Ok, here's the HTML dummy with another puzzle for you enlightened ones:

All my listing templates are set to align the images either TOP or LEFT. I have pairs of templates where the only difference is whether the pics are top or left of the description. If I'm listing an item with at least 4, 5 images, I'll always put the pics left of the description and space out the text so it ends right next to the bottom image.

Sometimes when I check my auctions, I notice all the pictures are at the top with this loooooong, spread-out description below them. No good! Now, it's certainly possible that I selected the right template before listing that auction, but then when I was creating other Lots, I changed the template to place the pics at the top and didn't realize I was messing up the Lot I'd created earlier. But I don't think that's what's happening. I have a Lot in Store items that I'm pretty durn sure was looking as intended -- images on left side with spread-out description. Now, all the pics are at the top. And it's not the only auction this has happened to -- there are several more that were listed with various other templates and would definitely have had the images on the left side but now have them at the top.

So two questions:

1. Am I losing my mind? Is it impossible for this attribute of a template (images at top versus images at left) to be changed AFTER a Lot is listed? If I edit its template after the Lot is online, and then update all Lots, the template code doesn't get altered? It's totally impossible?

2. How do I revise the description of these online Lots to change the image placement? I compared the source code for Lots with images at the top and those with images at the left, and I can see only one difference (other than colors, border sizes, etc.)
Images at left:

(TABLE ALIGN="CENTER" WIDTH="98%" BORDER="10" BORDERCOLOR="#93B3EE" BGCOLOR="#050607")(TR)(TD)(TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER="0" CELLSPACING="0" CELLPADDING="6")(TR)(TD COLSPAN="2")(TR)(TD COLSPAN="2")

Images at top:

(TABLE ALIGN="CENTER" WIDTH="98%" BORDER="6" BORDERCOLOR="#6BC9A6" BGCOLOR="#0B000B")(TR)(TD)(TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER="0" CELLSPACING="0" CELLPADDING="5")(TR)(TD)(TR)(TD)

See where it says TD COLSPAN="2"? That's the only difference I could see. So I plugged in that column span instruction, but it didn't work -- it does not change the image placement. Can you tell me what I need to change?

Thanks, Sue

Sue,

Can you give me the Auction id numbers of the 2 auction lots these source codes came from so I can take a look?

Judy/blue

Hi Judy,

Here ya go:

Pics at left: 140043524424

Pics on top (supposed to be at left): 140033864166

Thanks, Sue

Sue,

Changes made to Listing templates only affect subsequent listings and those changes are not retroactive. Meaning, anything currently listed is not altered in any manner.

There is a difference. But the source code you supplied only indicates the Column spanning is a tad different. Alignment is still Center.

It seems to me that several users were experiencing this issue previously. Seems like it was an IE browser issue. That is what sticks out in my mind anyway. Didn't Aquilla stamps have trouble as well with Images being strung out or misaligned like that??

Give Thom shout. I really think it was an IE issue. Boy if my over 50 mind would just work on somedays. I'll email and let him know. But shoot him off an inquiry including the 2 Auction id numbers. Let me know what he says.

Judy/blue

Judy:
Nothing wrong with your over 25 mind at all -- you remembered the problem I had with misaligned images. It was before Thom fixed the way AW2K displayed the preview image. He has fixed it so that it now shows how it will showup on eBay.

However, my problem was spacing that changed in the template. It may be that when Sue edited the template it caused eBay to throw in spaces or worse yet delete them.

When I had the problem the <IMG tag was misplaced on eBay but correct in AW2K. I had to go through and make sure that the <IMG tag was at the FRONT of the line and that the <IMG tag for the NEXT photo wasn't at the end of the previous line. In other words before I fixed it the line looked sorta like this

<Img stuf.stuf/stuf. more stuf.Jpg <Img
after fixing it was
<Img stuf.stuf/stuf.more stuf.Jpg

I just went into the ebay page and hit the enter key to move the img tag to the beginning of the next line and mad sure no extra spaces were there.

