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A Template to Make a Template (tool)
Last Post Jul 2, 2009 9:40 PM by: shipscript
Replies: 53
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shipscript
Posts: 8,260

A Template to Make a Template (tool)

Apr 6, 2008 7:45 PM
Someone recently asked for a Template to Make a Template.

Which brings us to another tool I've been contemplating for some time. It's a merger between the popular Pretty Borders tool and a form filler (see my next post).



NEW
Pretty Borders Plus! (a Template to Make a Template)
    The basic template shape is a picture frame of multiple nested borders that can be resized and colorized. Over 150 background patterns are available on the palette, or any user-hosted graphics can be added to the palette for the background layers. Predefined form-filler slots support titles, text, and photos, and there are two blocks for custom codes. The slots are right there in the template, so it's almost like a WYSIWYG editor, but not quite (individual words can't be styled).

        Link

    Everything happens on the same page, so there is no going back and forth or waiting for the server to repost data. While the in-page view is good for text and photos, user-added codes and scripts will only display on the popup preview.

    The novice would just use the palette to colorize and decorate the borders, set the fonts, and would fill in the auction text and hosted photos. The tool will take care of applying styles and dealing with line breaks when it generates the code.

    A more savvy user might go a littler further and add icons in place of the titles, and might drop in some Quick-Button code, a thumbnail gallery, or a cross-sell script. The neat aspect is the same color tool is on all of these pages, so it's easy to copy/paste the color codes and get matching add-ins.

    Since it sounded sort of like a template to make a template, I've decided to make it just that, and let both users and designers take advantage of the tool to create templates for personal use or resale. The background patterns will be hosted for personal users, but designers will need to rehost them. :) Currently, the add-ins may not be resold, so I'll have to think more on that aspect.

        Link


    (Due to length constraints, other methods follow in next post)

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shipscript
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A Template to Make a Template (tool)

Apr 6, 2008 7:46 PM
Form Fillers:
    There are lots of free form filler sites listed on this page. Many of the sites are maintained by current or former forum members:
        Link

    The forms usually have predefined template outlines, and there are slots to fill in the text so that the user doesn't have to work with HTML codes. After filling in the slots, the template can usually be viewed on another page, and the final code can be pasted into an auction.


Borders:
    Some of the sites on the above list are mix-and-match border making sites where you can select and layer various colored backgrounds. From there, you would use HTML to add your own descriptive content. Pretty Borders in one such tool that has become extremely popular, on eBay and off.
        Link


Ready-made Templates:
    Many free templates can be found in the thread tacked to the top of this forum.
    These were donated by various designers and forum members, and you will find scads of different designs and formats. Users can edit the HTML to include their own auction images and description text. Summaries of many of those templates can be found here:

        Link
        Link
        Link

    In many cases, the template can be pasted into a WYSIWYG (what-you-see-is-what-you-get) editor like eBay's listing editor, and the sample text can be modified there. However, any button links would still need to be edited manually in the HTML unless you are using a tool that can edit links.


WYSIWYG editor:
    Desktop tools like FrontPage and Nvu can make a page from scratch, but you will need to know how to modify the code for eBay. The Online Editor was designed for creating and editing eBay templates. It has a few built-in structures for creating a multi-column or multi-section template with background colors, and has a Word-like editor for your text, fonts, and colors. However, it has no ability to add background images. It's a great place to create a basic template that is eBay compliant, and it's very handy for editing the forum-provided templates.

        
        Link


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dewskis_dewings
Posts: 8,181
(2 of 53)

A Template to Make a Template (tool)

Apr 6, 2008 8:57 PM
So, aside from hosting a world-peace conference, revamping the Federal budget, playing Den Mother to 8 Boy Scout troops, finding cures for diabetes and HIV, and developing a new bio-gasoline from lawn clippings with a pump cost of 32¢ a gallon, you decided to use your SPARE TIME and toss out a new gadget for us to play with?

Seriously, you areally ARE amazing!

Simple to use. Ready to run as-is or can be tweaked to our hearts' content.

Simply, truly amazing!


Now, go give ebugs some tips. You design something, it works like it's supposed to. Maybe you can teach them how it's done?








Just DEW it!


You can test your siggie and photo posts at PracticePoster
You can test your auction templates at AuctionTester
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bobal
Posts: 6,969
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A Template to Make a Template (tool)

Apr 6, 2008 10:07 PM
Karen,
My goodness, you have done it again, put your extreme talent to work to help eBay users make templates. I am always amazed when you come out with these wonderful programs.

I am proud to call you and Ed friends.
Your Friend
Bob
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shipscript
Posts: 8,260
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A Template to Make a Template (tool)

Apr 6, 2008 11:20 PM
Dewski, oh my goodness, if you haven't found the holes, then someone's, not trying hard enough, LOL. Now if we can combine your wife's great ideas with a new template builder, we'd all get rich, right? ]:)

:-x Bob, for some reason I just can't stop programming. The stuff just floods out, LOL. I love to find and solve problems with visual and tactile solutions. Sometimes the results are too esoteric or complex, but sometimes they do work for people. Anyway, it's a two-way street. If indulging my bad habits creates tools that others can use, we all win. :-D

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merrygocats
Posts: 11,254
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A Template to Make a Template (tool)

Apr 7, 2008 3:12 AM
Oh dear. I haven't checked out everything (the recent stuff) on your About Me page yet and you are here with another toy. I feel so inadequate :_|

Do you schedule any sleep time at all? I read somewhere that Napoleon averaged 4 hours per night. What a sleepyhead!


