Description widths

[gazza]

I often get told off for not letting people know about changes we have planned so I'm just letting everyone know our auction descriptions will be changing from 614px wide to 940px wide later today.

I'm sure we'll get some tuts and groans but we'll be sticking with it to come more into line with what most of our users want.

Thanks
Gazza

[MagnetsAndHangers]

Is there anything we need to do to our listings in advance of this?

[merlin]

so glad i don`t understand this cos i might have a tantrum lol

[Rednosty]

TUT GROAN!

Means all the auctions already listed will look stupid!!

[merlin]

TUT GROAN!

Means all the auctions already listed will look stupid!!

no change with mine then :D

[gazza]

You don't have to do anything, things will just become wider. If you have fixed width tables in your description and would like them updated then let us know via the support desk and we'll do a mass search and replace for you.

Gazza

[MagnetsAndHangers]

Gazza

Is there any way you can put an approximate time on this? I have around 600 items to list using bulk lister, so dont want to do it while you changing anything on the site

[gazza]

An hour or so it should be up.

Gazza

[BAGHAG999]

My head is starting to hurt again.

[Rednosty]

GAZZA!!! Answer me one question!
WHEN YOU COMPUTER GENUIS People Have a Site or game or anything that works and works well WHY oh WHY to you have to Play with it!?? My examaple in life is a Central heating boiler.......It should light up Via a timer and Shut down by a timer! The point being WHY make things Over complicated? By adding PCBS etc or In computer terms More this better that! IF IT WORKS AND WORKS WELL LEAVE ALONE!!!!!

[gazza]

What do you do when it doesn't work well enough?

G.

[Rednosty]

What do you do when it doesn't work well enough?

G.

LOL but everything you guys do is Brill (Crawls!)

If it does'nt work well you try to improve it! All I'm saying is IF something IS working well then Leave it be! IE a pair of Curtains! (I am quite able to tug curtains apart by hand) But someone came up with a Drawstring which does the same thing only now the drawstring can Mess up (See the point I'm trying make!)

PS I forgive you! (this once!) Now Bow before The Mighty Rednosty! :D

[gazza]

Yes Sire!

[Rednosty]

Yes Sire!

You may rise SIR Gazza! :)

[bluebedouin]

.....anything that works and works well WHY oh WHY to you have to Play with it!?? My examaple in life is a Central heating boiler.......It should light up Via a timer and Shut down by a timer! The point being WHY make things Over complicated? By adding PCBS etc or In computer terms More this better that! IF IT WORKS AND WORKS WELL LEAVE ALONE!!!!!

Because in this example you are the only user of said boiler!:D

[Rednosty]

NOW HERES A PRIME EXAMPLE of how changing things Messes Things up

I use Xsell on thiefbay and that gave anyone who clicked on the pictures a Link DIRECTLY back to EBID right under Thiefbays noses! so what happened to change well Ebid started to Put there little badge in the Pictures I use so now It SHOWS clearly that its an Ebid link THANK YOU so MUCH Now I cant use that method to entice people over here as Its too obvious!!! SEE WHAT I MEAN!!! grrrrrrrrrr

[Cocksparrer]

so glad i don`t understand this cos i might have a tantrum lol

Here here rofl

[merlin]

if it ain`t broke you can sell it so if they fix it , it might get broke so won`t sell it

see method in my madness

[spaceman76]

Well I for one think it's great !! http://content.sweetim.com/sim/cpie/emoticons/0002018C.gif (http://www.sweetim.com/s.asp?im=gen&ref=10)

[raindropsies]

Well I for one think it's great !! http://content.sweetim.com/sim/cpie/emoticons/0002018C.gif (http://www.sweetim.com/s.asp?im=gen&ref=10)




I would think it's great, the trouble is I have not got a clue to what the difference will be. So I will probably fall through the floor http://smileys.smileycentral.com/cat/10/10_8_11.gif (http://www.smileycentral.com/?partner=ZSzeb001_ZNxuk101YYGB)

[spaceman76]

I would think it's great, the trouble is I have not got a clue to what the difference will be. So I will probably fall through the floor http://smileys.smileycentral.com/cat/10/10_8_11.gif (http://www.smileycentral.com/?partner=ZSzeb001_ZNxuk101YYGB)

It's there now, if you look at the description part of a listing you will see it is wider! http://content.sweetim.com/sim/cpie/emoticons/0002014B.gif (http://www.sweetim.com/s.asp?im=gen&ref=10)

[raindropsies]

looks better on some, but for those that are not centered it looks bad imo

[minx41]

I like it, mine doesn't look so squashed thank you Gazza :)

[maljosselection]

Oh dear just checked mine they look awful

[Gothicina]

Well I would think it was great,
BUT the timing is lousy,:eek:
I'm going away tomorrow for my niece's wedding & won't be around until sunday.