Sue - that may help for you I'm not sure.

Garry

Sue:
I looked at the lot (140033864166) where the pix were on top and not supposed to be there. I view source and it looks as if you have the same problem I had. try editing the auction and make sure where you have a picture it is on a line by itself at first with the <IMG tag at the front and then not having an <IMG tag at the end because it really belongs to the next photo. That may work 'cause as I remember it fixed the problems I had with my auctions a while ago.

Garry

Sue: sorry to post twice - but I forgot - you may have extra spaces in the edited template. View the HTML and double check it. That was the problem I had. Before Thom was using the API you could have tons of spaces and it didn't matter. However, the API strips out spaces etc and at times can mess up the look of the page.

Garry

Sue,

Thom checked the listing. There isn't anything wrong. The images are wrapping themselves as they should with the Listing template you have selected in my browser window. It looks like there are more images than will display across the top in a single line for the Auction id number you gave me.

The images have to be displayed in order and they will wrap (drop to the next line) depending on what browser you are using. There are 2 rows in my browser. The third image, at least in my browser, is a shorter image. The rest are all the same size.

So the listing template you used aligned the images across the top? For this particular listing anyway.

Judy/blue

Garry,

Well at least I remembered part of it. I knew there was something about images being displayed incorrectly. I just couldn't pull up the rest. But my mind isn't working very well today. I don't feel so hot

Thanks for remembering

Judy/blue

Judy:
Sorry you're not feeling well. Maybe it's time to put up your feet, have a cup of something and relax a bit. Hope you get to feeling better real soon.

Garry

Garry,

Thanks. I am going to have to go home. I stayed home yesterday. And probably should have today. I am going to have to lay down. I am just about shot.

Judy/blue

Sue

Have you been able to correct your Listing template and the images??

Judy/blue

Not ignoring you guys. S**t (root canal) happens (two hours with a rubber dam in my mouth today -- have to go back next week). Will answer soon.
Sue

sue,

Bless your heart. I hope your dentist is as good as mine. I have had several root canals. I honestly never knew he was doing them. I kept waiting and waiting for the bad part and it never came. Finally, I asked him, he is a personal friend, okay Dwaine, when are you going to start this root canal, I am tired of sitting. He laughed and told me he had been doing it.

So I am hoping for a super good dentist for you

Judy/blue

OWIE!!!

Hmmm, wait now, how come you get to have all the fun and we all get to sit here typing our fingers to the bone doing AW2K stuff. No on the other hand you get to sit in the chair in lala land giggling, and watching capt. Kangaroo.

Sounds as if you need to get back to work missy!!

Sue, I'm sorry you had to participate in that wonderful event called a root canal. Hope your dental surgeon was one of those painless guys even though they lie about no pain it sure is better than other possibilities. Get well soon and hang in there. Ummm, one last question were you able to whistle on the drive back honme?

Garry
P.S. - sorry but sometimes I have a truly evil cruel streak that just takes over and there is no controlling it.

Garry,

I am about to fall out of my chair laughing, "whistle" indeed.

My mind immediately wondered if Sue could whistle Dixie.
So I guess I'll just ask: "Sue, Garry brings up an interesting question. Now I want to know if you can whistle Dixie?"

I didn't say that

Judy/blue

No owie, actually, or at least not much. TMJ pain, as always, but a few jabs with the big needle of Dr. Demento, and I feel nothing. Just lay there watching surfing videos or the Food Network. It's just boring (and very, very expensive). Shoulda had all my teeth pulled when I was sixteen and replaced with fakes. Oh, and no, I wasn't able to whistle and couldn't say Fs.

Anyway..........what were we talking about here? Oh yeah, the image placement puzzle.

The answer to my question #1 is Yes, I am losing my mind. The ongoing auctions/Store items where the images are aligned across the top rather than along the left as I wanted has to be because I changed the template for some other Lot I was getting ready to list and then relisted the auction in question without realizing the template was altered. Have to be more careful about that.

