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Hi,

I first posted this question in the listings board, but got no reply or help, so I thought I would try it here under custom templates. Hopefully someone from Tech will answer me.

I have noticed that when I create my own custom template and add the Store tag or the (store html coding) to the very end of my new template it causes the template to be to large for my screen and I have to scroll across to see the whole template.

It is only out by about 1/2" each way width ways, but it annoys me because you have to use the scroll bar to center the template.

I did some tests with a new template I just created, one without the store tag and one with the store tag.

It was 100% better centered without the store tag added. !!! Why is that ??

But I would like the store in my auctions. I tried making the store smaller in the html coding to 98% instead of 100% hoping this would cure the problem. It made the store smaller but did not stop the problem of off centering my auction page.

I even added the store tag at the very bottom of my template (after the <!-- END TEMPLATE HTML --> code) to see if this worked, but it didn't make any difference. My template is still not centered within my viewing page.

There must be a way to center the auction viewing page with the store tag entered, I just need to know how please. Thanks in advance for any info or help.

Carol.
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Carol, somebody will probably help you before I can, as I have to take the old lady and the crumb-crunchers out to eat first, but either way, it shouldn't be hard to fix. And regardless of who helps you, the best thing you can do to help them help you is put in on practiceboard or whatever and then get right back here and post a link to it.

CB...about to sortie on his mission of mercy.
quote:

There must be a way to center the auction viewing page with the store tag entered, I just need to know how please. Thanks in advance for any info or help.
Carol.


Well, I'm back. I'm a little confused about the nature of your problem, Carol, but I'm going to wing a few thoughts at you, being I haven't seen your code yet.

Putting the store tag outside the end of the template HTML doesn't sound too good. You run the risk of putting it outside of the element that centers the template in the first place. When you post the link, I can look at that.

I added the store window to one of my custom 'plates to check it a minute ago. I put a <br> and then the tag immediately after the shipping and pay tag at the bottom of my template. I had no problems, but here's the thing:
I size my templates to 750px wide (I can explain why some other time) by putting this code around it <div style="width:750px;text-align:center;margin 0px auto"> </div> (actually I put a url for a background texture in there too, but that's irrelevant.)

See, what centers something in one browser often won't center anything in another. This bit of inline CSS works in IE: <div style="text-align:center"></div> but is ignored by most everyone else, including FF. For them: <div style="margin:0px auto"></div> will do it without screwing up IE.

There are a few occasions where even that doesn't work and I resort back to the old deprecated <CENTER></CENTER> tags at the beginning and end, even though code freaks wrinkle their noses. Until eBay decides to go to strict HTML and CSS instead of transitional, use it if you have to - and be happy.

Anyway, I'm hoping that the alignment codes I gave you will center your template et al. The store-front resizes itself nicely with my templates and I assume it's a by-product of putting my width at a set number of pixels.

I could be wrong. There might well be better ways to accomplish these things. I'm not a pro, I'm retired from the truck business and I just pick up what I can learn, when I can learn it.

I hope this gets you through the weekend. Keep us posted.

Arrr!
C.P
Hi,

Thanks for replying and the suggestions on editing my coding. I will try that. Here are several links to the template. The first 2 links are the template copied right into the practice link with out any previewing. They look ok until you add pictures and info and do a test auction preview, then the one with the store tag goes all screwy....see what you think...
_______________________________________________

This is the template copied right into the practice link with NO STORE TAG

http://www.practiceboard.com/?2603041

_______________________________________________

This is the template copied right into the practice link WITH THE STORE TAG ADDED

http://www.practiceboard.com/?2603051

It looks ok at this point, until you do a TEST auction and preview it, then it shows everything out of alignment.
______________________________________________

This link is the source html coding from the TEST auction preview page, so you will see lots of code at the top of the document which is part of the preview page and not part of my original template, so just ignore that top html coding.

