gif

[jc_walden]

hi yawls

i am designing my home page - how can i create gif images and how can i put them where i want????????

jason - very new to this

[Mike Hughes]

Hi Jason,

Actinic provides a structure for the deign layout using templates. To find out more about using actinic I suggest you have a read of the 'getting started with actinic' guide that you can find here http://www.actinic.co.uk/support/downloads.htm

Mike

[jc_walden]

still stuck

I've looked at the guide and it does not make any sense to me

'values in the database'
'netquoatevar'


are you kidding???

i've followed the instuctions where it said go to template manager and all i saw was a buch of boxes joined up by lines with a warning that changing anything would cause actinic to stop working.


I know in my mind what the home page needs to look like - some pics and some words about the place. how do i get the pics and words where i want them on the home page. i have yet to find instructions.

i am a tad annoyed as everything i read about actinic before buying siad it was for beginner level. it has confused the hell out of me.

going nowhere fast - jason

[jc_walden]

gif -cont

imagine that i have a picture i like found on google image and i would like it on my home page - now what do i do?

jason

[RuralWeb]

Save it to the Actinic site 1 folder - browse on your c drive | programmes | Actinic 7 | Sites | Site 1 and save.

Go back to actinic and click on the little house in the content tree, select right mouse and select add new fragment.

In the fragment details enter a title and in the layout select image to left of text and title. Browse to the image in the site 1 file and select it.

Enter the text into the text box and the press preview to see the page layout you have created.

Actinic has several layouts you can use for fragments.

Leave the template manager alone it is for advanced work only.

Build you pages using fragments and then add the products into the catalog.

[wjcampbe]

First you need to establish who owns the image and whether you are legally allowed to use it. Then you need a copy of the image in your C:\Program Files\ Actinic v7\Sites\Site 1\ folder.

In Actinic, right click on the HOME icon (little house) in the content tree on the left. From the menu that pops up, select new fragment. In the grey box affair on the right, type a name - any name - for your new fragment and choose type 'Image only' - click the browse button alongside image and navigate to the site 1 folder and select the image filename. Click Apply.

[ADDED AFTERTHOUGHT] You might also follow the menu links to View | Quick Start Tutorial, and go through that a couple of times.

[Mr Bump]

I've looked at the guide and it does not make any sense to me

'values in the database'
'netquoatevar'


are you kidding???

i've followed the instuctions where it said go to template manager and all i saw was a buch of boxes joined up by lines with a warning that changing anything would cause actinic to stop working

What are you worried about? you haven't started the hard work yet! play with the program, nothing is going to stop actinic working at this stage if it does re-load it you must have the disk and key.

What i'm saying is when i'm unsure of a new progamme I just play with ideas until I feel confident to start

[acompton]

i am a tad annoyed as everything i read about actinic before buying siad it was for beginner level. it has confused the hell out of me.

Actinic is easy for the beginner, provided you start with its predefined layouts.

I know in my mind what the home page needs to look like - some pics and some words about the place. how do i get the pics and words where i want them on the home page. i have yet to find instructions.

If you have a very specific idea for the page layout, you're going to need to get into some advanced template modification.

The best way is to start simple and change it a little bit at a time, learning as you go.

Alan Compton
www.greenknightgames.co.uk
Great board games and cards games you won't find in the High Street

[jont]

everything i read about actinic before buying siad it was for beginner level ...... I know in my mind what the home page needs to look like

This is the beauty of Actinic - you can do both of the above ... install the disk, input your details and away you go.

If you want to change the look of the site to your own design this is also possible - you are not tied down to a limited set of templates (of which Actinic has much more that its rivals) ... of course this takes things into a more advanced arena and will not be learnt overnight ... even experienced Actinicers learn something new each time they create a new site.

Most of your design questions will most likely have been asked by someone else so a quick search on the forum will answer a lot of questions for you

[acompton]

Jason

Looking back at your original post, no has replied to this:

how can i create gif images

Are you asking: "I've got some images, how do I convert them into gifs?"

Alan

[pinbrook]

imagine that i have a picture i like found on google image and i would like it on my home page - now what do i do?

Bear in mind you must respect other peoples copyright to their images, you can't just go around stealing other peoples images.

If you need images of your products you will need to get them from your supplier (many suppliers have CDs of images for this purpose) or you will need to take photos or have someone else take photos for you

[jc_walden]

gif

yes alan, thanks.

that is what I mean.

jason

[jont]

imagine that i have a picture i like found on google image

Are you asking: "I've got some images, how do I convert them into gifs?"

If the images you have found on Google (assuming the above legal concerns) are in GIF format simply save to the site1 folder.

If they are in JPEG format you will need to open them in a graphics package such as PhotoShop, Paint Shop Pro, GIMP etc and them export (or save as) the image into the GIF format. This can be done with any format of image so long as your graphics package is able to open the source file.

Depending on the software being used you may need to watch the bit depth of colour information as GIF will not support say 32bit colour information (CMYK)

Equally using the same software you can create a GIF image from scratch if designing say buttons, logos etc.

[jc_walden]

thanks - supplementary question

Thanks - i've got paint shop pro.

does catalog only understand GIF's?

what is a site1 folder - what do i do with it?

you see i was expecting actinic catalog to be just like a blank page and i would design/cut and paste words and images onto it and position them where i wanted just like i do using Word. I think that i need to think about another way - is it the case that every image and word that appears on catalog is a file that is saved somewhere and that instead of me putting the word/image onto catalog i put an address to where the image/word is found.

very confused

jason

[jont]

does catalog only understand GIF's?

No - you can specify any image format in there you like but you need to stick to the main 3 that web browsers can actually show GIF, JPEG and PNG .... PNG is not universally supported so bet sticking to GIF and JPEG (which make up 99.99999% of the internet images)

what is a site1 folder - what do i do with it?

The site1 folder is the default installation location on your hard drive where Actinic stores the info need specific to your site.

Usually under C:\program files\actinic v7\sites

You can store product images into a new subfolder of the site1 folder but template images are best kept in the root of the folder

is it the case that every image and word that appears on catalog is a file that is saved somewhere and that instead of me putting the word/image onto catalog i put an address to where the image/word is found.

All the products, prices, information, company details, shipping etc are stored in a database. When you hit upload (or preview) Actinic compiles all the information into various templates - you will see these in the site1 folder starting with Act_name.html .... the main template for the main outer design to the site is the Act_Primary.html.

If you want to change the look and position of the details you need to edit the Act_templates in the site1 folder.

This is a great system as you are not having to create each page from scratch - just edit a template and the changes are reflected site wide (although you can override sections if you want a different feel by specifying a alternative template) ... the database remains the same.

If you look at a template you wil see a load of NETQUOTEVAR variables .... these basically instruct Actinic to replace the variable with the details ... so each time NQV : PRODUCTNAME is seen it is replaced by .. yep ... the name of the product .. similarly for the image, price, description etc etc. All the information is inserted (compiled) on the fly to create the page you see in the browser.

Hopefully that demystifies it a little for you