posted on March 17, 2006 12:26:16 PM new
Ebay has just rolled out the ability to show our side navigation bars for ebay stores in our regular listings. The vendio templates are too wide to accomodate this. Is there a way to resize the templates to about 650 pixels wide?
Here is an example of a listing using the side bar: 6044723640 (not mine)
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posted on March 17, 2006 02:41:18 PM new
Yes, please address this new feature.
It is definitely a highly desirable feature for eBay store sellers, but it is also not desirable to have potential bidders need to scroll to see the photos. (I do my photos running down the right side.)
I hope we will not need to make a choice between the side navigation menu and a non-scrolling template.
A suggestion:
Would it be possible to program in a size option for each of our current templates, so that they would not need to all be re-done?
I really do cringe at the thought of having to spend a day to redo my templates from scratch.
Thanks,
Susan
[ edited by wgonzales on Mar 17, 2006 02:42 PM ]
posted on March 17, 2006 10:10:31 PM new
Looks like eBay has thrown in another kink. This is another item that Vendio needs to address. eBay is subtley trying to get everyone to use the Blackthorne crap they have for a listing service.
posted on March 18, 2006 05:54:31 AM new
Here's what ebay writes about templates:
Using the Left-Navigation Bar in Your Listings
Because using the left-navigation bar increases the width of your item pages, please consider the following if you use the left-navigation bar feature:
Buyers will need to scroll to view your entire description area; however, buyers can view the entire description if they open your page in a larger window.
To display your entire description without requiring buyers to scroll, you should:
* Avoid using fixed-width tables and table cells in your HTML (especially tables that are 700 pixels or wider).
* Avoid combining very large images with description text on the same line. Instead, place text above or below large images in your description area.
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Do you have an example where the buyer has to scroll through the listing? I believe that this should be correctable as long as the image in the listing is 650 pixels in width or less, but I would be more than happy to look into this further if there is an example I can take a look at where this is not the case.
posted on March 18, 2006 05:20:38 PM new
Nathan, just go to any of my auctions tonight.
I have changed the setting to show the left navigation bar.
As soon as you take it a look, I will change it back to avoid the scroll.
Thanks,
Susan
I took a look at your active auctions, but unfortunately I was not able to see the side navigation bar. Could you please confirm one of the listing numbers that now has the side navigation bar, so that I can take a closer look? Thank you very much for your help.
I was able to see the side navigation bar on this listing, but I did not need to scroll when I pulled up the listing on my computer. This may be because of my browser settings. I will take a closer look at this, and I hope to have an update on Monday.
Sorry for the delay. Technically it isn't really the width of the templates themselves, rather the layout of the images that will make the difference as the templates will resize to fit the page.
If you select the image layout where the images are either on top or on the bottom of the window (not running along the side of the text) - it shouldn't be too wide to fit the page.
The other consideration is the size of your images. The 'click to enlarge' option would be best used if your original images are more than 500 pixels wide or so.
You can adjust the image layout of the templates your using via the My Account page, under the Custom Templates link found within.
If your already using a template like the examples above (where the images are either at the top or the bottom) and still having trouble with the width of the page please let us know.
In the list of image layout options, the ones that will most likely look the best would be the 'stacked on top' or 'stacked on bottom.'
To give you an idea of what this looks like, here is a sample item with the left nav bar where the images used are displayed at their full size:
Note how the width of the images being displayed is going to force this template to be scrolled on any small monitors (or screen settings.) - while I could see this whole ad without scrolling before I made the window this small, users with smaller monitors would need to scroll to view it properly. In this case the template itself won't play into how this is being displayed.
This next example is using the same template with the left nav and the same images, except these are being scaled down with the 'click to enlarge' option on them. This is also a template I setup with the 'stacked on top' image layout selected.
Note that while I did make the window very small, the template has resized itself to fit into this window without the need to scroll to see the rest of the ad.
Again, you can change the image layout via the My Account page, under the Custom Templates link. You can enable the 'click to enlarge' feature for your images via the Global Preferences page.
If you prefer to display your images at their full size, but your images are a bit too wide to dispay this way - note that you can use a tool built into Windows XP to upload your images to Vendio and resize them in bulk at the same time. This would allow you to use your full sized images in the ads (using the 'stacked on top/bottom layout) and still avoid the need to scroll left/right.
You can download that tool via the Image Hosting page, via the XPress Publisher link on the submenu.
Let us know if you have any other questions on how to set this up.
Regards,
Christopher
[ edited by ChristopherCS on Mar 22, 2006 10:43 AM ]
posted on March 22, 2006 05:27:14 PM new
I generally use too many photos to make the all at top make sense. All at bottom is not a good idea either. The photos running down the side makes the most sense for my items.
And all my images have always used the 'click to enlarge' option.
So while I appreciate all the illustrations of full size and "click to enlarge", since all my photos are already "click to enlarge" size, really what you seem to be telling me is that unless I want to use the all at top template (and I don't), I am out of luck.
Also if you look at auction 6616008471, I have used only one photo (a rarity for me!), it is at the top and it is click to enlarge, but scrolling is still neccesary to see the entire template.
On the eBay board someone said that you could reset the templates to a smaller size to make them work. Is this so? If so, how would I do it?
Thanks,
Susan
[ edited by wgonzales on Mar 22, 2006 05:27 PM ]
No worries, my tips and suggestions on how to make this work better are not a means of saying that your all outta luck.
One thing I happened to notice when checking out this sample item is that it may be the gallery at the bottom that causes you to have to scroll right/left.
It looks like once you try to view it on a display any smaller than 970 pixels wide, that is when you begin the need to scroll.
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I just tested this by adding the marquee gallery to that test item you see the screenshot for above, and the exact same thing happens - it starts the need to scroll once you make the window smaller than 970 pixels.
While most all monitors will not require one to scroll, anyone using the very smallest monitor or screen resolution option (800 X 600) will have to scroll right/left to view the full listing. Every resoltion over this setting would fit no problem. (1024 pixels being the next width option)
So we know the templates are ok on their own without the gallery, im not sure where to go from here. I'll pass along a note to the engineering guys to see if maybe (just taking a random guess at possible solutions) we could build a small gallery option for users to run instead of the normal one we offer currently.
Any suggestions anyone else has on this are of course welcome.
posted on March 23, 2006 07:00:24 PM new
please please please someone help
My listings are posting ebay as if they've been on steroids! The listings are just too big. What's the use of vendio if the listings are so difficult to see at one time that a potential bidder will say why bother? Check out this auction to see what I mean: eBay# 7401420634.
If I can't get this to work, I may have to join BlackThorne and I really don't want to do that. What can I do? Help! Thanks.
posted on March 24, 2006 06:04:31 AM new
netzaar
go to the main page on the left there is a place called images click there and somewhere in that section you will find a choice to resize your images. then when you list the images will size up to the template
posted on March 27, 2006 11:39:36 AM new
Hello netzaar,
As rpm mentioned, you will want to scale down your images. Additionally, you will not want to display your larger images side by side like this.
To scale down your future images go to the My Account page and click the Global Preferences link found within.
Scroll to the bottom of the page and check the box to scale down your larger images.
This prefernce is enabled at the time the images are attached though, so when you go to relist this item you will want to 'edit' first and then detatch and reattach your photos.