Auction preview WITH STORE TAG


http://www.practiceboard.com/?2603157

__do you see what I mean now, how it knocks the template off. I might try the suggestion from capt and re do my html coding. _____________________________________________

This is how it looks in the TEST auction preview mode with NO STORE TAG. again same rule applies with the extra html it is from the source code.

http://www.practiceboard.com/?2603117

_it is centered and looks ok to me, but it might be my browser ? I use IE to browse.______I am curious to see how it looks in other browsers ?______________________________________


Any advice good or bad on the template would be great. Thanks guys ...and gals smile.
Smile

Carol.
Oh man! You've got enough unfinished tables here to start your own do-it-youself furniture store! Wink

The way that template is set up, you've got a lot of "borders" (actually "cellpadding") and when you put it on a 800x600 resolution you can only scrunch them down so far before they run up against that store window, which, according to the code, will only scrunch down to 752 pixels before it says, "I've drawn my line in the sand." Just experimenting, I arbitrarily changed that width down to 700px and the problem is solved, BUT...I wouldn't use that in a listing until I cleared it with Auctiva, first. As John Fogerty sang, "...for there were many things I didn't know." And there's got to be a simpler way, anyway.

I got something else up my sleeve and I'll be back. Stay tuned.
Hi Wahm and Capt.

thank you !! thank you !!! for helping me.

I just copied the template code with the store tag outside the template (in the white part) and did a test preview auction on it.

Now heres the thing, It looked exactly the same as before in test preview when the store tag was inside the template. ??? I still had to scroll a good 2 inches to the right to see the whole template (same as when it was inside the template )

So then I looked to see what my PC resolution was set at, something I never even thought about to be honest !! and it was set at 800 x 600.. hmmm ... I then reset it to a higher res of 1024 x 768 pix 32 bit color... (made my fonts screen size so small I had to put on my bi foculs to read ha ha......

I then rechecked my test preview template ...

WOW amazing difference set at the higher res... It is perfectly centered now... must be the res on my PC..

So, now I have another question lol Frog what is the most popular res for people to view web pages at ? you see, if I keep my PC set at the higher res, then everything looks great when I AM VIEWING my auctions, but anyone set at 800 x 600 will see it all off centered.

Is there a way that I can set this template up so that no mater Who looks at it in whatever res size it will be centered ? come on Captain I know you have the answer ??

Slap me with a wet kipper me hearty lol
quote:
Originally posted by Capt. Binghamton:
Oh man! You've got enough unfinished tables here to start your own do-it-youself furniture store! Wink

I got something else up my sleeve and I'll be back. Stay tuned.


HE HE HE giggle Big Grin Yep I know my template is a disaster ha ha .... any techie would just roll over laughing if they saw it... You can't tell I am new at this ... ? can you...lol

Can you help me with my template ? I know I have all these boarders in there, mostly in my shipping part, but I have no idea how to set the tables up so that each part of my shipping info is in its own little box ?

so what I did, hmmm is to copy and paste each table lol.... and create a new box for each bit of the info, example: payments ~ USA Buyers ~ Int Buyers. blah de blah .... can you clean it up for me ????? I will walk the plank backwards and do a douple flip if you could..

So, do you think it is my lower res causing the scrolling problem, or my messy template ???

think I know the answer to that ? before I even ask...

Ta ra for now...

Carol. Cool
quote:
Originally posted by carolelliott:

Is there a way that I can set this template up so that no mater Who looks at it in whatever res size it will be centered ? come on Captain I know you have the answer ??

Slap me with a wet kipper me hearty lol


In a word: Arr! You don't want to go there. There's still people getting on eBay with 640x480 resolution, and they are considered a write-off. And don't forget all the people who sign on without maximizing their browsers...AARRRrrr! Right now, conventional wisdom is go for 800x600. Which opens up another chum-bucket which I won't go into right now, cause soon you'll be chasing sheep at the funny farm. Frog

The Auctiva store window, as is, appears to be designed to fit in an 800x600 15" monitor, but without much room to put much of a border around it...it's 752 pixels wide (I guessyou could say it has invisible padding on both sides. Try highlighting it by dragging your mouse over it and you'll see what I mean).