As you're probably well aware, I sell auction templates, so will need to rework them all once I've seen the effect of the change. I always used to use % tables, but found firefox problems after eBid made the last change so changed to fixed width.:eek:

I've emailed all my customers, I hope, (If I missed you out sorry:o please contact me) & told them about the changes & that they may need support to alter their existing listings if they want to take advantage of the change, although that may cause some problems with some templates.:eek:

Once I get back, I'll rework all templates, and any necessary artwork, for all previous customers.

Just closed all my template listings, (sorry it's not helping the listing count).

[BAGHAG999]

Just looked at mine and they are now in more of a mess.
Ive spent ages altering them so it looked sorta right and havant got the will to do it all again.
Not been a good day so far

[minx41]

Oh dear, spoke too soon just had a look at some of my other auctions and oh dear, dear, they look awful :eek: wonky and listing to one side. :eek:

[johnwash1]

NOW HERES A PRIME EXAMPLE of how changing things Messes Things up

I use Xsell on thiefbay and that gave anyone who clicked on the pictures a Link DIRECTLY back to EBID right under Thiefbays noses! so what happened to change well Ebid started to Put there little badge in the Pictures I use so now It SHOWS clearly that its an Ebid link THANK YOU so MUCH Now I cant use that method to entice people over here as Its too obvious!!! SEE WHAT I MEAN!!! grrrrrrrrrr


There are good reasons for putting a little badge in the pics. But if you need pics without them, just host them elsewhere, there's loads of places you can do that free and even anonymously. E.g. allyoucanupload.com

[johnwash1]

...I'm just letting everyone know our auction descriptions will be changing from 614px wide to 940px wide later today.

...we'll be sticking with it to come more into line with what most of our users want.

Thanks
Gazza

Absolutely amazing, thank you Gazza, this width business has been much discussed elsewhere in the forums but I never expected such a fast and positive reaction. It doesn't make much odds to my own auctions, but I well understand it can make a big difference to some, especially to people importing large numbers of auctions from elsewhere.

Truly stellar. I'm off to the "Any Praise" section to post something! :)

[Rednosty]

Yep Just as Feared Mine all look really stupid now Only 850 odd to alter!

And taking MUCH longer to Load! :mad:

Anyone else finding it Much more slower to get a store page up?

DONT MESS!!!! It causes so much grief to everyone!

[merlin]

oh my god
how am i going to fill that gap up

[Rednosty]

oh my god
how am i going to fill that gap up

Told ya! Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr I hate it now

Even some of the Full width pages Look horrible!

[Gothicina]

The guys got a lot of stick when they originally introduced the narrow listing page, so I can understand why they changed it.

Unfortunately when it comes to auctions that are running, just changing the outer width, won't necessarily make it look right, many will want to increase their photo sizes as well.

When the narrow width was originally introduced, the page eBid page default was left, a few months back, when the default font size was reduced, the page default changed to centre, it's now gone back to left.

Gazza, is it likely to stay at this width/alignment/fontsize?

[kedo]

I think it compromises the whole design. As you scroll down an auction page you go from eBid to any site to eBid again. All my paragraphs are strung out across the screen. I now have a 3600 auction page problem, I don't think I'll be listing anything new for a long, long while.

[johnwash1]

Yep Just as Feared Mine all look really stupid now Only 850 odd to alter!

And taking MUCH longer to Load! :mad:

Anyone else finding it Much more slower to get a store page up?

DONT MESS!!!! It causes so much grief to everyone!


