Templettes are Mini Auction Templates for eBay Inserts.

If you are trying to make the move from plain vanilla listings, and want to add just a bit more character without getting into complicated page design, free "templettes" may be just the solution. "Templettes" are real auction templates designed on a miniature scale; and they don't require any knowledge of HTML. So they are the perfect transitional step if you want to eventually migrate to real templates. Mini Templettes are not for everyone, as they can only be used as Inserts by sellers who are listing with Internet Explorer, Firefox, or TurboLister. The key to using a "templette" is the integration of the enhanced text editor that is found in TurboLister or in eBay's Sell Your Item (SYI) online listing form. Templettes are designed to be added to the Inserts available in either of those two tools.

♦ What is an Insert?

Users with TurboLister, Internet Explorer, or Firefox have the auction "Inserts" option available to them. "Inserts" are code snippets that are saved by the listing tool and can be added into listings to speed entry of repetitive data. eBay has a few default Inserts, and allows users to define some of their own.

• eBay allows up to 5 user-defined Inserts.
• Each can contain up to 1000 characters.
• A "templette" will fit into one insert.

♦ How to use an Insert

On the listing form or within TurboLister, select the option to "Create an Insert." A popup window will provide slots for naming your Insert and for adding the code. Copy and paste the code for an insert into the popup text window and save it with a meaningful name, like "background" or "Spring Border".


To employ the saved templette, select it from the Inserts list prior to adding the auction description. Inserts can be used identically on either the "Standard" tab or the "HTML" tab, so go ahead and select it from the Standard tab when you are ready to use it.



The nice thing about using "Templettes" as Inserts is that you will see the real border or background right there. Be sure you are looking at the regular Design View in TurboLister or the Standard tab on the SYI form, where you can see the pretty results, and click to add the Insert BEFORE you start typing your description.

♦ Make or get your own Templette

You can make your own if you know HTML coding, or you can pick up a free Templette from any of the designers contributing to the templette forum. A summary gallery of templettes is also available at http://www.isdntek.com/demo/templette/templates.htm or on my ME page, where I also maintain an extensive list of free sites for simple templates as well as links to eBay template designers.

A couple of sample templettes are provided below. To use one, simply highlight the code with your mouse and right-click "copy". You may then right-click "paste" it into the "Insert" popup on the listing form.
The first sample templette contains an embedded image tile that is permanently hosted with the template. It creates the wheat border and is used to make the dividers for the three sections. The title is separate, while the rest of the text must be tagged and formatted using the editor tools. The second templette utilizes a series of nested blue borders and there are no images in the border design. However, it does display image slots for three photos. They can be removed in the design view by clicking and deleting them. The font is set in a style sheet and can be seen in the preview. The font style can be changed by tagging the font differently in the editor.

♦ Templettes can be used as normal templates

You are not limited to using templettes in an insert. If you don't have Internet Explorer, Firefox, or Turbo Lister, or if you would just like to edit your auction outside of the listing form, you may paste your templette into this free online editor . The editor works with newer browsers and is very similar to eBay's editor, so that you can see the pretty results of what you are typing. You can even paste formatted text and online photos into the page.

The Design Challenge for "Templette" Creators

Here is the challenge:  Can designers come up with a tidy little auction template that will fit into an Insert? A templette? Background images provided with the templettes should be anonymously hosted or permanently hosted by the author, as the user is not expected to modify the HTML. Due to the size limitation, there is a benefit to short URLs, so http://www.tinypic.com might make sense if you don't normally host graphics. I am maintaining a page to host templettes and have provided a link to it on my ME page; so if you are a template designer, please post your sample to the forum for inclusion in this growing list: http://www.isdntek.com/demo/templette/templates.htm

♦ Coding an Insert

When an Insert is used in the listing form, the Internet Explorer browser will strip out the non-essential quotes around attributes, so we can save space by not including them. eBay will count an invisible linebreak as two characters (FF/NS/Gecko counts it as one, and IE6 counts it as 2), so we can squeeze code if necessary by running it on one line. There is a character counter and code compressor on the PracticePoster.

In both the Enhanced SYI Editor and TurboLister, the HTML code is rewritten when the user flips back and forth between the Standard (WYSIWYG) editing tab and the HTML tab. Header codes are removed by the editor, so tags like HTML, HEAD, TITLE, META, BODY, STYLE, SCRIPT, etc will disappear in the process.

To have access to Inserts, users will, by default, be using Internet Explorer, Firefox, or TurboLister. All three allow adding images without coding them. When an image is pasted from a browser window into the SYI form's RTE (RichTextEditor), the entire underlying image code is replaced. Therefore the alignment, spacing, and sizing arranged within an image tag are lost. A DIV wrapper can be used to align an image and tricky styling could be used to force sizing. The RTE has pullers on the image so that it can be manually resized onscreen; however, it has no lock for aspect ratio.

     Parameters for Coding a Templette:

• Code should be less than 1000 characters.
  • FF/NS/Gecko browsers count linefeeds as 1 character.
  • IE and eBay count linefeeds as 2 characters.
  • Remove tabs, spaces, linefeeds and unneeded quotes to reduce size.
• Users will edit with TurboLister, Internet Explorer, or Firefox on the SYI form.
• Header tags and quotes are removed by eBay's editor, so they have no place in a templette.
• Inline CSS and inline scripts are maintained when the user flips screens.
• CSS style blocks & scripts will work if added to end of code.
• Expect templette users to never touch the HTML.
• Links can't be added or managed in the online form's WYSIWYG editor, so avoid them.
• There is generally no room for comments in the code, so simplify the use as much as possible.
• The user will have all the features of the editor, so there is no need for a lot of text tagging.
• Templette users may typically need the structural and layout help of the templette more than the text features.
• Since users won't touch the HTML, images and tiles should be permanently hosted. A free anonymous host like tinypic.com can be used if you don't normally host graphics.

Template designers who would like to provide free templettes and participate in the free exposure may post submissions to the Templette forum.

Special thanks to the members who have thus far offered templettes, feedback, or advice for this effort.

 

Please see my other guides for Auction Template help, Page Design Basics, and useful tidbits:

The About ME page design series:

Auction Template Help:

eBay Guide & Blog Help:

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