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Hi,

If you examine the photos in the Store Window, you'll see that most have a grey-pinkish hue for background behind the model. One exception is the shot with her in the blue dress. Note how the background has a silver-white glow, which is better eye appeal. Also, look at those photo shots of the oriental girl from the other day. Those are uniformly silver-white with only minimal shadow.

That color-shift is a problem with lighting and the camera correcting for white. Most digital cams have setting called "White Balance". That setting on my cam allows me to set the cam for Auto Mode, Daylight, Tungsten, and Fluorescent lights. That setting is one to check and possiblity to help turn that grey-pink to silver-white.

I had that problem too, when I first started working with my cam. Unfortunately, Auto Mode doesn't always get it right.

Danno

Edit: Tag Line simplified and added with some minor changes to aesthetics and new links at bottom.

http://practicewriter.com/vu/?5302D

Are you using the Auctiva Insurance?
Last edited by danno
Good evening,
It is interesting that you differentiated the blue dress pic from all the others...that shot was taken by a professional photographer with professional setup.

The rest were taken by me with my makeshift setup. My camera is a Kodak easy share and does not offer the settings you speak of.

I am using the fluorescent bulbs that cameraJim recommends on the ebay forums.

I am shooting in the evenings, which adds to the problem, no doubt.

No, I do not offer the insurance...because I don't like putting the customers through the extra step of the Auctiva checkout.

The template looks awesome, but I am requesting one change. Everywhere that you have used true black (the fonts colors as well as the boxes around shipping, etc), would you please change that to a softer black, ie, dark charcoal or something softer?

For reference, on the one page lister, I use the black color that is the first one, last column on the right offered in the text color change box, and in the background color change box.

I hope to be able to use this template to start listings later this evening, that will launch on Thursday and Friday!

Debo
Hi Deb,

Good afternoon.

Mine's a Kodak EasyShare Z760. My "White Balance" setting is on the dial selection for "C" / custom. Which cam do you have and have you checked it's manual?

I had my oldest daughter glance at the pictures. Her immediate response was "color balance" problem. She's a studio photographer and is currently managing a lab for Cord.

I used the Insurance for 3 years. You don't need Auctiva checkout for the insurance.

One thing that had me puzzled was your statement about my question on templates. A change to a template causes an instant change to all Saved Listings using the template. I'm wondering if that misconception is why you're using multiple templates, i.e. duplicating the same template.

Did you notice I softened the black with white border on last pass?

Danno

Edit: I changed the black on the headers to a dark charcoal #333333, which is a color in the upper portion of the lower store banner. I also toggled that color on the parms for the Store Window for effect. I spent some time and created a CSS Style Sheet at the bottom of the template. To change that #333333 code for all the header bars, now only requires changing a single code in the style sheet. Same for the grays in the template. I converted the Zone and Indulge jpegs to gifs with transparent backgrounds. You can now use them on ANY BACKGROUND.

I've commented-out the Auctiva and Marquee in the code, so you can simply uncomment to activate when/if needed.

http://practicewriter.com/vu/?5302D

This version has the test Store Window code removed for copy-paste to the template lib.

http://practicewriter.com/vu/?532A9

The Zone and Indulge gifs need to be saved and uploaded to your photo site and the URLs changed in the template. Not Auctiva, as their gif upload isn't working.

http://i432.photobucket.com/albums/qq45/ClixTrix/indiepashion2-1.gif

http://i432.photobucket.com/albums/qq45/ClixTrix/indulge.gif

You also need to save your small Store logo to (other than Etsy) and change it's URL in the template.
Last edited by danno
Good Morning and Happy Thanksgiving,

I was up at 5 and finished integrating the backgrounds and text colors to the Style Sheet. I also added some comments in that section to make it easier to understand them. I'm hoping that gives you the maximum flexibility and ease to make any tweaks for colors to final design.

This is an update for those changes:

http://practicewriter.com/vu/?532A9

Make sure you remove the new Description code and the Seller Detail Shipping code and paste them to those areas at Auctiva for use.

Let me know if you need help adjusting the Store Window pallet settings for the new design.

Danno

Edit: Try this banner for your Etsy Store. "Less is More."

Last edited by danno
Hi Danno!
Ok, hope you had a great Thanksgiving weekend!
I am going to get back in the groove of this now, and attempt to use "our" new template for the listings new this p.m.

I am going through your last 2 posts section by section.

The first, u wrote:

One thing that had me puzzled was your statement about my question on templates. A change to a template causes an instant change to all Saved Listings using the template. I'm wondering if that misconception is why you're using multiple templates, i.e. duplicating the same template.

I think we r talking about 2 different things here. I am talking about the cat and the shipping cost of say, a dress vs a coat. I am using the same template for each, but I save and use a different 1 page lister form with the cat # and ship $ for saved for each type of thing I list, so that I don't have to change it when I switch from a dress to a coat. Does that make sense?

Deb
I have saved your gifs to my computer and will upload them to my photobucket, and switch them out in the practicewriter, before I copy the template code.

I really like the softer gray you used around the ship, etc headers, thank you!