Keep in mind, I'm an amateur, so YMMV, but I the options I see at this point are: 1. Try reducing the amount of cellpadding in your top three tables (making your borders narrower) and see if you still like the looks of the listing when you reach the point when the store window fits without making a scroll bar at the bottom of your browser. 2. Ask Auctiva to give the store window a narrower minimum width. 3. Try editing the auction onces it's on eBay, by changing the WIDTH="752" in the store window code to something a little smaller, but do it at your own risk, if you don't talk to Auctiva first. 4. Put the browser outside the tables at the bottom

I've started re-doing your template with in-line CSS, which won't solve this problem, but should help it load quicker in many instances. Slow loads kill more sales than where the store-front is, many times over. I'll get it out to you, but don't wait on it, as I have a couple listings to finish up and have to feed one of the heirs to me meager fortune.

BTW, that store window can be a relatively slow loader in and of itself, which can prevent tables it's nested in from opening until IT loads, I THINK. Bye-bye sales. That's a good reason right there to keep it outside of your "borders". Or going to Css.

I'm off. You probably already deduced that. Frog

CB
Well looks like the Captain knows what he's talking about so I'll let him take over from here cause I don't know CSS either I still use basic HTML myself.

But basically we both said the same thing as far as the store window cause your template to become larger.

I code my templates to be 98% instead of a fixed width. I don't like the way the fixed width looks on larger screens, seems to be lost on the page with all that white. Its best to check any template in both resolutions and in both FF and IE - you would be amazed at how it can look in two different browsers!

Its all yours Captain, carry on . . .
quote:
Originally posted by wahm922:
Well looks like the Captain knows what he's talking about

*snort* Wait'll I tell me swabbies what ye said
quote:

But basically we both said the same thing as far as the store window cause your template to become larger..

Aye, yer absolutely keerect, but you figgered itout a'fore I did!

quote:
I code my templates to be 98% instead of a fixed width. I don't like the way the fixed width looks on larger screens,
Ye may well be keerect agayne, an' I may swootch to that way meself after I gets a couple other issues waylaid.
quote:
Its best to check any template in both resolutions and in both FF and IE - you would be amazed at how it can look in two different browsers!


Right again! SO...what are ye tryna' do? Make it into the Pirate's National Dishonor Society. Or maybe our genius club: Densa? Wink

CB (with Sid on me shoulder)
quote:
Originally posted by Capt. Binghamton:

I've started re-doing your template with in-line CSS, which won't solve this problem, but should help it load quicker in many instances.

BTW, that store window can be a relatively slow loader in and of itself, which can prevent tables it's nested in from opening until IT loads, I THINK. Bye-bye sales. That's a good reason right there to keep it outside of your "borders". Or going to Css.



Hi Captain,

This is all news to me this CSS thingie ? never heard of it before today to be truthful. So I did some googling and found lots of juicy info on it.

It all looks very interesting. So CSS is the NEW html programming ?

So, now I have a whole new bucket of questions to ask you.

1) if I learnt CSS coding and used it on all my templates does Ebay and or Auctiva support this coding ? and if yes, does it mean that any one can view my ebay template auction no matter what PC res they have ~ No matter what browser they use ~ no matter if they have 2 heads and sing along to johnny cash records ?

I love learning new, but still have not figured out html lol.....but I keep on trying.

Looks to me that this new CSS coding is a lot easier to use than html.

2) Is there a difference with CSS and in-line CSS ?

3) If I use the other option on the store tag (the one which does not scroll through all your auctions, but rather sits there flat and the viewer has to click to move the box along) do you think that will load faster ?

4) Do you use the store tag in your auctions ? can I see one of your auctions to see how you set things up ? if you dont want anyone to see your auctions on here, then you can email a link to my email address its rcelliott1@verizon.net



you seem very knowledgable on all topics of coding, and I can not belive you are a novice ?

all I want in life ..besides a big house a flashy car and lots of money hmmmmmm... is to have 1 template that I can use for all my listings that works for 99% of viewers and loads quick.. not alot to ask is it ?

I will just keep using this template without the store tag until I hear back from you with my NEW in-line CSS template. Smile

and, I will walk the plank in my " going out on the town outfit " which consists of a hard hat, wellie boots and purple feather wrap. blindfolded of course !!

Thanks Capt. and thanks Whamm922.. you are so nice to try and help me...

I'll check back later...

Tar ra

Cas
quote:
Originally posted by carolelliott:
Hi Captain,
This is all news to me this CSS thingie ? never heard of it before today to be truthful. So I did some googling and found lots of juicy info on it.
It all looks very interesting.

