Lesson Two

Bakers’ Dozen 2.0
Let’s make a listing template with just 13 HTML tags!

Thirteen HTML Tag Elements
<a> </a> – anchor	<p> </p> – paragraph
<br /> – break	<table> </table> – table
<div> </div> – division	<tr> </tr> – table row
<img> – image	<td> </td> – table data
<ul> </ul> – unordered list	<h1> </h1> – heading 1
<li> </li> – list item	<h2> </h2> – heading 2
<span> </span> – span

Lesson Two

In lesson one we looked at the coding for a multi-layered template design using nested table and division sections with different background graphics. We will now look at the content of the listing template. In our previous example this was just some filler text to act as a place holder. Now, let’s add some real listing text into the template to replace our sample text. I have written up some content for an imaginary listing for a set of multi-colored eBay trolls. I have run all this text, including title, description, terms and copyright information all together as one continuous paragraph and dropped it into our sample template in place of the place holder text. It looks like this:

Beautiful Muti-Colored eBay Trolls This auction is for this rare and complete matched set of pastel eBay trolls, including bubba blue, audrey aqua, geneveve green, charlotte chartreuse, mellow yellow, ollie orange, rhonda red and peter purple. These wonderful critters will bring hours of excitement to your life as they stalk your chat board posts and leave rude messages everywhere you go. Don’t waste any time. You can have the whole set today for just one price. Bid now before someone else takes this treasure from out of your grasp. This wonderful collector’s set would make an excellent gift for that annoying person who has everything! TERMS OF SERVICE US PAYMENTS: We accept US check (order held until check clears), money order, or PayPal, including credit cards. CANADIAN PAYMENTS: PayPal is preferred. Cheques and money orders can be paid in Canada. Contact us for special instructions. ALL OTHER INTERNATIONAL PAYMENTS: We will accept only Paypal from all other countries. RESIDENTS OF KANSAS: please add 7.05% for state and local sales tax. Email any questions to: steve@mainstreetmallonline.com. SHIPPING: Exact postage will be confirmed after the end of the auction. We do not charge over the actual postage amount. We will gladly ship internationally. Please contact us for details. If you win more than one of our auctions, we will be happy to combine the shipping which usually saves you money. Some sellers combine shipping by adding up individual shipping rates for each auction, then subtract a buck or two. Not us. We put as much in each box as we safely can, then weigh it, calculate the shipping at the USPS website, and charge exactly what the postage is. We offer only Insured Priority Mail for this item. OTHER: All auctions are for used merchandise, sold as is, unless otherwise noted. At the end of this auction, we will email the winner with payment instructions and other details. Please watch for and read this carefully to avoid unnecessary errors. I am a Trading Assistant – I can sell items for you! Copyright © 2008 by Stephen B. Henry

Now, obviously, just stringing all that text together doesn’t work. Sure, it’s all there. But, much like a standard eBay listing without a template, it’s just one jumbled mass of words. A few simple HTML tags will fix this right up. Let’s change this:

to this:

<h1 style=”margin: 0px; text-align: center; font-family: arial; font-size: 22px; color: #00000″>Beautiful Muti-Colored eBay Trolls</h1>

This auction is for this rare and complete matched set of pastel eBay trolls, including bubba blue, audrey aqua, geneveve green, charlotte chartreuse, mellow yellow, ollie orange, rhonda red and peter purple. These wonderful critters will bring hours of excitement to your life as they stalk your chat board posts and leave rude messages everywhere you go. Don’t waste any time. You can have the whole set today for just one price. Bid now before someone else takes this treasure from out of your grasp. This wonderful collector’s set would make an excellent gift for that annoying person who has everything!

<h2 style=”margin: 0px; text-align: center; font-family: arial; font-size: 18px; color: #00000″>TERMS OF SERVICE</h2>

US PAYMENTS: We accept US check (order held until check clears), money order, or PayPal, including credit cards.

CANADIAN PAYMENTS: PayPal is preferred. Cheques and money orders can be paid in Canada. Contact us for special instructions.

ALL OTHER INTERNATIONAL PAYMENTS: We will accept only Paypal from all other countries.

RESIDENTS OF KANSAS: please add 7.05% for state and local sales tax. Email any questions to: steve@mainstreetmallonline.com.

SHIPPING: Exact postage will be confirmed after the end of the auction. We do not charge over the actual postage amount. We will gladly ship internationally. Please contact us for details. If you win more than one of our auctions, we will be happy to combine the shipping which usually saves you money. Some sellers combine shipping by adding up individual shipping rates for each auction, then subtract a buck or two. Not us. We put as much in each box as we safely can, then weigh it, calculate the shipping at the USPS website, and charge exactly what the postage is. We offer only Insured Priority Mail for this item.

OTHER: All auctions are for used merchandise, sold as is, unless otherwise noted. At the end of this auction, we will email the winner with payment instructions and other details. Please watch for and read this carefully to avoid unnecessary errors.

I am a Trading Assistant – I can sell items for you!

Look over this code carefully. There is nothing new here. It is all things we have done before. Notice especially the addition of h1, h2 and span tags. If you are not sure what something does, go back over it a couple of times, or ask. Added to the template layout design we get this:

Beautiful Muti-Colored eBay Trolls

TERMS OF SERVICE

US PAYMENTS: We accept US check (order held until check clears), money order, or PayPal, including credit cards.

CANADIAN PAYMENTS: PayPal is preferred. Cheques and money orders can be paid in Canada. Contact us for special instructions.

ALL OTHER INTERNATIONAL PAYMENTS: We will accept only Paypal from all other countries.

RESIDENTS OF KANSAS: please add 7.05% for state and local sales tax. Email any questions to: steve@mainstreetmallonline.com.

SHIPPING: Exact postage will be confirmed after the end of the auction. We do not charge over the actual postage amount. We will gladly ship internationally. Please contact us for details. If you win more than one of our auctions, we will be happy to combine the shipping which usually saves you money. Some sellers combine shipping by adding up individual shipping rates for each auction, then subtract a buck or two. Not us. We put as much in each box as we safely can, then weigh it, calculate the shipping at the USPS website, and charge exactly what the postage is. We offer only Insured Priority Mail for this item.

OTHER: All auctions are for used merchandise, sold as is, unless otherwise noted. At the end of this auction, we will email the winner with payment instructions and other details. Please watch for and read this carefully to avoid unnecessary errors.

As you can see, just a little editing of the text with the appropriate HTML tags and we get a template that is much prettier and a listing that is much easier to read.

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Wiz's eBay Template Design Course

Lesson Two

Bakers’ Dozen 2.0Let’s make a listing template with just 13 HTML tags!

Thirteen HTML Tag Elements

Lesson Two

Beautiful Muti-Colored eBay Trolls

TERMS OF SERVICE

Bakers’ Dozen 2.0
Let’s make a listing template with just 13 HTML tags!