| Now that we've covered what elements you need to include in your auction listings, let's take a quick look at the best ways to present those elements. It all boils down to effective and tasteful web page designand employing that design to your eBay auction listings. Subtle design First, know that an effective web page (or auction listing) uses subtle design elements. The design itself shouldn't knock you over the head; it should be noticeable without calling attention to itself. That means not using design elements for design's sake. The layout should be practical without being showy, and the font and color choices should be understated. Logical page structure The structure of the page should work to draw the reader's eyes to the most important elements on the page. That might be the item's title or photo, or (ultimately) to the "Bid Now" button. There shouldn't be any speed bumps in the way from top to bottom. Subsidiary elements should be sectioned off, accessible but not mandatory in the reading scheme. Columns and tables Multiple columns and tables should be used when necessary, but not overused. It's okay to place bulleted lists or photos in a separate column, but don't put the main description in a two- or three-column layout. Flush left or justified text Text reads best when it's flush left or justified. Right-justified text is darned-near unreadable, and you don't want to center large blocks of text. (Centering is okay for titles and subtitles, however.) High contrast color scheme The whole design should work toward readability. That typically means dark text on a light background, like the black text against white pages of this book. Some reverse text can be used, for effect, but know that it's difficult to read large blocks of light text against a dark background. Understatement Nothing in the listing should scream at the potential bidder. That means no over-large fonts, no overly-bright colors, no flashing graphics or animations. Pictures should be large enough without dominating the page. Fonts should be large enough to be readable, but not so large that body text looks like a headline.
In short, use design to help sell your item, not to draw attention to itself. As you'll learn throughout this book, there is a lot of neat stuff you can do with HTMLbut that doesn't mean you should do all of it in a single auction listing. Use discretion and subtlety to work toward readability and emphasis on the key features of what you're selling. |