I agree, Red. DON'T MESS!!! But you are the guy who messed in the first place -- I've just taken a look at some of your auctions (nice watches, by the way!) and you hard coded a table width around your listing. Why on earth did you do that? Totally unnecessary and asking for trouble, which is exactly what you're reaping now.

Sorry not to be more sympathetic, but I really think you need to be aware of where the real problem is coming from.

Nice watches though! :)

Brings back happy memories of my teenage, when I had a Russian-made watch that the local repair shop eventually refused to clean because he said the bearings had worn oval. Took some books out of the library and learnt enough to keep it going for several more years!

[Rednosty]

I think it compromises the whole design. As you scroll down an auction page you go from eBid to any site to eBid again. All my paragraphs are strung out across the screen. I now have a 3600 auction page problem, I don't think I'll be listing anything new for a long, long while.

And I am maoning about 880 !!!

[jeweleffects]

Thank goodness I used fixed table widths of 600 px and centered. Mine look OK but I have a lot of white space either side. Guess I'll start listing at 800 px from now on.

If any of you used fixed table widths and they are all to the left, just go in and edit the top line before the table and add <div align="center"> don't use <center> for some reason that doesn't work here, then just go in and change your table width, that should fix it for you.

[ChameleonSystems]

Thank you Gazza :D

Never mind all these negative moaners :p
Its given us some extra pixies! More pixies to add template border plus piccies. I am impressed at the speed at which you did this. I hope GlobalCirculations is also suitably impressed. :)

Mine look ok, they all over to the left - but I think I can get over that.

[johnwash1]

Thank goodness I used fixed table widths of 600 px and centered. Mine look OK but I have a lot of white space either side. Guess I'll start listing at 800 px from now on.

If any of you used fixed table widths and they are all to the left, just go in and edit the top line before the table and add <div align="center"> don't use <center> for some reason that doesn't work here, then just go in and change your table width, that should fix it for you.


But why, oh why, use fixed width tables? Why on earth aren't you using percentages to let your text flow?

[jeweleffects]

But why, oh why, use fixed width tables? Why on earth aren't you using percentages to let your text flow?

Because I like my work to look the same whatever screen size so everyone sees exactly the same layout, word for word, line for line etc :p

Mind you, I'm busy changing all my listings now to 800 px - should be done in about a week! :eek:

[johnwash1]

Because I like my work to look the same whatever screen size so everyone sees exactly the same layout, word for word, line for line etc :p


Which is a snare and delusion. The web doesn't work like that. Even if you choose commonly available fonts you still won't get precisely the same spacing and line breaks on every browser on every platform. That's why companies that want to deliver 'brochureware' don't do it as a web page, they use methods such as PDF instead.

I don't even know what layout you intend -- your auctions look different to me just by changing my browser font size settings. Which is just as well. After all, if I have eyesight problems and choose a large font then I'd be none too pleased if you forced me to see them at your chosen size instead of mine!

Sorry, I'm not unsympathetic, I'd like to be able to control and polish in that way myself (well, probably not auction listings though). But this is the wrong medium for that mindset.

[cepher0]

Maybe the best width for all templates and descriptions should be the same...

Take care cepher0

[jeweleffects]

If you want the font bigger to be able to read then all you have to do is go to view > text size > increase in the case of IE it'll be 'larger' etc

[jeweleffects]

Which is a snare and delusion. The web doesn't work like that. Even if you choose commonly available fonts you still won't get precisely the same spacing and line breaks on every browser on every platform. That's why companies that want to deliver 'brochureware' don't do it as a web page, they use methods such as PDF instead.

I don't even know what layout you intend -- your auctions look different to me just by changing my browser font size settings. Which is just as well. After all, if I have eyesight problems and choose a large font then I'd be none too pleased if you forced me to see them at your chosen size instead of mine!

Sorry, I'm not unsympathetic, I'd like to be able to control and polish in that way myself (well, probably not auction listings though). But this is the wrong medium for that mindset.

I'm not adverse to some criticism and advice so I just tested out a template and changed px to %'s wherever needed and tried it out on FF and IE by shrinking the browser size. Everything shrunk with it and it still looked really good. Will be doing all my templates like that from now on. Thanks for the constructive criticism, you've made a convert out of me! I like it. :D:D

[Specimen-17]

This change is fantastic. Now it just needs a reduction of wasted space on the top/sides of all the pages.