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kybluegrassgal
Posts: 2,119
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A Template to Make a Template (tool)

Apr 7, 2008 4:43 AM
What a great toy! One question, when creating a template it displays within the boundries of my computer screen viewing area. However, when I preview it, a strip of the template to the right falls out of the viewing range. Is there a way to adjust the width of how it displays?

* * *

"When you were born, you cried and the world rejoiced.
Live your life so that when you die, the world cries and you rejoice."
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wizard_mithrandir
Posts: 2,936
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A Template to Make a Template (tool)

Apr 7, 2008 8:57 AM
Simply awesome! You have done it again, Karen. Nice!

Steve/wiz



FREE WEBSITE
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See my me page!
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shipscript
Posts: 8,260
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A Template to Make a Template (tool)

Apr 7, 2008 9:35 AM
merrygocats, don't tell me you actually get all 8 hours! No one over 50 sleeps all night....sometimes I just put my head down on my keyboard....and think through math problems....LOL.


kybluegrassgal, the popup preview is set to 800 wide so you can see what it looks like on narrower monitors or next to a store's side navigation. As long as the live content (the text and photos) can appear in that 800 width, you should be ok. It's nice to get it all to fit flexibly, but as monitors go wider, it's less important to flex and more important to constrain.

These days, I usually hard code the outer border to 800 so that the inner text remains in a tidy column. You can set outer constraints on the tool by clicking a number on the ruler.


Thanks Wiz. I'm still vacillating on the coding. I wanted to keep it as simple HTML for beginners, but had to use CSS in the text areas in order to allow users to set each component independently. I'm trying to decide whether to put CSS in the table code. I just don't know if that would make beginners uncomfortable. ?:|

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going1ncellc
Posts: 4,843
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A Template to Make a Template (tool)

Apr 7, 2008 11:09 AM
Yet another amazing Shipscript tool!
Karen...I've found when designing templates for other sellers, most request I stay with HTML not CSS in case they want to fiddle.


eBay Certified Stores Designer. See my ME page for links to Blackthorne Pro help & FREE templates. See Tippy Kal comic on my blog!




eBay Certified Stores Designer. See my ME page for links to Blackthorne Pro help & FREE templates.

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kybluegrassgal
Posts: 2,119
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A Template to Make a Template (tool)

Apr 7, 2008 12:55 PM
Thank you for the additional information, shipscript! It's an awesome tool. :)

* * *

"When you were born, you cried and the world rejoiced.
Live your life so that when you die, the world cries and you rejoice."
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dewskis_dewings
Posts: 8,181
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A Template to Make a Template (tool)

Apr 7, 2008 2:15 PM
Hot diggety, our "gal" got pinned!! Again!!








Just DEW it!


You can test your siggie and photo posts at PracticePoster
You can test your auction templates at AuctionTester
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shipscript
Posts: 8,260
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A Template to Make a Template (tool)

Apr 7, 2008 6:16 PM
Yikes, for the past couple of hours I had thought this thread was gone. Like so many others, I just don't SEE the pinned threads, LOL.

going1ncellc, I agree with the simple aspect. Most of the templates created for the free template thread use simple codes with the beginner in mind. Since this tool targets novice designers, I should probably have a checkbox to produce the code either way. That way, designers can see the difference between basic HTML and CSS and can choose which they want as a starter kit. One problem is that the font sizes won't translate perfectly, so there will be a slight limitation there.


While I've looked at the tool in both Netscape and Opera, I've only tested seriously with Firefox and Explorer 6. If anyone is using a different browser and has any feedback, please let me know. One killer glitch is that long URLs can stretch the page in Explorer6. It's pretty nasty. I have a quick workaround patch in there, and will continue to research other alternatives.

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bobal
Posts: 6,969
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A Template to Make a Template (tool)

Apr 7, 2008 6:55 PM
Ship,
Is there any way to send a user the results from your program? I tried two times to run the auction, found errors and when I send the url to the user, they get a blank page?
Bob's Tips
Shipscript's Tips
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shipscript
Posts: 8,260
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A Template to Make a Template (tool)

Apr 7, 2008 8:54 PM
Bob, are you talking about the Auction Tester? It displays a volatile page on eBay, meaning the content evaporates when you close your browser. If there were any way to make it stick, I'm sure eBay would have the FBI on my doorstep, LOL.

The best one can do is have the user post their own code to the tester and send it to auction to see the results. However, some browsers may not successfully transmit the codes to auction, so I could see where one might want to somehow get the final page to the user. ?:|

If you are making corrections to the user code, then you could save it to the PracticeWriter for them to see. Hmmm, I wonder if Concho wants another gimmick in that tool???

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