But I still don't know the answer to question #2, how to fix it.

Judy wrote: "Thom checked the listing.....The images are wrapping themselves as they should..... It looks like there are more images than will display across the top in a single line......There are 2 rows in my browser. So the listing template you used aligned the images across the top?"

When I have more than a couple images for something, I will select a template that places the pictures to the left of the text, and I'll space out the lines of the description so that they span the full length of the column of images. The first time #140033864166 was listed, that's how it displayed. But apparently before relisting it, I edited the template for some other Lot to place the pics at the top. Now, I'd just like to revise the auction to align the pics at the left. There must be some little instruction in the source code I could edit. Anyone know how to do this? I already tried adding COLSPAN="2" to the TD (Table Division?) instruction, but it didn't work -- nothing changed.

Thanks, Sue

Hi Judy,

I viewed this auction in all three browsers, and they all show the pictures at the top of the description, so that's not it. It's the template -- it is set up to place all pics at the top. I would like to know how to revise the HTML of the auction to align the pictures to the LEFT of the description.

Thanks, Sue

Sue,

I'm glad you are feeling better now. Tooth pain is not fun, Neither is TMJ.

I'll work on it. Garry may know off the top of his head. I can do it but I have to sit down and go through it step by step and write it down. I'll go it later tonight and send you the instructions for doing so.

Right now, well, I am off to a church Fall Party. It is gorgeous outside here today. And the party is outside.

Judy/blue

Hi Garry,

I looked at the source code, but either I don't understand what you are saying to change, or it's not what controls image placement. Here's the code where the images are:

(TR)(TD VALIGN="left")(CENTER)
(IMG SRC="http://bellat.pair.com/tic/aw2k/LotImg11052.jpg" BORDER="0" HSPACE="5" VSPACE="5" WIDTH="208" HEIGHT="470") (IMG SRC="http://bellat.pair.com/tic/aw2k/LotImg11051.jpg" BORDER="0" HSPACE="5" VSPACE="5" WIDTH="265" HEIGHT="462") (IMG SRC="http://bellat.pair.com/tic/aw2k/LotImg11049.jpg" BORDER="0" HSPACE="5" VSPACE="5" WIDTH="365" HEIGHT="290") (IMG SRC="http://bellat.pair.com/tic/aw2k/LotImg11050.jpg" BORDER="0" HSPACE="5" VSPACE="5" WIDTH="365" HEIGHT="369")(/CENTER)(/TD)(/TR)

There is only one IMG tag per image, and it's only at the beginning of the image address, and they are all on their own lines. Do you mean to just add line breaks between them? I tried that, and it does prevent them from wrapping -- they are in a single column -- but the description is still below them. And if I change the valign to left instead of center, the pics are in a single column at the left (success of a kind....), but the description is still below them, instead of next to them.

For the sake of this discussion, I left it that way, so you can check it out (#140033864166). It looks pretty dumb, but I don't really care.

Sue

Interesting. This could be the problem. When I use Notepad to view the source code of #140033864166, the text is over to the left of the page when viewed full screen. When I view the source code of my other auctions, the text fills the page left to right.

So just remove all line breaks/spaces? I suppose I could use Word to do that. Will experiment.

Thanks Garry.

Sue

Sue:
the fastest and easiest way to do the change is to go in aw2k to the auction lot for #140033864166. Make sure it is exactly the way you want it. Do a preview template. Then right click and view source. Look at the HTML and copy the portion that has the PIX and TEXT. Then go to your auction, edit it and PASTE in the new stuff over the top of the same part of the auction. Just view the edit before you submit and you will be done.

The reason I'm telling you this is that it will be TONS easier than making all of the individual small changes you will have to do to make the existing auction work.