[johnwash1]

If you want the font bigger to be able to read then all you have to do is go to view > text size > increase in the case of IE it'll be 'larger' etc

Indeed so, and that's the point, the larger words will flow in a fixed sized box in a different fashion.

Thanks for the constructive criticism, you've made a convert out of me! I like it. :D:D

:D Thanks JE, for tolerating my abrasive style! Behind it all I am trying to help, really!

Mind you, I may talk the talk, but alas I don't walk the walk. My own auctions are 'cr*p' -- just wads of text. But I don't sell very much! :)

[jeweleffects]

Indeed so, and that's the point, the larger words will flow in a fixed sized box in a different fashion.



:D Thanks JE, for tolerating my abrasive style! Behind it all I am trying to help, really!

Mind you, I may talk the talk, but alas I don't walk the walk. My own auctions are 'cr*p' -- just wads of text. But I don't sell very much! :)

I know you want to help and I personally didn't take any offense, I'm always looking to learn new and better ways so keep your tips coming! :D

[Fossy]

The changes look good, with a bit of imagination we can now make good use of the extra space and make our advertising look even better.

[merlin]

The changes look good, with a bit of imagination we can now make good use of the extra space and make our advertising look even better.

only if you know how to for me it`s a big ballsup :mad:

[cornishmaid1961]

only if you know how to for me it`s a big ballsup :mad:
:) Merlin 'Captain' Jewels wrote you a reply over on the 'army' thread to help you. Ebid sorted out her ads for her.

[jeweleffects]

:) Merlin 'Captain' Jewels wrote you a reply over on the 'army' thread to help you. Ebid sorted out her ads for her.

Now that is what I call CUSTOMER SERVICE! :D

(btw I'm not the Jewels referred to)

[merlin]

:) Merlin 'Captain' Jewels wrote you a reply over on the 'army' thread to help you. Ebid sorted out her ads for her.


NOPE STORE WILL BE EMPTIED COME SUNDAY EVENING

none of the items listed now will be in my store ever again as i can`t be bothered finding pics etc. i will list all on wepay without pics or link to pics from a certain site for jewellery

[cornishmaid1961]

NOPE STORE WILL BE EMPTIED COME SUNDAY EVENING

none of the items listed now will be in my store ever again as i can`t be bothered finding pics etc. i will list all on wepay without pics or link to pics from a certain site for jewellery

Well you can't say we didn't try! ;)

Hope you've got the new mortgage lined up to pay all those fees!!! http://www.pic4ever.com/images/money1.gif

[merlin]

already worked out listing fees already started loading to turbo lister if i lose money thats fine at least i know my auctions look the way that i put them on and i need to shift this clothing i have only sold two items of it in 4 months on here not good for brand new stuff

[minx41]

Merlin check out the boards over there it does not look good at all for the small sellers or even average one's e--y is suspending them and freezing their accounts, even sellers who have 99% feedback, e--y doesn't know what the heck it is doing automated machines are picking up info and suspending at an alarming rate, the best advice I can give you is to be a patient (if possible, giggles ) and ask Gazza to sort out all your listings. Calm down, you were the one who told me what a brilliant site this is and you were right, take a deep breath and wait for Gazza or Mark to help.:D

[merlin]

Merlin check out the boards over there it does not look good at all for the small sellers or even average one's e--y is suspending them and freezing their accounts, even sellers who have 99% feedback, e--y doesn't know what the heck it is doing automated machines are picking up info and suspending at an alarming rate, the best advice I can give you is to be a patient (if possible, giggles ) and ask Gazza to sort out all your listings. Calm down, you were the one who told me what a brilliant site this is and you were right, take a deep breath and wait for Gazza or Mark to help.:D

lol i know what a brilliant site this was until button pushing to make ebay power sellers happy started , without warning us sellers who have struggled and pimped ebid at every opportunity to make it a good site that things were going to change so drastically within a couple of hours notice SORRY BUT THAT IS NOT THE WAY TO RUN A SITE , A COUPLE OF WEEKS NOTICE SHOULD HAVE BEEN GIVEN , at least then i could have stopped listing UNTIL I COULD SEE WHAT THESE CHANGES WOULD DO , i am not technically minded to understand all this jargon and to be honest i have given up trying to learn and have no time now to want to learn , i am a hammer and screwdriver type not a typist

[merlin]

btw i am all for improvements but 2 hours notice is bs

[kengillam]

I think you need to calm down mate, you're overeacting, your listings don't look so bad as to put anyone off buying for goodness sake!

