When creating an eBay listing, much of the text of the listing is usually the same for every listing. There will be some part of the description that is different for each item, but the shipping message, payment message, tax message and many other components are repeated in every listing. Ad Templates are designed to minimize the amount of data entry you do entering these duplicate messages.
With an Ad Template, you specify all the common text in the template and intersperse tags where the unique data should be placed. By creating an Ad Template and applying it to your item, you will simply need to enter the unique description and not all of the other text.
eBay Blackthorne comes with two pre-made Ad Templates that you can use to generate your listing layout. The Simple Ad Template provides no additional text. It simply has a [[Description]] tag that gets replaced with whatever you enter in the Description field in your item record. The Enhanced Ad Template contains the [[Title]], [[SubTitle]] and several other messages that you can customize.
One of the first things you will want to do to customize eB for your business is to create your own Ad Template . It will give your listings a personal touch. From the Options window, you can create new ad templates, duplicate existing templates, delete templates or rename templates. See Templates for more information on managing your templates. The Ad Template Studio is where you will edit your Ad Templates.
Within the Ad Template Studio, you can customize the text that is included in your template using a WYSIWYG editor. Interspersed with your text, you can insert field tags to act as a placeholder for information that comes from your database. When the listings are generated, your text is merged with the data from your database to create a complete listing. You can also maintain and use common strings known as Global AutoText. Inserting Global AutoText is an easy way to get a common string or paragraph into an Ad Template.
If you are familiar with HTML, you can view and edit the source HTML if you desire. You can also modify some of the layout options including the image placement, image width and the counter to use.
Editing an Ad Template is performed in the Ad Template Studio. The Ad Template Studio is a WYSIWYG editor that allows you to create the custom text for your listing Ad.
From Tools|Options choose Templates|Ad Templates.
Select the template you would like to edit from the list and click the Edit button.
You could also edit the Ad Template by clicking the Edit button next to the Ad Template input box on the Item Entry pane.
The Ad Template Studio will open with your template loaded.
By changing the tab at the bottom, you can view your Ad Template in a number of different formats.
The Design View is a WYSIWYG HTML Editor that lets you view your text in a semi-formatted layout. This mode is used to create your template. The HTML View will show you the raw HTML source of the Ad Template. It is available as a reference or if you want to add your own custom HTML to the template. The Preview will show you what your formatted listing will look like when it is submitted. If you are editing your Ad Template from the Options window, all Field tags will be resolved using a sample record from your database.
Spell checking is not enabled in the Design View since the Design View is supposed to show exactly what will be displayed and the red wavy lines violate that rule. However, you can spell check in the HTML View. HTML tags will be ignored by the spell checker. See "Spell Checking" for information on using the spell checker.
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You can enter plain text or HTML on the HTML View tab. When using HTML however, you must ensure it adheres to eBay guidelines for HTML and Javascript. |
In the Ad Template Studio, you create the text for your listing in the Design View editor. You can add text anywhere in the editor. You can add formatting by placing your cursor or selecting text and then clicking on one of the format buttons on the toolbar. The buttons perform the following formatting:
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Description |
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Cut the selected text |
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Copy the selected text |
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Paste the selected text |
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Undo the last action |
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Redo the last action |
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Make the selected text bold |
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Italicize the selected text |
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Underscore the selected text |
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Set the font |
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Remove all formatting from the selected text |
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Set the Font Color or the Background Color |
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Increase the size of the selected text |
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Decrease the size of the selected text |
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Left align the selected text |
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Center the selected text |
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Right align the selected text |
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Increase Indent |
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Decrease Indent |
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Start/Stop an numbered list |
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Start/Stop a bulleted list |
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Insert a horizontal line |
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Insert a table |
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Insert a hyperlink |
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Perform a search and replace |
In addition to the toolbar, all of these common functions as well as several other common functions can be accessed from a context menu by right-clicking anywhere in the Design View editor. Some of the additional features under the menu include:
Edit|Find and Replace - Performs a search and replace.
