Feedback for Optimize Customer Experience: Set your Image Templates to 'Fill'.

[James]

Hi Creators, 

Please feel free to share your thoughts on our new announcement on Image templates settings, here. 

Thank you, 

The Creator Team. 

[KeegansCreation]

This is a good idea. I try to always set it to Fill but have forgotten now and then. Default is best.

This line in the announcement got me all aflutter, "We are also experimenting with more customization features on the product page to support images with “fill” mode to improve the user experience. "  Might customers be able to move the image around without having to go into the design tool? Because that would be awesome.

[KarinaS]

Stay tuned 😉

[Fiorenzo]

That smiley looks promising 🙂 Missing the possibility for the customer to move/crop their image at upload and to hide an undesired image object directly via personalize form. P.S. I've just noticed that you fixed the cut-off image label descriptions in mobile phone view. Thank you!

[VivianD117]

Hi -- you are right about the majority, but everything that has a logo needs to be a "fit" to the very best of my knowledge -- and there are many items out there with logo's.  Has this changed?

[KarinaS]

Hi! Logos do work best with “fit”, and you can still select this setting. The fill modes of existing designs have not been changed at all.

[Claire]

Fill is great most of the time, but I have had times when customers have tried to use templates set to fill with the wrong orientation image. For example they put a horizontal image into a vertical template, heads are cut off and it's not something they can fix when a template is set to fill since the cropped parts of their image are no longer accessible.

[Fiorenzo]

You can use the "Product Page Label" template field to add useful info for the user. I always tell the user that their image gets resized and cropped and which sort of image works best, plus the recommended pixel sizes. Check out this photo puzzle template to get an idea. Note: the GET STARTED part is a dummy text field and the image sizes are written there because Zazzle cropped the image template labels on mobile phone views (I've just seen they fixed it in the meantime).

https://www.zazzle.com/design_your_own_20x30_1014_pcs_custom_pet_photo_jigsaw_puzzle-116843631965747... 

[MaxT]

Exactly. I put a square template on the design, and selected FIT. Now any shape of image will just fit itself within the parameters of my square template. No cut-offs.

Also, when FILL is selected, I noticed that when you add an image as a customer and then, for example, change your mind, and add a different image that's a different shape, the whole template will either become smaller or bigger, messing up the whole thing. With FIT you can just keep replacing the image, and it will stay within the template parameters. 

I'm new to this, so who knows. And I guess it depends on what you want. I just made sure that the template is big enough / proportionate. But the advantage is that I don't have to instruct customers at all about what kind of shape their image should be. It all FITS. Customer ease should be quite important, right. 

[Fiorenzo]

While it is true that in most cases you will use the FILL method, there are other cases where the FIT option is more appropriate, if not mandatory for correct results.

FILL takes the user's image and resizes it to completely fill the placeholder area. This will result in parts of the image getting cropped when the aspect ratio doesn't match, which may cause issues when the user uploads an image with different orientation, e.g. a wide horizontal image in a vertical portrait placeholder area. Use this option for background images and images that have to fill the entire placeholder area but avoid for logos and transparent PNG that have to be displayed to their full extent.

The FIT option fits the user's image in its whole within the placeholder area. No parts of the image will be cropped, but if the aspect ratio and orientation don't match, this will result in some placeholder areas being not filled and showing the underlying background. This option is mandatory for any image that has to be shown in its whole and uncropped, such as logos and transparent PNG décor such as decorative monograms.

The third option is obsolete.

@James please don't forget to fix the problem related to the incorrect resizing behavior (within the designer) of template images tagged with the FIT property. Already reported some time ago in the tech forum.

[Connie]

Great idea to have Fill set for the default!

[SandyMDesigns]

I do use Fill the majority of the time now. Though many years ago, my understanding of Fill, Fit  & None is now what it is now. Too bad it took this long for Zazzle to note which one is recommended.

[PremierPrints]

Existing designs now all need to be fixed, as my templates are no longer working with the change to "fill" on the images. Is there a way to change the existing designs without having to recreate a whole new product? There are many to fix and if I delete the previous versions my reviews will be lost 😞 please help.