[buttons-and-bows]

Merlin, my listings aint all that great but if I can help you in any way I will and I know Gothicina will as well as soon as she gets back. After all the support you have given to this site over the last few months should be repaid now. XXXX :)

[johnwash1]

Merlin, it may depend on what browser is being used to view your auctions, but I think there's a problem with them, shortly after "it costs you nothing but a few seconds of your time". There's a comment symbol /* that's suppressing a whole lot of further content.

Since I don't know what your auctions were like before I hesitate to speculate more than that. My guess would be that your auctions might have been coded in 'illegal' html that just happened to work with the previous layout -- so you were lucky then, but the problem has now surfaced. If that is the case then it's hardly fair to blame the site.

What I can say with certainty is that viewing your magazine auctions in IE6 with all debug and warning options turned on, many of your auctions come up with an "unterminated comment" error.

[merlin]

Merlin, it may depend on what browser is being used to view your auctions, but I think there's a problem with them, shortly after "it costs you nothing but a few seconds of your time". There's a comment symbol /* that's suppressing a whole lot of further content.

Since I don't know what your auctions were like before I hesitate to speculate more than that. My guess would be that your auctions might have been coded in 'illegal' html that just happened to work with the previous layout -- so you were lucky then, but the problem has now surfaced. If that is the case then it's hardly fair to blame the site.

What I can say with certainty is that viewing your magazine auctions in IE6 with all debug and warning options turned on, many of your auctions come up with an "unterminated comment" error.

????????? the only html i use are <p> </p> and the ones for the moving pictures of my items you will not find any other html on any page as i do not use it

[buttons-and-bows]

Merlin, it may depend on what browser is being used to view your auctions, but I think there's a problem with them, shortly after "it costs you nothing but a few seconds of your time". There's a comment symbol /* that's suppressing a whole lot of further content.

Since I don't know what your auctions were like before I hesitate to speculate more than that. My guess would be that your auctions might have been coded in 'illegal' html that just happened to work with the previous layout -- so you were lucky then, but the problem has now surfaced. If that is the case then it's hardly fair to blame the site.

What I can say with certainty is that viewing your magazine auctions in IE6 with all debug and warning options turned on, many of your auctions come up with an "unterminated comment" error.
John he doesnt know what HTML is so there is no point in keep telling him its wrong, after all the hard work Merlin has done gettinin new members to this site over the past couple of months I think Gazza should contact him and help him, no offence but there is no point telling someone their HTML is corrupt if they havent a clue what you or anyone eles is talking about. sorry no offence meant i am in a stinking mood and just about to tell BT where they can shove there service cause it stinks. grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr..... this is about the 4th time i have done this post just to get cut off.......... home hub yaeh right i know what i would like to call it, just glad i didnt connect my telly up to it.

[johnwash1]

John he doesnt know what HTML is so there is no point in keep telling him its wrong, after all the hard work Merlin has done gettinin new members to this site over the past couple of months I think Gazza should contact him and help him, no offence but there is no point telling someone their HTML is corrupt if they havent a clue what you or anyone eles is talking about. sorry no offence meant i am in a stinking mood and just about to tell BT where they can shove there service cause it stinks. grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr..... this is about the 4th time i have done this post just to get cut off.......... home hub yaeh right i know what i would like to call it, just glad i didnt connect my telly up to it.


That's a good point. But don't you think Merlin would get a lot more help if he just asked for it politely and stopped putting all the blame on Gazza?

I'm trying to get Merlin to realise that while Gazza's over-precipitous action (and lacking any backward compatibility option) may have landed Merlin in it, Merlin is in a situation that probably isn't as widespread as he supposes. And that he has a perfect face-saving way of turning this around, as in:

"Hi Gazza, I now understand that my auctions are naffed up because of something unfortunate within my own html, html of which I'm ignorant, please help me Oh Great One!".