Formatting|(Normal/Heading1-Heading5/Formatted) - Sets the heading level for hierarchical titling.
Document|Properties|Background Color - Sets the background color of the document.
Document|Open - Opens an HTML file in the Design View editor.
Document|Save As - Saves the current file being edited.
Document|Print - Prints the current HTML file being edited.
Document|Toolbar - Toggles the display of the toolbar.
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In the Design View, the Enter key will start a new paragraph which performs double spacing. To get a single line break, use Shift-Enter. |
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You can also drag any text file (with or without HTML in it) directly onto the Design View to load it. |
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Robert has been conversing with Sylvia on the eBay Blackthorne Discussion board about the great new Ad Template he has created. Sylvia asks Robert if she can use it to. Robert opens the Ad Template, right clicks the Design View and selects Document|Save As to save his template. He calls the file ForSylvia.htm and sends it to her. When she receives the file, she creates a new, empty Ad Template and drags the ForSylvia.htm file onto the Design View and the new template is there. |
Item Field Tags allow you to create a placeholder in your Ad Template for information that will be filled in from your database when the listing is created. Item Field Tags appear with double brackets ([[ ]]) around them.
In this example, [[Title]] and [[Description]] are Item Field Tags. When the listing is created, the Title and Description from the item record will replace the item field tags. The result will look like something like this:
Notice the Item Field Tags were replaced, and the "Shoe Size Conversion Table" text and table remained as specified in the template.
Place your cursor at the location where the tag is to be entered.
Select the field you would like to enter from the Item Fields list and click the Insert Field button. Your tag will appear in the editor. You can also simply double-click the field to enter it at the cursor location.
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When applying any formatting to an Item Field Tag such as bold or font changes, make sure the entire tag is selected before applying the formatting. If only a portion of the tag is selected, then the HTML will split the tag and cause it to not resolve properly. |
By using Custom Fields from the items record, you can make your Ad Templates even more intelligent. For instance, if you sell T-Shirts, you might create an Item with the following Item Details.
Notice there is no description, and it uses an Ad Template called Hanes T-Shirts. You can then use the Custom 1 field for the size, and Custom 2 for color. As you enter a new item, you might put XL in Custom 1 and Heather Gray in Custom 2.
You can then have these values dynamically entered into your listing by using the [[ItemsCustom1]] and [[ItemsCustom2]] variables in your Ad Templates. The following template...
... would look like this when formatted.
If there are only a few different variations in your listings, you could replace your Description with just a few Custom fields.
There are often large chunks of text that you tend to include repeatedly in your communications and listings. You may have a paragraph describing how and when you ship that you include in several different email messages and your listings. By placing that text into a Global AutoText variable, you can easily add this text to any email message or listing.
Global AutoText can also be used to add commonly used scripts to your listings. A Global AutoText called "Countdown" has been provided so you can include a countdown message in your listings. i.e. "Only 21 more days until Christmas!!!". It is easily modifiable to other special days by following the inline comments.
Place your cursor at the location where the Global AutoText is to be entered.
Select the Global AutoText you would like to enter from the Global AutoText list then click the Insert AutoText button. Your tag will appear in the editor. You can also simply double-click the Global AutoText to enter it at the cursor location.
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When applying any formatting to a Global AutoText such as bold or font changes, make sure the entire tag is selected before applying the formatting. If only a portion of the tag is selected, then the HTML will split the tag and cause it to not resolve properly. |
You can also edit existing Global AutoTexts or even add new ones.
Select the Global AutoText you would like to edit from the Global AutoText list.
Click the Edit AutoText button. The Edit AutoText window will appear.
The requested AutoText will be selected from the list on the left, and the text will appear in the edit box. Make any modifications you desire.
You can also select any other AutoText from the list on the left and edit it at this time.
If desired, use the New button to create a new AutoText, the Duplicate button to duplicate an existing AutoText, the Rename button to rename an existing one, or the Delete button to remove an AutoText.
The Edit... button will open a WYSIWYG editor to give you more control over the creation of your AutoText.