I'd turn back if I were you...
quote:
So CSS is the NEW html programming ?
More like an add-on. Been around a few years.
quote:

So, now I have a whole new bucket of questions to ask you.
1) if I learnt CSS coding and used it on all my templates does Ebay and or Auctiva support this coding ?


Defintitely sort of. If done right, there isn't a problem (talk about being redundant. Red Face)There are certain things that can be done with CSS that are just not allowed on eBay. If they decide to get nasty about it.
quote:


and if yes, does it mean that any one can view my ebay template auction no matter what PC res they have ~ No matter what browser they use ~ no matter if they have 2 heads and sing along to johnny cash records ?


I would start out with a smaller, easier, more lucrative challenge than that, if I were you. Like, say, brokering a peace deal in the Middle East. In other words, no. But CSS still has some good qualities.

quote:

I love learning new, but still have not figured out html lol.....but I keep on trying.
Looks to me that this new CSS coding is a lot easier to use than html.


Nope. It's the same song, second verse. Either one will make the cheese fall off your cracker, eventually.
quote:
2) Is there a difference with CSS and in-line CSS ?


Yes. Inline is the most tedious, least effective of the three CSS's. I can't remember why I started using it instead of the other two. There was some controversy going on over on the eBay boards about it.
quote:

3) If I use the other option on the store tag (the one which does not scroll through all your auctions, but rather sits there flat and the viewer has to click to move the box along) do you think that will load faster ?
That's one I wouldn't have a clue on. The Auctiva guys could tell you.
quote:
4) Do you use the store tag in your auctions ?

Thus far I haven't, but when I do, it will most likely be "outside" in the middle.
quote:
can I see one of your auctions to see how you set things up ? if you dont want anyone to see your auctions on here, then you can email a link to my email address its rcelliott1@verizon.net[QUOTE]
Are you over 21? I'm just kidding. Yeah I can probably send a link. It will be one I just slapped together for tonight, so it may not be the greatest.
[QUOTE] you seem very knowledgable on all topics of coding, and I can not belive you are a novice?

I know Morse Code, too.
quote:
all I want in life ..besides a big house a flashy car and lots of money hmmmmmm... is to have 1 template that I can use for all my listings that works for 99% of viewers and loads quick.. not alot to ask is it ?
I'd settle for the last one. I've had the first three and all they brought me was heartache. Oops. Pirates don't talk like that, right Sid?
quote:
I will just keep using this template without the store tag until I hear back from you with my NEW in-line CSS template. Smile

Good Idee!
quote:
and, I will walk the plank in my " going out on the town outfit " which consists of a hard hat, wellie boots and purple feather wrap. blindfolded of course !!

Feathers! Now we're getting somewhere!
quote:

Thanks Capt. and thanks Whamm922.. you are so nice to try and help me...

You're painfully welcome.

quote:
Tar ra

Reminds me of an obscene playground song we all sang in the fifth grade.

CB
I would try what wahm recommended. I use the % in formatting my tables so that no matter what screen res the viewer is on it adjusts accordingly to fit their screen. I am currently using 80% on mine. Here is an example.

5057031915

Havne't tried coding with CSS yet - would be something I am interested in learning but I still use table tags LOL. Easier for my slow brain to comprehend, especially with the boys running around screaming at each other.
Hi,

Well I tried everything suggested. Moving the store tag below the template, using a % sign, reducing the table size in my template, I even tried using the html coding for the store tag and reducing that to 80% and inserting that in the bottom of the template, viewing it in a netscape browser,

I tried the "fixed store design" and the scrolling store design, and no matter what I do adding the store causes a scroll to the right of 1/2" or more.

I wrote to the HELP section, they suggest centering it with center tags ?? come on guys !! do you think I didn't do that. I am about ready to give up on this one.

now here's the odd thing. If I view the template in a higher res on my PC it is perfectly centered ???? but 99% of buyers will be viewing ebay auctions in the lower 800 x 600 pre-set res. Most peole do not like to mess around with thier PC settings.
I am looking at the codes you posted earlier Carole. First thing that grabs me is you cannot have all the beginning tables all at 100% You need to lower the % with each nested layer. I would not even use 100% on your very first line. That is the main one that is maximizing your template then the others just follow suit.

