If you don't care about fancy background colors and graphics, you can perform a fair amount of text formatting for your item description using nothing more than eBay's standard text editor. As you can see in Figure 2.1, when you click the Sell link to enter the sell your item process, the Describe Your Item page contains the familiar Description section. As you no doubt know (or have quickly figured out), this is a text box where you enter your item description. What's neat about the Description box is that it functions as a WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) text editor, thanks to the formatting commands available just above the text box. All you have to do is enter your description, highlight the text you want to format, and then click the appropriate formatting command. Figure 2.1. eBay's standard text editor in the Description section of the Describe Your Item page.Note eBay is constantly updating its forms and tools to improve the user experience. With that in mind, it's possible that the text editor and other tools discussed in this chapter might look different from what is presented here. The result can be as visually interesting as you like, as you can see from the example in Figure 2.2. You can format the text's font, size, color, justification, and other attributes. Read on to learn more. Figure 2.2. An item description formatted with the commands available in the standard text editor.Available Formatting CommandsJust what formatting commands are available in the standard text editor? Table 2.1 provides a complete list.
You can use the various text formatting commands to create different formatting for different parts of your item description. For example, you can use a larger type face in bold to create a separate title, then a smaller type face (non-bold) for the main description. You can also highlight important words and phrases in bold or with a different color, or break out long lists of features into a bulleted list. Tip The text editor also includes its own built-in spell checker. Just click the Check Spelling button to ensure that no embarrassing spelling mistakes creep into your item listing. Adding InsertseBay's text editor also includes some predesigned HTML code, in the form of inserts, for some of the most popular additional functions. To insert an insert, all you have to do is position your cursor within the text where you want the item to appear, and then select the insert from the pull-down menu. Table 2.2 details the available inserts.
Creating Your Own InsertsThe use of inserts presents a great way to include repeating text or graphics in all your eBay listings. To that end, eBay lets you create your own inserts, which you can then insert from the Inserts list in the text editor. To create a new insert, follow these steps:
Your newly created insert should now appear in the Inserts list, along with eBay's default inserts. Tip To create an insert for a graphic, use the HTML <img> code, as explained in Chapter 5, "Learning How to Code with HTML" Previewing Your ListingWhen you're done formatting the text of your item description (and adding any desired inserts), you can preview how it will look on screen. Just click the Preview Description button, and a new window will open on your desktop, with the description section of your listing displayed, as shown in Figure 2.4. Figure 2.4. Previewing your item description in a separate window. |