Things I'd love to see EVERY designer do

[Amanda]

Good point- I have just started doing store "folders" so I will look into this!

[agarzaldynrd]

I'll add a little something about the previews. I like to have the preview on the "outside" of the folder so I know what I'm looking at when I'm looking for something specific. It was easy with my pc but since I have a new Macbook Pro, placing the preview on the front is a task.....a million thanks to Dona for helping me figure out how to do this.....now the problem

The quality of the preview determines what I see on the outside of the folder. If the quality is low, I get a blur and can only distinguish colors, sort of. Some previews are created at a high quality and therefore what I see is very clear. I'd like high quality previews but I also know how much work goes into designing. Just thought I'd ask.

[Gem]

It would really be great to have a large enough preview in the store to be able to see what is offered. Is there a way to make the store preview larger? It is hard to know what something looks like when the store preview is so tiny. Sometimes even though I click the "larger image" link at the bottom of the store preview, the "enlarged image" is the same small size as the store preview. I guess my eyes just aren't what they used to be. LOL! A lot of the store previews are large enough, but some are very small.

[Digi Deborah]

Originally Posted by Precepts & Promises

I have learned the hard way to rename any kit previews that come with only the name, "folder." I had a hard drive crash, and it was nearly impossible to recover my previews, as my new hard drive kept thinking, "Hey, I've already got a file named, "Folder." It took a looooong time to get all sorted out. So, as a designer, something I ALWAYS do is give my previews a distinctive name and NEVER name anything "folder"!

Since I just starting designing, these tips are all really helpful!! If you do that, though, does the folder still show a pic of the preview? So maybe just using our small 200X200 preview in the folder would work?

[Precepts and Promises]

Deborah, I'm not sure. I don't use the folder picture in my file structure anyway. But, some designers use the name "folder" for their only preview. So, if you wanted a small 200x200 for a folder pic, (I'm assuming it shows up in your file structure.) it could be named kit_folder or something distinct.

[Darlene Currie]

As far as the previews that go in the store, the largest size it accommodates is a 600 x 600 px preview. This is what you see when you click on a kit. There are smaller versions used throughout, but this is the largest size we were told to do. The larger it is, the bigger the file and it takes up more space, just like when you upload LOs to the galleries. Anna - what you say about having the preview outside the folder, that's a good idea. I usually put everything into one folder. I'll try putting the preview in the elements folder, that ways it's accessible right away. Good points ladies. Some of us haven't been designing long, so it's always great to hear what members like.

[Rositsa]

This info is really useful.

[HollyS]

I always include a 200x200 size of the preview and rename it to folder.jpg so that when viewing folders in windows explorer, the preview is what you see. I also include the 600x600 size of the preview named according to the kit so that the customer can view a larger size of the preview if they want and they also have the name of the kit handy regardless of where it was unzipped to.

[Precepts and Promises]

Originally Posted by HollyS

I always include a 200x200 size of the preview and rename it to folder.jpg so that when viewing folders in windows explorer, the preview is what you see. I also include the 600x600 size of the preview named according to the kit so that the customer can view a larger size of the preview if they want and they also have the name of the kit handy regardless of where it was unzipped to.

I like your method, Holly, in that you have two previews, a folder and kit preview.
The problem I ran in to when my hard drive crashed was with those designers who only had one preview, named it "folder.jpg." When restoring my files (which was an extreme makeover headache, I assure you, but that's a story for another day), my computer would look at all those files named only "folder.jpg" and decide that I already had a file with that name, this was obviously a duplicate, and not re-import it. I had to go through my files, trying to find which one went with which kit, rename it and then re-import it. Some (which I blame on Mozy, again another long story) I never got back, so I have a few kits without any previews.
Thankfully, I'm seeing this less often, as most designers do what you do and include a folder and a preview.
And, for that, I thank you!

[boo6204]

Originally Posted by triciacurtis

Gem - you are like a shiny little happy star! I have been working on creating a PDF document catalog of all my products and was wondering if other designers would find the service useful. Now that I know that at least one person would find it useful, I will work on completing it and seeing if there is a market - thanks!

Yes, yes, yes Trica. I've been thinking about this sort of thing for a long time but havn't had the time to try and put something together myself. I would love a service that could provide such a thing for me that my customers could download and keep a check on what they have, especially as I'm moving into new stores now.

What sort of price do you think something like that would cost to create? Please keep me posted on how you get on with it.