I did not realize you were already using the % method until I saw that. I tried 100% and was not happy with mine, If you notice the Auctiva links do not show up nor if you had Bidpay would that logo come up. You have already maxed the screen with your template.

Did you also have more layers? You have more tags in there than what is necessary all with the 100% values.

--------------------------------------------

OK I have checked a couple of my web links and table codes can be confusing. Out of 3 sites they all say to code your nested tables by different methods. The one you are using I did see on Zoicks. Not sure if that is where you got the code from.

Maybe soemone else will come along and have better advice. I tried to take out some of the extra table tags but it looks off so I will leave your template alone. I could spend all day on it but I am not able to do that today.
Last edited by bargainhuntress
quote:
Originally posted by carolelliott:

Well I tried everything suggested. Moving the store tag below the template, using a % sign, reducing the table size in my template, I even tried using the html coding for the store tag and reducing that to 80% and inserting that in the bottom of the template, viewing it in a netscape browser,

If I'm not mistaken, I believe Auctiva's listing preview is causing part of the confusion. It puts a couple of bluish borders around your listing which are not there on eBay. Assuming that you had the ASW (Auctiva's abbreviation for the store window) at the bottom, below all your borders, the width of the bluish borders including the spacing + the width of the ASW makes your template more than 800 px wide.

If you go ahead and post it to eBay, those bluish borders won't be there (at least that's what I'm thinking) and you should be centered without a horizontal scroll bar.

quote:
now here's the odd thing. If I view the template in a higher res on my PC it is perfectly centered ????


That's not odd. It's because at 800x600 your screen is only 800 px wide and your listing is wider than that (due to the reason I mentioned above). At 1024x768 your screen is 1024 pixels wide, which is way more than what your listing needs, so it expands to fill the screen and centers itself in the process.

Someone should question Auctiva as to why the listing preview has those extraneous borders. Even with those removed, you'll still have to keep the ASW outside of those borders of yours, unless/until Auctiva decides to make the ASW's minimum width smaller.

I think it will be a slow day here today, so hopefully I'll get some more time to work on rewriting your template.

CB
After using the Auctiva preview, view source and put it in the practice board and see how it looks there.

No matter how small you amke the store window its not gunna fit no matter what if the template is too wide.

Your screen is only X amount wide and you can only fit X amount on it so if you go over that amount you are gunna get the scrolling of the page.

Put the store tag outside of the template and you should be fine!

Is your template working without the store window? I mean have you added the pictures to it and all but without the store window?

The 100% shouldn't cause a problem - use it in all the tables if you want, that 100% is only for each table and not the whole screen. So using 100% inside of 100% would make the second one olly 100% inside the first one not 100% of the whole thing.

Did that make sense?
quote:
Originally posted by wahm922:
After using the Auctiva preview, view source and put it in the practice board and see how it looks there.


Assuming you are using the "listing preview: that won't be accurate, due to the two extra borders (tables) that I mentioned above.

Here is the offending code. You could actually trim it out of the code after you put it on Practice Board:
<P align="center"><br>
<input class="custom-button" onclick="window.close()" type="button" value="Close Preview"></P>
<P></P>
<div id="pan_Preview">

<DIV class="preview">
<DIV class="previewbrdr1">
<DIV class="previewbrdr2" height="100%">
<TABLE cellSpacing="0" cellPadding="10" width="100%" bgColor="#ffffff" border="0">
<TR>
<TD>
<TABLE cellSpacing="0" cellPadding="1" width="100%" bgColor="#ffffff" border="0">
<TR>
<TD>
<span id="lbl_Category" class="small-print">Primary Category: Baby>Baby Gear>Baby Backpacks</span></TD>

If you delete this you will be able to get the same width as what you would get on eBay. Still need to put the ASW outside your borders anyway, of course.

CB
quote:
Assuming you are using the "listing preview: that won't be accurate, due to the two extra borders (tables) that I mentioned above.


Hi,

Thanks so much for all your help. I am beginning to believe it is the auctiva auction previewing page and the blueish borders that is causing it to scroll.

I am going to try listing a auction, with the store outside the table and see how it looks.