I see what you mean about the bottom banner. With my old big banner, the bottom banner which I used from etsy was completely different. Now, the lower banner is just a repeat of the flash banner, thanks for catching that! I may remove it completely.
Hi Deb,

I just wanted to make sure you weren't making extra work for yourself by thinking you can't change a template after creating a Saved Listing and not have it update the Saved Listing.

The 2nd practicewriter link on the 26th was updated by the changes. I just reposted that link on 27th (same link) as very last to make sure it was recoginized as the current and final.

Glad you like the changes. I knew you wanted softening (so did I but I was conflicted by that glaring techno, hard-edge top banner), but was trying to match a gray that was semi-dominant in the lower banner. I took an approximate mid-gray from just right of and above the girl with cell phone using my color detector widget. Smile

I had my younger daughter (21 yo) check out the changes and page yesterday. Got a thumbs up on the changes. She also likes the new mini-banner I posted better. I think it now says....a sophisticated young woman has both her conservative and quirky style needs and SHOPS AT 658 for both....i.e. that young woman in front and behind to left is one in the same woman.

Dan
Last edited by danno
Danno, you crack me up...didn't know you were so stylish!
I will change out the lower banners to the one you created, thank you

When I get a live auction, which I usually have launch around 10 p.m. (your bedtime, LOL!), I will post the link here so you can see it when you wake up!

I am investigating a new camera, one that will allow me to set the white balance. I did add more daylight CFLs to this week's shoot and I thought the background paper looked whiter, but what do I know! So those are the pics you will see in tonight's listings.

Off to buy more tissue paper, woke up to a really nice BIN of $190 on one of my dresses!

Deb
Hi!
Just finished copying the template and switching out the 3 pics. Saved and previewed the template on auctiva.
question is: on practicewriter, the about us and contact us links mouseover to a nice green...in preview on Auctiva, they are showing a neon blue that when clicked then changes to a violet...what did I do wrong in copying and pasting the template code?
Hi,

My error. I think it's (hopefully) a simple one.

Change the word Atemplate in the very first line of code to ATemplate. The "T" should be a cap T. That line would then read:

<table align="center" id="ATemplate" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0">

It worked for my quick check in my template lib. I also just fixed it on the practicewriter as a double-check.

Danno

Edit: One of those weird typos my codetester never seems to catch. Sorry....
Hi,

Well....the browsers are fairly forgiving on case sensitive code, but Auctiva's template editor isn't. That's the CSS ID for that Table, which is the whole template. The CSS sheet at the bottom has the "T" capped.

I had to really "truck" to get that last set of code changes ready on Thursday morning for your deadline.....so I did take a few shortcuts. I'm hoping that's the only minor glitch. If preview shows any others, let me know.

I'll also check the listings for any touch-ups.

Danno
I saved the shipping terms as you enhanced them to my seller details form, wrote a return policy under [Terms of Service] and copied the payment info, contact us, about us to the seller details form as well.

When I preview the one listing I've done this eve, I can see the payment detail, and the about us detail. The shipping, terms of service, and contact us all show thus: [SHIPPING], [TERMS OF SERVICE], [CONTACT US] (with the html placeholders)

I will not launch a listing until you can check this out. I know it is 6 minutes to your bedtime!
TA DA!
Everything showing in listing preview...mouseovers all a pretty green color...you are awesome! I really love all the touches you put on the template.

I noticed in the code that you left the free ship marquee in but disabled it, same with the auctiva insurance. So if I decide on what/how I want to add that, I will visit you here again for instructions on how to get it showing again!

I really appreciate all of your time and effort on my behalf, may I ship you a vintage dress free of charge?! LOL, well maybe your daughter(s) would like one!

Take care,

Deborah
Hi again,

Here's my quick list of problems on the 1st listing:

1. The Description section appears to not have gotten the updates from the last pass, i.e. new code wasn't cut and pasted for use. Table backgrounds are wrong colors. They should be "#C5C6CB". The replacement table had NA as placeholders for the text. I also think I made a correction to the Shoulder width entry to get it centered (note it's displaying left of center). You could use the old table and just locate all the old color codes and update them and add that align for center.

2. The word International isn't in correct font size on Shipping section. Looks like the rest of the text may be smaller than test too. The text colors appear lighter than intended, so aren't as readable as the test examples. I'm guessing there may be some stray font codes in those Seller details as cause. You'll need to examine the Seller Details one by one for extra code.

3. The lower boxes aren't dropping evenly side-by-side. That's not necessarily a problem, but wan't intended. It's probably from my effort to quickly pull down the style codes to the new bottom style sheet.

4. The lightness of background in the upper pic gives the eye a feeling of loss in organization. My monitor is possibly higher res setting than yours, so the wider white-white border at left may be the difference in what I see. I can add back borders to main and maybe thumbs, if that will help.

5. The wall looks like it belongs there. Smile I would consider using a white border for the wall to give it balance with the other surrounding elements with white borders. Text "Search my Items" is also washed-out and search button has a blue glow color. The word "discoun" is missing "t". That banner is definitely better. I proportioned the gifs for the old. It might help to slightly lower their sizes or have your graphics person redo the banner to a larger size for this purpose.

