makers from several Tanga sources and published them here.If there are other suggestions to put at the top (so people don’t have to slog through all the comments), please post.
_Disclaimer: These are accurate to the best of my knowledge as of 2/28/08, and have NOT been verified by any Tanga personnel.

PUZZLE GUIDELINES

For One Word Wonders and Cryptopix:
o The answer must be one word. Proper nouns are ok.
o The maximum size of the image is 500 × 500 pixels, please make the images as large as you can (and minimize the white space in the image)
o The allowable file types are .jpg, .mpg, .png, .gif (others?) JPG format is suggested for pictures, and PNG format for text-based puzzles (or images with very few colors)
o DO NOT include the answer word as part of the file name of the uploaded image (sneaky Tangans know how to read the filenames ;-) ). The file name of the picture will NOT be renamed.
o The ANSWER field does not show on the Solution page, so please include the Solution Word in your description of the the solve method.
o Include all steps to the solution, including any intermediate words needed to arrive at the solution. This makes the job easier for the moderators (a good idea) as well as the solver who isn’t quite sure how you really meant the puzzle to be solved.
o After the puzzle has been submitted and/or published – if there is an error (gasp!) you can upload a corrected image (and are encouraged to do so).
o Keep in mind that there are many colorblind Tangans often frustrated by reliance on color.Please check your puzzle in black and white, and make sure there are other clues available to those solvers.
o Combingseveralwordsintoonewordbynotincludingspacesisnotreallyaonewordanswer

o We held an unofficial This is the Worst Puzzle Ever contest in February 2008.You can find the results here are some excellent examples of some truly bad puzzles (and actually some examples of good ones for the phrase).Sometimes a bad example is a good learning tool

For Hypercross puzzles:
o While you are working on your puzzle – please include the words “WORK IN PROGRESS” or “WIP” in the title, so the moderators know not to test solve and moderate while you are still working on it. (there is no “submit” button). After you have uploaded all the images and doublechecked the spelling on the answers then change the title to the final name – or add “DONE” to the end. The “DONE” will be removed before the puzzle is published.
o All Hypercross images are displayed at 400 (wide) x 300 (tall) pixels, so do yourself a favor and MAKE YOUR IMAGES EXACTLY THIS SIZE. Tanga will WARP/DISTORT/STRETCH all Hyper clues to be exactly 400 × 300.
o The allowable file types are .jpg, .mpg, .png, .gif (others?) 4/9/08 NOTE: It seems some browsers have difficulty dealing with .png files – suggest they not be used.
o The file name of the pictures will NOT be renamed, so please do NOT include the answer word as part of the file names of the uploaded images.
o When you design your grids, if you keep them under 13 columns, then the letter boxes won’t get laterally compressed. You can have as many rows as you want.
o Here’s a good tool for grid design. You can resubmit the same word list for different dimensions.Crossword Puzzle Tool
– Note, that when using this tool, you shouldn’t necessarily accept the first grid it creates. You can click the browser’s back button twice and then click Create Puzzle again to generate a new grid. Do this until you get a grid with balanced and high-quality crossings. A good grid has balanced crossings. Try to avoid grids where one answer has 5 or more crossings, but many other answers have only one crossing. (Thanks Philana!)

o When you first submit your hypercross clues they seem to order themselves randomly. Here is how you get them into the order you want them to display (thanks monocle!):
1) go to your hypercrosses
2) Click “show” for the one you want to edit the order
3) Click “edit words”
4) Edit each clue in the opposite order you want them to appear. You don’t need to actually edit anything. Each clue you edit will get moved to the top. If done properly, the first clue you edited will end up at the bottom and the rest should follow in order.
note: see comment 16 below – this method does not always work – but it might for you, so it’s worth a shot.
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note from a hypercross maker:
" When my hypercross went live I was shocked to see the filename for each image listed in the url. It was my own fault for naming the images as such, but recently image names were given numbers and the filename did not appear. If you have submitted a HC, double check that the file names are not the answer. I screwed up and lost 40 minutes renaming and reuploading the images.

Just thought I’d pass it along in case others are as silly as me."

One more link for Hypercross Rules: http://tanga.com/forum/blogs/1643-Some_Hypercross_Rules_

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TO SUBMIT A PUZZLE
Click HERE

p.s.
Click here to see the puzzle maker discussion blog started last January for more suggestions and tips from both puzzle makers and puzzle solvers (some of which are included above).In fine Tangan tradition, there are a LOT of comments and discussion.

Yet another discussion blog
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TOP REASONS SUBMITTED PUZZLES ARE REJECTED