Startup Page for FreeForm (do not close while using FreeForm)

Leave this window open while using FreeForm! WHY?

FreeForm Startup Page

Welcome! Beginners: Be sure to read through this page to learn "THE BASICS" and perform the "New Window Test" to make sure everything will work correctly for you.
And, see FreeForm in action with the new

Tutorials

Email Registration (enables saving in FreeForm - Privacy Statement) Register to Obtain Password Change your Password Password Reminder The above links are to robshelp2.com where FreeForm is currently functioning
THE BASICS Computer Requirements Using Images (Photos, Graphics, Logos) FreeForm Uses Multiple (pop-up) Windows Configuring the Builder Saving Your Work Using What You Create on eBay or Other Sites Getting Started and Getting Help Text Too Large or Too Small? Privacy Statement
Do not use FreeForm here on the robshelp.com server. Use it on robshelp2.com here instead: Startup Page on robshelp2.com Thank You! What's the difference?

Tip for eBay Store Owners: eBay now allows you to show a listing "frame" instead of a just a header. Every visitor to every one of your listings will see all your store categories when you choose to display a left navigation bar. Learn about that here: Custom Listing Frame

Please contribute to the support of the FreeForm site. All I ask is $1 per month.

Easy Auction Picture Hosting - Please consider signing up or switching over.

TopWhat's New?

June 2006
The Advanced Builder now:

Has a preferences section at the top of the page that enables control over some of the appearance and functionality. Most importantly, if you work from standard templates you've created for yourself, you may hide the Input Areas that always remain the same so your focus can go immediately to those that do need require changes as you create new item descriptions or pages. Each Input Area has a "Hide" checkbox to control that. Preferences and hiding of Input Areas settings are saved with the template when you use either Quick Save, EAPH Save, or Standard Save.
In the preferences section you may control what part of the Preview page you go to when a Preview button is clicked and what happens when you click in the preview area of your presentation on the Preview window.
Text Input Areas have a box you can check to prevent FreeForm from performing substitutions for new lines, spacebars, and quotes. With the box checked you may paste HTML (source code) that includes HTML tables and quotes into a Text Input Area and use the WYSIWYG feature to edit the images and textual content. With the box checked you may also copy portions or all of a web page off the screen and paste it into the WYSIWYG screen.

January 2006
The Advanced Builder has been reworked slightly including the additional ability to create links to sections within pages, an improved WYSIWYG, an improved Border Designer, and the ability to choose among several countries to use when FreeForm creates links to eBay sites.

October 2005
FreeForm's capabilities have been expanded to help create web pages. Now, in addition to item descriptions, you may use FreeForm to design web pages and save them to your computer for uploading to your web site. If you are an EAPH member you may publish directly to your EAPH hosting web space. The new additions are located in the Preview menu as "Publish on EAPH" and "Make into a Web Page".

In support of the ability to create web pages, the Gallery Builder Tool (FreeForm's Gallery Input Area) has been reworked slightly with added help pages and examples for how it can be used in web pages to create tables of contents, category and item lists, etc.

August 22, 2005
The Advanced Builder Frame Builder Tool now includes new buttons: Insert, Remove, Copy, and Paste to help make the process of designing the frames faster and more convenient.

August 19, 2005
The Advanced Builder now enables up to 10 Picture Input Areas to be inserted all at once. Thank you Kelly for the suggestion!

June 24, 2005
Even more flexibility and convenience added to galleries created using Gallery Input Areas. A title (header) and footer may now be included. eBay item numbers may be entered more efficiently. For thumbnail type galleries, the number of rows to be displayed may be controlled by setting an overall height (with a scroll bar to see other rows).

June 20, 2005
Gallery Input Areas have been refined to produce better looking results:

When providing eBay Item numbers there is no longer any adjustment made to the size of the thumbnail images that are fetched from eBay. It was discovered that attempting to force them into a uniform width or height did more harm than good.
More control over display size is now possible when providing your own images to display in your gallery. You may now constrain both their width and height.

