Plan of the field guide itself

• Geographical area of coverage and vegetation types
• A provisional check-list of species, at least to allow a reasonable estimate of the final number of species - including any other taxonomic groupings and details, e.g. Family, Order, subspecies, authors, synonyms.
• Which names are to be used in the guide? Which common names, subspecies, species authors, synonyms?
• The basic type, or approach of the guide
• Other information types to be included (descriptions, uses of plants, methods of preparation)
• Projected users (and what they will use it for) and therefore the language.
• Initial Glossary of jargon to be allowed
• List of information types to be included for each species (beyond that in the check-list)
• Access Methods, including primary order of species, keys and name indexes
• First approximation of a design, with samples of various components (pages, cards, software?)
• For books or similar, estimated number of pages, numbers of pages of colour, type of paper, binding. Overall size and portability
• Numbers of copies, with some idea of acceptable retail price if relevant
• List of introductory and end-pages
• Criteria for minimum accuracy and user appeal in field trials