Advanced ContentDirect Settings

As well as being able to generate the data for you, ContentDirect affords you a high level of control over the way the data that is outputted is formatted.

NOTE: The formatting changes you make in advance ContentDirect settings only affect the HTML pages that are generated which you click the 'Generate Content'  button.  Because the other two data files available (CSV and XML) are raw data files, they are unaffected by any of the changes you may make in the advanced ContentDirect settings, below.

You can access these advanced settings from the ContentDirect screen, by pressing the button labeled "advanced settings", shown below:

Fig. 2.6.5.2.1: The "Advanced Settings" button on the Content Direct page:    

This will load the advanced settings options, shown below:

Fig. 2.6.5.2.2: The "Advanced Settings" options loaded on clicking the "Advanced Settings" button:

The advanced setting options that are loaded include the following elements:

Packshot Align

This setting adjusts where on the page the packshots (the product photographs) appear. Your three options, from the drop-down selector are:

Packshot Border

You have two options here - border thickness and color. To set the border thickness, in pixels, select one of the following three options from the first drop-down selector:

To set the color of the border, select the color picker button and make your border color selection from the pop-up color selection window that appears. Confirm your color selection by clicking the button labeled "OK" in the color selection window. This will update your selection and show your selected color in the box adjacent to the color picker button.

Note also: Within the same box (showing your current color selection) the hex-value for the color selected has also appeared. If you are familiar with editing such values, you can skip the use of the color selection window and simply enter the value directly into the relevant box. As you enter the hex-value, the color of the box into which you are typing will update accordingly, by way of confirmation that you have selected the right color.

Include Samples (checkbox)

Checking this box will ensure that for each title description there are audio "sample" links beneath the title description. These samples are of course very useful to prospective customers wishing to sample the quality of the audio-book they are viewing, before proceeding to purchase.

If you would rather not include audio samples on your pages, simply uncheck this box.

Title Details Align

Irrespective of the Packshot alignment, you can stipulate whether the Title Text is aligned left or right of screen. You may wish to experiment with this setting until you are happy with the layout (see the note at the foot of this section on 'experimentation'). Your options, from the drop-down selector, are:

Styles

Title

The title settings let you change the appearance of the audio book title for the generated pages. You can specify your preferred font by selecting it from the drop-down list, and then you can choose a preferred point-size by selecting it from the appropriate drop-down list as well. You also have the option to select the type of heading (from Normal to H7).

To change the color of this title text, you need to click on the color picker button and select a color from the color picker. The color sample next to the color picker button will change to show what color is currently selected for the text. You can also set the title text to Bold and/or Italics and/or Underlined by checking the appropriate box.

Title Hover

The title hover color affects the color to which the ‘title’ link text momentarily changes as the customer's mouse passes over the link. This acts as a highlight, and indicates to the user that they are about to select the highlighted title/details, should they proceed to click this link with their mouse. To change the title hover color, click on the color picker button and select a color from the color picker. The color sample adjacent to the color picker button will change to show the color you have currently specified.

Info

The "Info" settings are referring to author, narrator, publisher, price. etc. text that will appear on the generated pages. You can specify your preferred font by selecting it from the drop-down list, and then you can choose a preferred point-size by selecting it from the appropriate drop-down list as well. You also have the option to select the type of heading (from Normal to H7).

To change the color of this title text, you need to click on the color picker button and select a color from the color picker. The color sample next to the color picker button will change to show what color is currently selected for the text. You can also set the text to Bold and/or Italics by checking the appropriate box.

Links

This setting adjusts the color of the other links (besides the title link) that can be found on the generated pages. To change the link color, click on the color picker button and select a color from the color picker. The color sample adjacent to the color picker button will change to show the color you have currently specified.

Link Hover

The link hover color affects the color to which the link text momentarily changes as the customer's mouse passes over the link. This acts as a highlight, and indicates to the user that they are about to select the highlighted title/details, should they proceed to click this link with their mouse. To change the link hover color, click on the color picker button and select a color from the color picker. The color sample adjacent to the color picker button will change to show the color you have currently specified.

Description

The description settings let you change the appearance of the audio book description for the generated pages. You can specify your preferred font by selecting it from the drop-down list, and then you can choose a preferred point-size by selecting it from the appropriate drop-down list as well.

To change the color of this title text, you need to click on the color picker button and select a color from the color picker. The color sample next to the color picker button will change to show what color is currently selected for the text. You can also set the description text to Bold and/or Italics by checking the appropriate box.