6. Are you using the Kodak Easyshare software to process the pics (which I use too)? It has some color correcting capability that might help. Getting the colors right also helps the clothes.

Yes....I'm picky. hehe It's the eye for detail.

Danno
Last edited by danno
Hi there!

I read through all of your points and fixed everything.

I could not get the Auctiva color change capability to work on the store window, so I had to look up some colors and insert their number manually. I darkened the wall background, as there was no option to darken the 'search my items' text. I think I fixed the blue around the search button as well.

As far as my pics and the way they look, they are going to be the best I can do without having a new camera and lighting setup. I do not have a lot of time to fiddle with the pics before I upload, with all of the work I do on the clothing, both the vintage and the items I design myself.

I will probably list some more items this eve, and will again post a new auction for your morning coffee viewing pleasure!

Deb
Hi Deb,

I've been testing a fix to that uneven lower boxes bug. It was due to CSS codes move. I can give you an update with just pure template code (no cut and paste of Description or Seller Details), if you want that fix. You'd simply copy and paste that code to replace the code in the template editor. Let me know if you want me to post an update.

I think by my tests you were using the default gray in the Store windows settings. I was toggling the settings in the actual code, but this list seems to be close to those settings:

Gallery Border 0xFFFFFF (white)
Main Background 0x333333 (dark gray)
Title Text 0x333333 (dark gray)
Item Backgrounds 0xFFFFFF (not changable)
Navigations Buttons 0x79E262 (neon green)

The 333333 is the color in the lower section headers.

Danno
Hi,
Yes, I would like to fix the boxes, so just that code, and please be sure to tell me where to paste it.

The store window color selection was really wonky...if I wanted red or blue, that was all that I could access! The color slider just wouldn't work.
I had to pull up a hex chart and manually enter in a gray that was dark enough to allow the 'search my items' to show up against it.
Hi Deb,

This code replaces your current template code.

Just delete all the code in the template editor for current template and copy - paste this code to replace.

http://practicewriter.com/vu/?5371E

The code is tested with IE7 Firefox 3 and Safari 3.2. There is a minor visual bug with Auctiva Store Window in browsing with FF3 / Safari 3.2. The Store has a white background field surrounding the Store Windows (like a mat). That's a bug that was reported to Auctiva and I think they responded there isn't a simple fix due to how FF3 and Safari 3.2 treat the EMBED element. I'm looking for work-arounds. It's not a show-stopper, just one of those annoying visual aesthetic glitches that some browsers do.

If Neil or any of the other Auctiva folks are monitoring the thread, I'm finding the only fix is adding the bgcolor to either EMBED or the SW parms. If that was your conclusion as well, does moving ALL the code for the Store Window to the template to add the code present the only functional fix, other than some added script for the bgcolor for a rewrite during load? Have you folks considered something like...

[STORE_WINDOW;bgcolor=FF0000]

Danno
Last edited by danno
Hi Danno,

I didn't forget about you, it has just been sooooo slow w selling, I've taken the opportunity to work around the house instead of sitting here!

I did copy and replace the last bit of code in your last post, thank you. The boxes at the bottom are all lined up!

Here would be a link to a listing using the finalized coding for the template:

Looks good to me!

What say you?

I cannot make the blue go away around the search button on the store wall...something in their system, and no biggie.

I think you do FABULOUS work and should be selling your template designs on the side!

Did you decide which dress would look good on you?? Big Grin

Deb
Hi Deb,

Glad you like the design. I'm doing it "again" for another seller (not monochromatic). I'm trying to work-up a "set" of thumbnail templates around the "at a glance" and "SophieBox" design concepts. SophieBox is essentially an integration of the item description elements on a single screen, i.e. no paging down / scrolling to see everything necesary for an initial buy / no buy decision on an item. That would include the description and any "essential" information regarding the item, CHOICE when a choice of color, sizes, etc. are involved, and INVENTORY (the biggie) for the new retail paradigm at eBay. With the new (stupid) only 10 items in quantity showing policy, it's become a Seller's nightmare with buyers constantly messaging about in / out stock. Oh....and Sophie is my cat, and the probable ClixTrix Design Studio future logo. BTW....does a "catwalk" button in the design sound interesting. If you don't know what that is, ask your model to do one. Big Grin

Template design is for fun. I get to do my artsie thing...hehe You should see me decorate a house. Programming is what makes a living, including patent royalties.

I honestly pledged not to accept money (or gratuities) from Auctiva members for assisting in the Forum. I'm (to be honest) PO'ed with eBay's insantity and "destructive desecration" of the site. The 33% drop yoy in hits tells me I'm not the only person offended or simply turned-off by their actions. It boggles my mind that the one element on the entire site that should be FOCUSED and FUNCTIONAL, the listing page, is being turned into a disfunctional, Rube Goldburg award candidate. My intell suggestes they literally exhausted their budget trying to make it work. Don't even get me started on the problems with Search, which stopped me COLD selling collectibles last spring.

Danno

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