I know this is rather simplistic, but it will work. Reason I know???? -- messed up big time on an auction a while back and that's how I fixed it. was lots easier than editing the auction on line or canceling it.

Garry

Sue:
I'm happy to hear that there were no owies. Root Canals are no fun - I think the time after the procedure is worse than the time in the chair.

Thank God for Novicane!

Garry

Hi:
Sorry I didn't read this post before I sent you an earlier post. But you can see what the <IMG tag can and will do to pix. You got part of it correct that's for sure. However, the width and placement of the text box is the problem now and to change it will create a LOT of typing in edit mode in eBay. In my earlier post I suggested that you open the auction in aw2k in preview mode. Make sure it is correct. Then right click the preview and click on view source. Then read the source and where the PIX begin to the END of your description -- mark it all and copy.

Then go to eBay - edit the auction, got to the description, mark the same material (beginning of pix to end of description) and PASTE in the new stuff you had copied from view source.

That should do it for you.

Garry

Sue,

Well, I went right past the problem and straight to the skirt. Is that a real "The Limited"" Skirt???? And is it really a size 0. Do you have any idea how hard it is for me to find size 0 in Limited attire??? My word. Half my business clothing is The Limited as it is about all I can get that really fits this skinny frame of mine.

Okay, I'll focus now Garry's fix will "fix" you up in short order. I've had to to do the same thing before. And I'm glad he was around to type out what to do. As I have been a party animal tonight. complete with cake walk, boys against the girls team games (in which the girls always cheat ) Smoked Wild boar and just lots of fun.

Judy/blue

Judy:
Cake walk sounds like tons of fun - brings me back to my home church in Jr. High -- before electric light - so all cakes had to have candles on them.

However, I'm shocked, aghast, surprised, and even a tad flummoxed --

you smoked

oops wait, nevermind it was wild boar

Whew - thought we were gonna have to get you a laptop and a T-1 connection in the jail cell.

I hope Sue can fix her auction OK. I tried to give half way understandable directions. But what one person thinks is clear as a bell is simply a mess for someone else. The cut and paste method is sometimes the only way to go because there is so much editing to do and much if it is numbers and symbols. Also eBay mashes all the HTML together and it's hard to find stuff. BTW that's why I put remarks in my HTML for eBay pages, It makes it tons easier to find something if I do have to edit. Of course you can only do it when you are making your own template but almost all of us do that so the comment is an easy thing to do and makes life easier if you ever do have to go to edit a live auction.

Garry

Garry,

You can go ahead and be aghast 'cause I cheated at the golf ball toss real bad. Even one of our sons kept hollering, "Mom you are cheating move back behind the line." Why that young man of mine even tried to pick up his kicking mom and place her in the right spot. I am sad to report though, the cheating didn't help the girls to win. The boys whipped us 21 to 18

I hope Sue can get it fixed as well. And I am glad you were around to tell her how to do it. I wasn't where I could look at her stuff 'cause I was in this big hurry to get to the wild party.

Judy/blue

Yeah, but.......(exposing myself to ridicule and piteous laughter) I thought we couldn't do that anymore, now that we use the API version. I vaguely remember something about not being able to patch in the code from a template. I've done that many times, but I didn't try it this time cuz I thought it wouldn't work any more. Plus......aren't the image addresses different in the template code? Of course that can be fixed by just plugging in the correct image addresses. Well, I'll try it anyway. This auction is my playground.

Sue

In reply to:

---

exposing myself to ridicule and piteous laughter

---

Nah, I won't be laughin' at you. Remember you are talking to the mom/grandma that cheated at the church fall party playing the golf ball toss and still lost. It is a sad day indeed.

The image URL won't need to be changed. It is just the text arrangement that is changed. So you are correct in that if you alter the image URL, you'll have to put the original URL into the template you are listing at eBay. The API version affects the manner in which AW2K communicates with eBay. But we still have control over the way our Listing templates look. If that helps you any at all. And if this is your playground, you can cheat anyway you want to.

