Awww, Come on guys.... Please don't give me that type of a "canned response" that doesn't answer the original query or recognize the differences between the template editor in AW2K and the one in Seller's Assistant. <grin>

Your reply insinuates that I didn't even know about the template editor in AW2K. I was aware before I made the post that there is a template editor in AW2K, (but, of course, since I'm such a newbie, I'm in the early learning stages with it) but unless I'm missing something, I couldn't find any "themes" that incorporate graphics, background, sounds, fonts, borders, etc. components into groups or "themes", like those in SA's "megasets" of the "listing template studio" in SA. I can see where one could design and save similar theme/styles, but it would take a great deal of searching (for the graphics, etc.) and time. If I'm wrong, Please "slap me down", correct me, and show me where to look.


I'd like to point out that I'm no where near as experienced with AW2K (having just gotten started with it) as I was with Seller's Assistant (which I used long before Ebay bought Blackthorne out), and maybe there is something like what I'm inquiring about in AW2K (but I've yet to find it). And, I'm not trying to say that Seller's Assistant is a better program than AW2K. Hell, even if SA were 10 times better than AW2K, I would not continue using it because I will NEVER agree to "renting" or "subscribing" to software. It's just WRONG, and oozes a Bill Gates/Microsoft mentality. However, there were things that I liked about it (SA) and it WAS a good software package until Ebay decided to screw it up.

Maybe I was wrong in assuming that you (AW2K programmers) are familiar with Seller's Assistant's "listing template studio". (I assume that you have a copy of Seller's Assistant around for comparison?)

What I said was: (quoted from my post)

One of the things that I already miss (greatly) is SA's listing template "themes" style.

The KEY word(s) in my post were "themes" style.

These come from what SA calls "megasets". They are a group or collection of graphic, font, border, sound, etc. components used in an auction listing. They name them with names that describe the "theme" of the colllection. Like, "In the spotlight", "Hot Item!", "Corkboard", "PC Hardware", etc.


For instance, choosing the listing template (theme/style) named "Brown Paper Bag" formats the listing with a background pattern image and color (the crinkled brown paper bag), a sound file, a border image, a title image, an inline image, fonts styles and colors, animated graphic to fit the "theme", etc. all in one "canned job" that doesn't require manual entry in the "template editor", like in AW2K.

The "PC Hardware" (theme/style) adds an animation of a spinning PC and a moving floppy disk, the "Spotlight" adds animated spotlights shining into the sky, the "Corkboard" a corkboard background with PushPins, etc., etc.


The necessary graphics, sound bytes, etc. are included in the "megasets" and these media files are then uploaded at one time after the theme/style is chosen. Like I said, I realize that one could create similar templates (to those in SA) but was just wishing out loud for a similar "themes" style collection of templates for use in AW2K's template editor, with the necessary media files provided in AW2K's program (or add-on module) like the background images, sound files, graphics, etc., found in the megasets of SA.

I'm fairly certain that there is no facility to add sound files by clicking on, or browsing to and selecting them, since I posed that question to someone in your organization already and was told that it would have to be added in a template manually.


I would be more than happy to pay an extra amount for an add-on that provides the above mentioned features (say somewhere in the neighborhood of an additional $30 to $50). Hell, I bought 3 sets from Blackthorne when I purchased Auction Assistant at $20 each. Maybe it would be a good ideal to take a kind of "market survey" of the current users (especially those who came over from SA) to see if there would be enough interest to warrant offering this type of an "add-on"??? (That is, if you would ever consider offering it)

Thanks for an awesome program. I'm trying to learn it as fast as possible and become as comfortable with using it as I was with SA before Ebay messed it up, because it appears that AW2K will be my choice from now on. I've downloaded several demos of other programs, and even purchased 3 or 4, but yours looks to be the best so far.

Hello,

My personal opinion as a bidder, I hate waiting for a page to load up with fancy graphics, music and of course the annoying mouse trail. I can't tell you how many times I hit my back button because a page didn't start showing something within a few seconds.

If I want to listen to music I will turn on a radio. Once in a while I run across an auction that has some decent music, but as soon as I leave the page the music is gone. What's the point of having music load up when it won't stay on.

Sure, from a creator stand point it's nice to load an auction ad with fancy stuff. But from the bidders stand point, I just want to see the description and pictures. I have yet to bid on an item because the ad contained fancy graphics and sounds. I have probably left more ads because they contained the fancy stuff.

Again, this is just my opinion. Something for you to think about.

Bob

I couldn't agree with you more about EXCESSIVE music, grapics, or the infamous trailing mouse cursor, Bob.

I never said "music" though, I said "sound bytes". I never said anything about "trailing cursors" either, only backgrounds, simple animations, etc.

About the largest sound byte I use is a clip of Spock saying "Greetings and felicitations". It is 33K in size, and plays for 3 seconds.

I have never use the "trailing cursor" or large and annoying graphics/and or animations either, because I know the importance of keeping someones attention instead of driving them away.

I appreciate your comments, but they are not comparing apples to apples, or oranges to oranges, or pretinent to anything in my post.

Did you ever use Seller's Assistant before? Are you familiar with the "listing template studio" in Seller's Assistant? If so, then you should know exactly what I'm talking about in my post.

Thanks!
Edward

We're sorry our post didn't address the specifics of your question. We incorrectly assumed that you were unaware of the existence of the HTML Template Editor. Actually, we have never used Seller's Assistant Pro or any other company's auction management products.

We designed the first version of Auction Wizard based on our own experiences selling on eBay. After its initial release, we received many suggested improvements from Auction Wizard users. That feedback was used to design Auction Wizard 2000. We continue to gather suggestions from users of our software, so that we can continue to make improvements.

Auction Wizard 2000 does not provide any "themes" in the sense you described. There are several sample Listing Templates included with the software which use a variety of color schemes and terms of sale. However, none of them use background images or music. They were designed to provide a professional appearance and load quickly into a web browser.

Background images are fully supported in the HTML Template Editor, but we do not provide images for use as backgrounds (nor do we provide music files). The only way to add music to your listings is to add the HTML code needed to play the music to your Listing Template. Any music files referenced in the HTML code would have to be uploaded to your web space manually.

Your suggestion for a set of "theme" based templates has been added to our list for future consideration.

-- The Auction Wizard Team

Hello,

Thank you very much for your response! I appreciate it, and I'm glad to hear that you have added the suggestion for consideration in the future. I'm sorry to hear that you have not "tinkered" with Seller's Assistant, and would like to suggest that you download the evaluation version and check out the feature I'm referring to.
Since I posted the original message, I have started to search out and download any and all of the "components", or similar components found in Seller's Assistant (the ones that are in the public domain, and not copyrighted by Ebay or anyone else) with the intention of building my own library and eventually, my own "listing template themes" for use in AW2K. I'm not a programing wiz (sure wish I was) or I would attempt to make my own "add-on" module to generate theme style templates for use in AW2K.

Anyway, thanks again for the response, and an awesome alternative to Ebay's "subscription" based offer (SA)