[Fiorenzo]

They didn't change anything, all works as before, and no existing designs have been altered. The only difference is that now, the FILL option is set as default when you make your template. And that they recommend it (which is a good hint since many didn't know). Do you have a link to one of your products that doesn't work correctly, to check it out? I can't see what option you set but I can assume depending on the behavior.

[PremierPrints]

The images in my designs were either set to "fill" or "fit" depending on the layout. Now all of the images are set to "none" by default, so the photos blow out the whole design. Some of the designs survived, but most did not. My sales plummeted when this change was made. I am in the process of deleting nearly all of my products 😞

[Connie]

Don't delete your products! Even if you don't have the Replace Product" feature, it's probably only a temporary glitch! Most of us don't have any trouble, so you can either post in the technical issue forum, or send an email to Zazzle with examples. I'm sure they'll fix it soon.

[PremierPrints]

Wish I saw your comment sooner. I already deleted so many of them and the reviews are gone, I am so upset that this happened to my products. What is the replace product feature? I cannot find it.

[Fiorenzo]

It's an option that will appear after you edit an existing product. It's the "Replace Product" button showing up behind/under the "Sell It" button. Edit/adjust your product as desired, then click on Replace instead of Sell It and go through the whole procedure. Note that your changes are subject to manual review before re-publishing. All stats will remain.

[PremierPrints]

There are only the choices "Edit" or "Sell it" so replacing the product is not an option unfortunately.

[Fiorenzo]

This is strange. As I know, the Replace Product functionality should be accessible to all now. For this to work, you must make design changes to an already published product. Even just renaming a template field label is enough to make it work, just tested. Working on Windows and Desktgop here, don't know if this works on mobile.

[PremierPrints]

Just tried it again with an image fix on an existing product and the button you are showing for "replace product" is not there. I am also on desktop. Seems it's not yet available to all, because someone just replied to my tech forum post that they don't have it either. I asked in my post for the replace product feature to be enabled, so hoping that maybe someone from the tech team will see it and be able to enable. It would make redesigning 4 years of work a bit easier.

[Fiorenzo]

This is truly strange. I was almost 100% sure, Zazzle had already unlocked it for all. Let's wait for a mod's response on the tech forum.

[James]

Hi @Fiorenzo ,

No, this function (Produce edit/replace)is not accessible to everyone, unfortunately. This still impacts the site and Zazzle resources hugely, which of course we would love to change and make it available to all. However, anyone who wants to request limited access to this, may do so by contacting Support. 

Thank you. 

[Fiorenzo]

Thank you, James. My bad, must have confused it with something else. Good to know, hate to give wrong advice. Have a nice day!

[Fiorenzo]

Oh my Goodness. Never delete products that act weird after Zazzle comes with some upgrade or new functionality. Ever! This happens pretty often due to implementation flaws. Your first step shall always be visiting the forum and checking the tech issues thread for reports and if you don't find any, report the problem yourself.

That said, all my products worked and work fine after the FILL-"change" but there have been display and behavior issues after they implemented the new resizing functionality. This included stretched images and the FILL and FIT properties not working properly in image templates.

I don't know, if Zazzle's support may help, but you may try to contact them and explain the problem and perhaps they can restore at least some of your designs from a backup. You may open a thread in the tech forum and ask there for help if one of the mods doesn't respond to this one.

[PremierPrints]

Thank you, I posted in the tech forum and will wait for a response. What do you recommend as the protocol for product templates that are no longer functional if not to delete them? Or if the year is old and needs to be updated? I have tried to make products hidden before but they are still there.

[Fiorenzo]

Most welcome. Adjust and republish using the new Replace Product option, if they generated sales or views. Otherwise, adjust and publish as a new product to avoid undergoing the review procedure and spare the Zazzle review team unnecessary work. Before we had the replacement choice I closed my eyes and deleted them after republishing as a new product when the changes were crucial. Or I let them run side by side for some time until the new variant starts selling and the old one falls back and becomes obsolete.