Headings

Author

You can select, from the drop-down selector here, what text you would like to use as a label alongside the author's name on every page. Your five options are:

Narrator

You can select, from the drop-down selector here, what text you would like to use as a label alongside the narrator's name on every page. Your seven options are:

Publisher

You can select, from the drop-down selector here, what text you would like to use as a label alongside the publisher's name on every page. Your five options are:

Runtime

You can select, from the drop-down selector here, what text you would like to use as a label alongside the runtime on every page. Your seven options are:

Price

You can select, from the drop-down selector here, what text you would like to use as a label alongside the price on every page. Your seven options are:

Categories

You can select, from the drop-down selector here, what text you would like to use as a label alongside the category on every page. Your five options are:

Buy Now

You can select, from the drop-down selector here, what text you would like to use as a purchase link on every page. Your four options are:

Reviews

You can select, from the drop-down selector here, what text you would like to use as a heading for the title reviews on every page. Your four options are:

More Info

You can select, from the drop-down selector here, what text you would like to use as a link to more title details on every page. This text appears at the bottom of the brief product descriptions for the 'other titles' listed beneath the main title (i.e. other titles of interest') . Your five options are:

Custom text

Text to appear at the top

Clicking the button, under this heading, labeled "Edit.." loads a text editor window into which you can type your text that you would like to appear at the top of every page. The window is shown in the diagram below:

Fig. 2.6.5.2.3: The text editor window:

Note: You can also edit this text as HTML, by clicking the button (on the text editor window) labeled "Source" - circled in the diagram above. This will switch the text editor into 'HTML mode' and you may use regular HTML code in this window.

When you have finished typing your text (or inputting your HTML code) you can simply click the button labeled "Save Changes" to save your changes and return to the advanced ContentDirect settings screen. Clicking the 'Cancel' button returns you to the advanced ContentDirect settings screen also, only without saving your changes.

Text to appear between main and other titles

As with the text editing process above, so too can you specify text. HTML for insertion between the main title information and the 'other titles' (listed below the main title, in less detail). To create/edit this text/HTML, simply click the button labeled "Edit..." and proceed as above.

Text to appear at the bottom

As with the text editing process above, in the 'Text to appear at top, section', so too can you specify text. HTML for insertion at the bottom of every page. To create/edit this text/HTML, simply click the button labeled "Edit..." and proceed as above.

Related Titles

Related titles packshot align

Beneath the product descriptions, in each of your product pages, there is a list of other titles which are relevant to the main title on that page. These might be a selection of other titles from the same category, or by the same author, for example.

The packshots for these titles can aligned in different positions, and you can select how you would like them aligned form the drop-down selector. Your five options are:

Related titles text align

Similar to the packshots, above, you can also choose how you would like the titles (for the related products) aligning. Again, you can make your selection from the drop-down selector. Your five options are:

Related titles separator

As with the packshot border, you can select a line width and color for a dividing line, between each of the 'other titles' listed below the main product details. The options for the width (from the drop-down selector) are:

To set the color of the dividing line, select the button labeled color picker and make your dividing line color selection from the pop-up color selection window that appears. Confirm your color selection by clicking the button labeled "OK" in the color selection window. This will update your selection and show your selected color in the box adjacent to the color picker button.

Note also: Within the same box (showing your current color selection) the hex-value for the color selected has also appeared. If you are familiar with editing such values, you can skip the use of the color selection window and simply enter the value directly into the relevant box. As you enter the hex-value, the color of the box into which you are typing will update accordingly, by way of confirmation that you have selected the right color.

Sitemap

Create a sitemap (Checkbox)

If you would like a site map generating for the pages produced, simply check this box. This option is only applicable should you download the plain HTML files. On unzipping the HTML files, you will see that (as well as the individual product HTML pages) there is also a "sitemap.html" file for your use in creating a website from these pages.

Sitemap filename

Should you wish the sitemap file (mentioned above) to be named anything different to the default name ("sitemap.html") you can specify this preferred name in the box under this heading. Please be sure to include the file extension when specifying the new filename.

With your selections made, you may continue (as with the simple content generation outlined in previous section of this manual) to output your data set.

A note on 'Experimentation':

Because of the very nature of the ContentDirect system, generating content being incredibly simple and fast, it is highly recommended that you experiment with different layout options until you are entirely happy with the generated pages/data. This is the simplest way of making sure you get the idea presentation for your application and that you don't need to come back at a later stage to reproduce the data set.