May, 2005

There is now an additional "Advanced" version of FreeForm. Advanced not in terms of difficulty, but in features, and computer/browser resources required to run it. It draws on the power of newer version browsers to enable the additional features. Older versions may not be able to handle it. Netscape version 4.8, for example, can not. Internet Explorer 6.0+, Netscape 7.1+, and Mozilla FireFox 1.03, however, all handle it fine when run on a Windows XP computer. I would appreciate feedback from those of you using different browsers on different operating systems (thanks).

The major additional features built into the "Advanced" version are:

You can load saved descriptions from the regular Builder into the Advanced Builder
Background music option (you only need to provide the URL)
"No Right Click" option (you only need to provide a message)
Copy and Paste settings and contents from one Text or Picture Input Area to another
Assign a number of blank lines to appear above and/or below a Text Input Area
Assign a display width and height for Text Input Areas
Background image or wallpaper option for Text Input Areas
Borders (frames) option for Text or Picture Input Areas
Longer descriptions are possible in this version

You may load a sample showing these new features in use by clicking "The Library" link in the Builder. It is entitled "Advanced Version Sample". I also have a new eBay About Me page created using this version.

TopTHE BASICS: Computer Requirements

JavaScript is enabled in your browser (required)
Popup Windows are enabled for the domain RobsHelp.com (required)
Cookies are enabled for the domain RobsHelp.com (optional)
Your computer and browser support other enhanced features (informational)

Configuring Pop-Up Blockers

There are no third party advertisements on robshelp.com site but the opening of new windows in FreeForm may be intercepted by pop-up blocker software. If nothing happens when you click on some links you'll need to configure any pop-up blockers operating on your computer by adding robshelp.com to their allowed lists. There are several different types of software that may include pop-up blockers. The first place to look is in your browser's toolbars.

To configure the pop-up blocker built into Internet Explorer for Windows XP Service Pack 2, click on Tools, then Pop-Up Blocker, then Pop-Up Blocker Settings. Type in robshelp.com, click the Add button then Close.

Here are pages with instructions for configuring pop-up blockers in the Yahoo and Google toolbars:

Yahoo toolbar
Google toolbar

If links still do not work, they are being blocked by some other software that includes a pop-up blocker such as another toolbar you have installed. With Internet Explorer make sure you can see all the toolbars you have installed by clicking on View, then Toolbars, then click on each in the list that does not have a check mark next to it. With all the toolbars in view you can explore each of their options.

There is also a possibility that some other program such as an Internet security program or firewall is blocking pop-ups. You will need to look for some indication on your system when the window is blocked, such as an icon or sound, to determine what is blocking the window from appearing. If you have some sort of clue but are unable to find the source please write and I'll try to help.

It is best to learn how to use the pop-up software on your computer so you can selectively apply it to various sites on the Internet. You do not need to turn pop-up blockers off entirely!

AOL members who access the Internet through the AOL network are advised to use AOL 7.0 or higher. It has been reported that AOL's network does not support the older versions as well as the newer ones.

TopTHE BASICS: Using Images (Photos, Graphics, Logos)

FreeForm readily enables the display of multiple images (photos, grapics, logos, etc.) in your presentations without needing to learn HTML. However, before you can display images in your presentations you will need to:

Set yourself up with an Internet host that is compatible with eBay - More Info
Upload to that host the images you desire to display - More Info
Be able to fill in URLs (Internet Addresses) for those images - More Info

Yes, it is worth the trouble to learn how to do these things! Using your own host replaces your need to pay eBay for showing extra photos for your auction or store items. That will reduce listing costs and your sales will improve as a result of showing more and better quality photos in your item descriptions. If you are worried that this all might be too complicated for you, give yourself a break and sign up for EAPH.com hosting. That will make using FreeForm much easier.

As mentioned above, you will need to learn how to use URLs (Internet Addresses). A URL looks like this:

http://members.aol.com/robbelljr/nsxblue.jpg
and FreeForm helps you use them by providing a point and click "Choose from" ability to get URLs for images without needing to type or copy and paste them. The point and click is compatible with AOL, Earthlink, EAPH.com, and many Other hosts.

