surface mount package specs

I'm starting to get into surface mount components, but I'm facing a miriad of terms to describe the physical cases of the components.

Suppliers are not really any help because their photos are not always correct (as they themselves state) so part hunting is getting to be a bit of a nightmare as I can't work with stuff thats too small.

Is there a table or something somewhere that shows the part and/or it's suffix (ie SOIC) along with critical dims like pin pitch and general dimensions ?

all suppliers use different suffices to signify different package. however they all conform to a JEDEC standard, so should all have the same dimensions. ADI have a good page:

PCB Design Resources | PCB Design Resources | Analog Devices

Hope this helps!