Please help newbie on the loose!

Hi Carlos,

Yes, that link to practiceboard isn't working. Not sure if practiceboard is DOWN again, but an alternate site to use is www.practicewriter.com

To use Seller Details on a listing, you select the Seller Details to the right of where you select the template in the one-page lister.

Danno

Danno, Thank you for your reply. I appreciate you taking time to write back.

http://www.practicewriter.com/?62e1d

Danno can I ask you few questions?

CAUTION!(Newbie Dumb questions ahead!)

1) well, I've continued modifying a auctiva template and have come up with a new problem.
When I get to the point on the one page lister to select a template, I click on "Custom" To bring up my customized templates then select this template, http://www.practicewriter.com/?62e1d I see it in the preview box, looks good.when i select this template to use with my listing,I go to my listers preview button to see how it's looking in the listening, it's not there. Somehow the template doesn't load. I'm not sure what i'm doing wrong.

2) Danno, How are the graphic part of a template Made? Is it just a jpeg file that prepared for the Web,then pasted in slices?

3)Is a graphic layout made first, say in Photoshop or dreamweaver the converted into HTML?
Is there any site or tutorial that explains this process?
Thank you for your help. Carlos

quote:

Originally posted by CV:
Danno, Thank you for your reply. I appreciate you taking time to write back.

http://www.practicewriter.com/?62e1d

Danno can I ask you few questions?

CAUTION!(Newbie Dumb questions ahead!)

1) well, I've continued modifying a auctiva template and have come up with a new problem.
When I get to the point on the one page lister to select a template, I click on "Custom" To bring up my customized templates then select this template, http://www.practicewriter.com/?62e1d I see it in the preview box, looks good.when i select this template to use with my listing,I go to my listers preview button to see how it's looking in the listening, it's not there. Somehow the template doesn't load. I'm not sure what i'm doing wrong.

2) Danno, How are the graphic part of a template Made? Is it just a jpeg file that prepared for the Web,then pasted in slices?

3)Is a graphic layout made first, say in Photoshop or dreamweaver the converted into HTML?
Is there any site or tutorial that explains this process?
Thank you for your help. Carlos

Hi Carlos,

From your original post, the template looks functional.

In answer to questions on last post...

1) Did you use the "Save Template to Listing" button on the popup page where you selected your custom template? (Should be a blue button lower-left of the preview window.)

2) The graphics are ususally either a jpeg or a gif file that's hosted by a server on the internet with a url that's used in template, either as a background on a tag or using the IMG tag. Some background elements, like the template borders, are done in segments that are pasted together using background on elements or IMG tags (just depends on the use of the image). If you look at Auctiva's stock templates, they generally use .gif files for the corners and top/side pieces (like a mosaic) to create the borders, maybe another background for the center, and one IMG each for the section headers. It's almost a receipe in how they build their code. Studying how they do it can lead you to standard methods to create your own.

3) Photoshop and Dreamweaver can help create the images, but they don't (exactly) produce the HTML code. However, with a link/URL to an internet stored image (including Auctiva), you can use the toolbar options on the template or description editor to implant an image (builds the HTML for you). I haven't taken the tutorials lately, but it's possible Auctiva has that toolbar feature use in one.

Danno

Thanks again Danno,your a wealth of information.

I did check to make sure I'm selecting "Save Template to Listing" when attaching the template to the listing, but no luck.
I have some earlier versions of my template that do load normally and see if I can complete one of them or at least try to figure out what I added to the last version(That your trying to helping with)that prevents it from loading.

Danno, If a Template is designed in Photoshop or dreamweaver how do you convert it to HTML?

Hi,

A template will fail to load if it's missing either the [DESCRIPTION] or [DESCRIPTION_AND_IMAGES] tag (one or the other is required).

There are conversion tools to convert template output from some products to HTML. They would be specific to the product, e.g. http://www.webstockbox.com/css...file-video-tutorial/

Danno