Things I'd love to see EVERY designer do

[Lizzerd]

What you are *probably* losing is the Mac_OS resource fork that should never have been included in the .zip file in the first place (uses almost as many bytes as the actual graphic files!!!), totally irrelevant to PC users!

Originally Posted by briarwoodpups

When I extract on my c drive, then cut/paste to the EHD, often it asks if I should continue to move the files even though some data will be lost.

[OneMemory]

Jayne, most of the time it has to do with the source files' operating system vs yours. for example if I purchase a kit created and zipped on a mac, there are files that my PC doesn't need or want so those are usually the culprit of the lost files. I've never missed anything so far! :)

Keep in mind that we are all scrappers as well as designers-so we feel your frustration at times, but do have to do what is required of us at our stores. Like the multiple files. We here at GDS are feverishly working on a fancy site upgrade and perhaps some of these can be addressed then. We want to keep everyone happy!!

[katiehardin]

Jayne you figured it out for me!

Losing the Property data isn't a bad thing. And it gets rebuilt on the new drive.

Properties are Window's tags about location, size, modification date, program that opens the file, how to display the file, search options, security (users who are allowed to open the file), which thumbnail is displayed on the folder, etc.

This is where you set how you want the folder to display i.e. pictures showing thumbnails or photos on a filmstrip.

[donakat]

Katie,
I agree with your thing about the naming, though it would be hard for designers who sell in various stores--they'd have to rename all the folders for each separate site. I also dislike nested folders, but I do use them for megakits and collab kits to keep the alphas, papers, elements, TOUs, etc separated into folders. I still struggle a bit with the organization, where to put the zips and previews, etc., so I'm glad for any help the designers give us to ease our way.

The collab kits especially seem to wind up with different ways for naming and abbreviations; I'd certainly appreciate some conventions here such as we use in posting homework for the classes: username_homework_lesson#. There would be less work for those of us who are trying to capture descriptive titles.

And I think it's a GREAT idea about the copyright in the metadata!!
Dona

[Gem]

I'm not sure if this applies, but after unzipping the files I place the zips and a preview in a folder which I then plan to burn onto a disk at some point so I can unzip the original file again in case I forget to save under a different name a template or something when I'm making my LO. It is soooo easy to forget to rename the template file before starting to make the LO. This makes it easy to see what the zip is-visually. Usually there is a preview included in the download.

[katiehardin]

Originally Posted by donakat

Katie,
I agree with your thing about the naming, though it would be hard for designers who sell in various stores

I don't sort my purchases by store so I didn't think about that. Honestly, I wish the filenames were the same at different sites. Another peeve of mine, which I do more than I care to admit...is when I buy a kit multiple times, because I forget I've already bought it! Going through all my files to check is impossible (I should create a database, but am too lazy). So having one name and having that download file name in the description would help me.

My method is: (1) Download file (2) unzip the folder (3) drag the zip file into a seperate folder for backup, then (4) organize my files and rename folders if I have to.

So, if I knew the name of the download file I'd just have to search my zip folder for that name rather than scroll through years worth of purchases looking for a similar visual.

I rename my folders using 3 initials for the name (so they sort by designer) then the kit name then I add ++ to the end if I've copied those files into my big folder. So a name might be ABC_SpringTime++. That way designer folders are arranged together (I have started adding GDS_ to the beginning of the designer's folders from this site so a name would be GDS_ABC_SpringTime++).

Then I keep one big folder 00_Paper that includes all the paper from all the kits (and is tagged by color in Bridge. This way when I'm making a layout I can just go to that one folder and scroll through until I see something that would work (rather than go in and out of each kit folder).
:: This is where the problem comes in on the unique file names when I go to copy those papers to 00_Paper if there is a similar name it gets replaced.

I have seperate directories / folders for kit, paper, elements, frames, brag book, ribbon, etc.

[Silly Bean]

Hi Katie, thanks for posting this! One thing I can say as a designer who has multiple stores, each store has certain contractual requirements for their designers. One place may require us to name a file like: designer_type_name like sbeans_kit_plummuddled, while other require a different formula like: sbeans_plummud_kit. Some stores also require designers to include the anti-piracy graphic. Also, most store require that we keep our zip files below a certain size. One of my shops is 50MB and another is 40MB. So pretty much, though we can ask for exceptions to the rules, or even ask our bosses to change the rules, but we are ultimately bound to follow whatever our contract says. I can say as a scrapper that I love all of your suggestions, and I will be seeing about the best ways I can accomodate them at my various stores.

One more thing, I know Liz mentioned renaming a ton of files, get a free program called File Renamer. It allows you to change all the files in a folder in one fell swoop, including adding something to the beginning of each file name.

Thanks for mentioning copyrighting the items using the metadata/tags. That's one idea I had not thought of, and would certainly have some value when so many kits lately are being pirated.

Keep the tips coming ladies, I know I'm loving it!

[tbcarter2002]

Shannon, thanks for the tip about the File Renamer program. I run into situations all the time where I have to rename a lot of files and that would make it so much less time-consuming. THANKS!

[Silly Bean]

Originally Posted by tbcarter2002

Shannon, thanks for the tip about the File Renamer program. I run into situations all the time where I have to rename a lot of files and that would make it so much less time-consuming. THANKS!

YW! I love that program!

[glonet]

Maybe you are speaking of that thumbs.db file. When you want to move files - it always stops you and says it is a system file. I delete them anyway as added up they take a lot of space. Apparently some zip files add them and some don't.