Click OK when you are finished.
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If you want to use HTML formatting in your GAT, you can double click the text entry box to open an HTML editor. |
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You can nest Global AutoTexts. In other words, GAT's can contain other GAT's. You can also include Item Field Tags in a Global AutoText. |
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The same set of Global AutoTexts are shared between Email Templates and Ad Templates. |
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If you change the name of a Global AutoText, all occurrences of it in the Ad and Email templates will be changed automatically. |
Most of the GAT's are simply string replacements, but some JavaScript GAT's have been included. A JavaScript GAT can add special formatting to your listings using JavaScript code. You can often easily change some of the parameters of its behavior by modifying the GAT as described in the comments at the top of each GAT. They are described in the following table.
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Description |
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Countdown |
Displays a countdown to a special day. You can set the special day and the colors of the messages. |
You are also free to create any other JavaScript GAT's you can think of. If you create one and would like us to consider including it in future versions, just send it to us.
There are several options you can set for your Ad Template. These can be changed from the Options tab at the bottom of the Ad Template Studio.
The image layout setting lets you determine where your images will be located. The sample images show how the layout will appear. The Standard, Right, Bottom, Left and Top placements are straightforward. The Manual placement requires a little bit of explanation.
If one of the provided image placements does not meet your needs and you want a more customized location for your images, then you will use the Manual Image Layout. When using Manual, eBay Blackthorne will not place any images into your listing automatically. Instead, you must add [[Picture1]] - [[Picture12]] tags where you would like the images to be placed.
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Emily wants her listing to have the Title, SubTitle and Description at the top. She would then like her first image to appear followed by a shoe size chart and the rest of her shipping and payment info. Since there is no image layout that supports this, she chooses the manual layout and modifies her Ad Template to contain a [[Picture1]] tag like this:
When formatted, the picture appears where she requested it.
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When displayed, images can be set to show in their original width, or a custom width in pixels. Pixels are units of screen measurement. An 800x600 monitor is 800 pixels wide and 600 pixels high. If you set a custom image width, then all your images will be the same width. This can be used to give your listing a more uniform look, or if you want to simulate thumbnails and fit more pictures on the screen at once.
When the image width is set to a custom image, the viewer can get an actual sized image by clicking on the image.
There are four options for including a counter in your listing. Counters are provided by eBay; however, eBay does not return the counter values to eB.
In addition to using the Image Layout to specify how you want your pictures displayed, there are a few other methods that can be used.
If you would prefer to display a link to your picture instead of the picture itself, use the [[Picture1Link]] - [[Picture12Link]] tags instead of the [[Picture1]] -[[Picture12]] tags.
This template example:
looks like this when formatted:
The [[PictureX]] tags and [[PictureXLink]] tags resolve to an HTML string that is an IMG or HREF tag. There is not a tag that resolves to just the path of an image. If you need to use just the path of an image, then you can apply the TrimHTML() function to either the [[PictureX]] or [[PictureXLink]] tags. Using the function would look like this.
When formatted, the function will resolve to the value specified in the PictureX input box on the item record.
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This is most useful when you are building your own HTML or Javascript to perform special functions such as a picture swapper. |
You can use JavaScript in Ad Templates, but it must be used in a Global AutoText variable. The WYSIWYG editor does not understand JavaScript and will strip it out, but if placed into a Global AutoText the editor will not modify it. There are several sample Global AutoTexts provided that use JavaScript. The "Countdown" GAT uses JavaScript. Here is an example of what it looks like.
Wherever you place the GAT in your Ad Template, the associated JavaScript will be placed.
The Design View editor does not support the inclusion of stylesheet information. Stylesheet information will be stripped out of the template when you view the template in Design View. With a little creativity, you can still use stylesheets.
To use stylesheets in your templates, simply create the stylesheet in a separate file and include a link to the stylesheet in a Global AutoText. Therefore, you may have a Global AutoText called LinkToStyleSheet that contains text similar to < link href="style.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" > . When it is included at the top of your template, it will not get removed.