Which might be more effective than throwing all his toys out of the pram and toddling off into the sunset!

Oh, and you have my full sympathy about BT. Yesterday they called me up to tell me I was giving me some redirect service for free, that I would have to cancel by some date in May if I was to avoid charges if I made other [snip the rest]. I just don't understand companies that destroy customer faith by moving goalposts all the time. If I buy a service, give me a service. Give me a loyalty bonus if I stay long enough, but don't mess me around. But I digress.

[Rednosty]

John he doesnt know what HTML is so there is no point in keep telling him its wrong, after all the hard work Merlin has done gettinin new members to this site over the past couple of months I think Gazza should contact him and help him, no offence but there is no point telling someone their HTML is corrupt if they havent a clue what you or anyone eles is talking about. sorry no offence meant i am in a stinking mood and just about to tell BT where they can shove there service cause it stinks. grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr..... this is about the 4th time i have done this post just to get cut off.......... home hub yaeh right i know what i would like to call it, just glad i didnt connect my telly up to it.

I second this!

I know sod all about HTML too! :o

[johnwash1]

I second this!

I know sod all about HTML too! :o

Which is fair enough. I know sod all about advance/retard timing in a car engine, I just want it to move if I press the accelerator.

Are all your auctions now unsatisfactory, or just some? If you like to pick out one in particular I'll go have a look at its internals and see if you may have a problem like Merlin's.

Or is everything in your auction still visible just as before, but just with some extra white space down the sides?

[merlin]

"Hi Gazza, I now understand that my auctions are naffed up because of something unfortunate within my own html, html of which I'm ignorant, please help me Oh Great One!".
?????????? how could it be my own html when i have only copy and pasted THE CORRECT HTML THAT EBID ENDORSE FOR MOVING PICTURES ETC.

DO NOT PUT THE BLAME ONTO ME

[minx41]

Hi merlin I don't know a thing about html either most of my auctions are fine but if you click on my second link you'll see mine are boogered too ( mind you, you have to be over 18 with a broad mind before you do) cough, cough. :D

[merlin]

Hi merlin I don't know a thing about html either most of my auctions are fine but if you click on my second link you'll see mine are boogered too ( mind you, you have to be over 18 with a broad mind before you do) cough, cough. :D

LOL your dressing to the left a little

[minx41]

I know, I suppose I will have to take them off and start again, but I am too lazy at the mo :o

[merlin]

nah just put on auction please sort out your computer as it seems my auctions are all to the left of your screen when infact they are to the right on mine :D:D

[minx41]

nah just put on auction please sort out your computer as it seems my auctions are all to the left of your screen when infact they are to the right on mine :D:D

:p.............................;)

[johnwash1]

Hi merlin I don't know a thing about html either most of my auctions are fine but if you click on my second link you'll see mine are boogered too ( mind you, you have to be over 18 with a broad mind before you do) cough, cough. :D

No Minx, I believe yours are boogered in a much milder way than Merlin's. Yours just have whitespace on the right. No doubt you prefer them centred. If you put <center> ... auction listing </center> around them. Or if you use the wysiwyg editor just select the whole listing and click on the "Align Center" button in the toolbar it will fix them. Indeed you could have done that when originally listing on the old format, then nothing would have changed for you except getting some whitespace either side.

If I understand correctly, Merlin's auctions are much more seriously fubar -- he has whole chunks of stuff that's no longer visible, I think. And I think it's because of a /* in his listing that turns the following material into a comment and also gives a browser error if error display is enabled in your browser.

[jeweleffects]

No Minx, I believe yours are boogered in a much milder way than Merlin's. Yours just have whitespace on the right. No doubt you prefer them centred. If you put <center> ... auction listing </center> around them. Or if you use the wysiwyg editor just select the whole listing and click on the "Align Center" button in the toolbar it will fix them. Indeed you could have done that when originally listing on the old format, then nothing would have changed for you except getting some whitespace either side.

If I understand correctly, Merlin's auctions are much more seriously fubar -- he has whole chunks of stuff that's no longer visible, I think. And I think it's because of a /* in his listing that turns the following material into a comment and also gives a browser error if error display is enabled in your browser.

Dunno about you but <center></center> doesn't work here for me. I have to use <div align="center"></div>