Fingers crossed. Razz I know it is a minor problem, but I want the auction page to look ok. I know when I look at other ebay auctions I hate it when I have to scroll around to view the page.

I'll keep you posted.
thanks everyone.

Wink
Okay, I cobbled together a remake of one of your listings from last week using CSS. It still needs a little more work, but you can take a look at it. I got the ASW up into the border area at 800x600, barely. Personally, I like it better below, until Auctiva gets rid of those big white areas at the sides, if they do. *Then* I could really see putting it up there. But anyway, you can look at it, and see what you think.

http://www.practiceboard.com/?2621427

CB
quote:
Assuming you are using the "listing preview: that won't be accurate, due to the two extra borders (tables) that I mentioned above.


Hi,

Well guess what, !!!! we should give the old captain a good olde slapa on the backa, by jove he figured it out. I am afraid to say that the help desk was a total waste of my time on this one. Confused

The information they offered was way off. I felt as though they were not even reading the questions I was asking.

Anyway, I think the captains answer to this scrolling issue is correct, it is the PREVIEW Page that is causing all the scrolling problems.

Here is a link with my NEW template... wink wink capt.. Wink

http://www.practiceboard.com/?2621489


I removed the coding of the blue borders.... like capt suggested. It worked a treat. So I GUESS NOW I OWE YOU 50 GOLD COINS !! LOL.

The tech guys are still sending me solutions, ( which are not working) I did ask them about the blue borders in the preview page, so far they have not given me an answer to that. ?

I will make an auction now and see how it goes, maybe I won't have to pay you the 50 gold coins yet.. watch this space. lol.
quote:
Originally posted by Capt. Binghamton:
But anyway, you can look at it, and see what you think.
CB


I am totaly overwelmed, I LOVE IT.. Thank you so very much. !!! Smile

It is everything I wanted to do, but I was unable to get it right. And the store is centered !!! whoopieeeeeeeee


You really are so kind to take the trouble and time to fix this for me... I am so very glad I moved over to auctiva and left spare dollar. The friends I am making over here are wonderful.

Thanks Capt... It really is a perfect template for me now.

Big Grin
quote:
But anyway, you can look at it, and see what you think.
CB


Or errr, I have a little problem with it ( the new template you just fixed up for me ) ... sigh I am jinxed .... Roll Eyes

I tried to paste it into auctivas text view and save it, but guess what it gave me this error message:

" You must have one and only one description tag in your template " sigh ....

do you know if there is more than 1 description tag in it ? I really am not confident to mess around with the css coding, after you worked so hard to make it look so nice.

any ideas ?
quote:
Originally posted by carolelliott:
quote:
But anyway, you can look at it, and see what you think.
CB


Or errr, I have a little problem with it ( the new template you just fixed up for me ) ... sigh I am jinxed .... Roll Eyes

I tried to paste it into auctivas text view and save it, but guess what it gave me this error message:

" You must have one and only one description tag in your template " sigh ....

do you know if there is more than 1 description tag in it ? I really am not confident to mess around with the css coding, after you worked so hard to make it look so nice.

any ideas ?


First of all thanks for the nice comments. I keep hoping someone will notice me and make me go into the business.

The reason it says "one and only one" is because it doesn't have *any*. It's looking for a [DESCRIPTION] tag, and there isn't one there.

See, that code is actually the code from your listing, it's not a template. By that I mean it is already hard-coded with your description and your images, etc. To use it for a template, you could just...well, never mind, I should be able to do it better than I can splain it. Keep watching this space.

CB
Okay, this might work a little better. I hope.

http://www.practiceboard.com/?2621739

Be sure that you have the template maker set to "Original Image URL's" when you paste the code.

Two things: I didn't put in a shipping & payment tag -- I just left the table in the code. That can be changed out, of course.

Second, I wasn't sure what kind of store tag you wanted, so I left the store out. When you go into the code, if you look down at the very bottom, you'll see that I marked the spot where you need to put it.

BTW, the store doesn't look too bad in IE, but it still shows those white "elephant ears" in Firefox, and I suspect everything else. Still, it's better than a sharp stick in the eye. Which reminds me of another joke.

Give it a try.

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