Judy/blue

In reply to:

---

Cake walk sounds like tons of fun

---

It was fun but the music was not loud enough so Yours truly here became the vocalist. Boy that is a challenge outside. But the kids had a blast 'cause I do actions with my songs. They get to laughing and don't remember to walk, then I stop singing and everyone is scrambling to find a number.

Judy/blue

Sue:
You can do it even though we are using the api. Just make sure that you aren't pasting the whole thing in. A portion of HTML that a user has written AND it appears correctly on eBay is a "pasteable" bit of code. In your case you are pasting in something that you know worked before. To be really sure -- you can do edit template and then display without any editing and also making sure that you have the option turned on to use compress HTML settings in the edit template section. Whew now that was confusing huh? But you know what I mean. Thank God for run-on sentences

Go for it - and I hope that auction sells big time for you after all the work you've put into it.

Garry

Judy:

Seems as if you lost 'cause of interference on the part of your son. Now that's cheating if I ever heard of it. Where in the rule book does it say "pick up mom and move her"??

You should prolly just go and file a rule complaint and if anyone mentions anything you supposedly did that a narrow minded person might possibly construe as cheating -- there is always batting the eyelashes and "fiddle faddle" I don't know about that. Or maybe just call for a rematch and cheat bolder!

Sure sounds as if you had a great time. I was thinking about the cake walks we used to go to when I was a kid. And then I was reminded of the Ice Cream socials we used to have too. Ohhhh the ice cream!

Garry

There are only a few little differences between the source code of the AW Preview (with the pictures in a column at the left of the description) and that of the original auction (I have a copy of how it was before I started messing with it today). The Preview has a little bit at the top that has the word "transitional" in it (I omitted that); there are two "end tags" at the bottom I didn't use ((/BODY)(/HTML)); and each of the image tags has the code for a line break between them, which of course I kept. Then I pasted in the actual web/host address directly after the first quote mark in each IMG tag, and voila! it worked.

You've done it again Garry! Thanks so much for your help. I promise I won't forget how to do this.

Here's the number again so you can see how it was supposed to look: 140033864166

Sue

You could fit into that skirt ? ? ? ! ! ! I can't talk to you any more. I wouldn't have been able to fit into that skirt since about age 11. I don't even think they had sizes for women that small in the unthinkably distant past of "my day".

That's my daughter's skirt. I'm her consignment bitch (sorry -- my bad). She's thinner than I ever was. She can't possibly have any of my genes. My other daughter has all my genes, poor thing.

Anyway, yup Garry got me fixed up. All good now. Won't have this problem again, and even if I do, I'll remember the remedy.

Speaking of consignments......tomorrow, when my daughter stops by, we're going to have that talk about teaching someone to fish and feeding them for a lifetime versus just giving them a fish. She needs to learn how to do eBay and how to use AW. Do you guys have friends and relatives who want you to make auctions for them as if it's like snapping your fingers?

Sue

Sue:

Fantastic!! It looks great. I'm glad that you were able to get the auction back to the way you wanted it. I know it's a real pain when you know something isn't exactly the way you wanted it to be and everything seems to revolve around fixing it.

The cut and paste way you did this is a fairly easy way to do a quick fix without having to spend hours in the eBay edit mode. I'm so glad Judy remembered to tell you what I forgot and that was the photo links. Otherwise the photos would have been positioned exactly the way you wanted and the text would have been perfect. But no pix!!

Garry

Sue,

Oh Yeah. that looks really good.

And yes I can fit into it, if it is a size 0. If it is a size 10, it would literally fall down around my ankles. I am really thin. And finding clothing when you are my size is a huge challenge as most stores only carry size 4 and that just doesn't fit me at all. And I get tired of buying clothes, bringing them home, taking the seam ripper to them and completely re-building them to fit.

Yep, I have people call me all of the time wanting me to sell just one thing for them. I have about got my family broke of it. But not friends

Judy/blue