>I am new to designing pc boards.  Protel, Eagle and other refer to footprint
>numbers that can be difficult to understand and visualize.  Is there any
>reference material that shows what the footprint looks like as well as
>descriptive info?
Just the other day I found a reference for common surface mount packages
and their footprints at:

http://www.pcdmag.com/resources/smt/

>My board design will use surface mt crystal with built in caps, surface mt
>tant caps, surface mt diodes and I don't know what footprint to use.
The data sheet always specifies the package, and very often the footprint
itself. But in any case once you know the ppackage, the above lin will
likely have the footprint dimensions.

Dave Johnson