Practice and Test

Here is an example input field for an Image into which you type or paste a URL. You may test with a URL to an image you have stored at your own host or copy and paste (More Info) in the sample URL from above. Then click on the "Show It" button and the image will display in a preview size to the left.

Choose from:
Because EAPH.com hosting and FreeForm are under the same control, a wonderful point and click is available when EAPH.com is used for photo hosting. There is no need to type or copy and paste image URLs. Click on the EAPH.com button to see how easy it is to use an image stored there from within the FreeForm Builder.

Some Internet hosts offer various levels of hosting including very low cost or free service. Those levels of service may, however, block the display of your photos from any web site other than theirs. The free plans at Yahoo, for example, will not display images on eBay. If you want to test that photos stored at your host will also work at eBay, first fill in a URL above. If it shows to the left, you're half way home, but also use the "Test It" button (opens a new window) for a more complete test.

TopTHE BASICS: FreeForm Uses Multiple (pop-up) Windows

FreeForm is an online program that runs through your Internet browser and makes use of multiple browser windows. The process is easy because the windows are opened and closed automatically for you as you use FreeForm.

The Startup Window (the one you are in now) is used to launch the Builder and for temporary storage of data from the Builder window.

The Builder window is where you may load the ingredients of previously saved presentations and is where you modify them or build new ones.

From the Builder window various "tools" are also opened into their own windows. You will always know where you are and will, by default, land back in the Builder when you are finished with any tool.

The Preview Window is used to display what was created in the Builder.

In the Preview window you are provided with a menu from which you may save your work or use what you've created for eBay or any other online venue that accepts HTML.

Usually many trips to the Preview window are desireable during the course of creating a presentation. When you click on any part of your presentation, the Preview window will close and you'll be positioned at the Builder Input Area that controls the part of the presentation you clicked on.

TopTHE BASICS: Configuring the Builder

FreeForm's Builder is based on "Input Areas". Each Input Area is designed to accept and display different parts of your presentation. A Picture Input Area, for example, controls the display of a picture (photo or graphic image).

You build your presentations by inserting (or removing) the various types of Input Areas where you want them. What you place in the Builder then appears in that same sequence when you Preview it.

Within each Input Area are controls to configure how that part functions and appears in the presentation.

Configuring the Builder is easy. Between each Input Area in the Builder there are buttons to insert any of the various types of Input Areas where you want them.

An excellent selling technique is to show a picture, then write about it, then show another picture, then write about it, etc. That is accomplished by inserting a Picture Input Area, then a Text Input Area, then a Picture Input Area, etc. You are in control over how much or how little information you desire to present.

TopTHE BASICS: Saving Your Work

Saving in FreeForm consists of storing the "ingredients" of your presentation -- the Input Areas used, their sequence, and their contents -- into "containers" residing on either the RobsHelp.com or EAPH.com websites. Once saved into a container those ingredients can then be loaded back into the Builder on a future occasion. Those containers become your own custom templates for use as the starting point for listing different items.

One of the first things you should do when learning FreeForm is practice saving! Not just the temporary Quick Save, but permanently save via the menu on the Preview page.

So you don't get confused write this down if you need to: Saving is done from the Preview Page, Retrieving is done from the Builder Page

TopTHE BASICS: Using What You Create on eBay or Other Sites

Behind the scenes, FreeForm translates Input Area selections and their contents into HTML "code" each time you go to the Preview page. Getting to that HTML so you can use it on eBay (or use it anywhere else) is done from a menu of buttons and links located in the Preview page.

To use a saved description/presentation: First Restore it to the Builder, then go to Preview, then click on the appropriate button in the menu on the Preview page (in the same area at which you find the Save buttons).

TopTHE BASICS: Getting Started and Getting Help

You may find yourself asking: "I like what others are doing with FreeForm but I don't know where to begin!"

If you do not have one already, get yourself an Internet Host for your photos. Naturally, I'd like you to choose my hosting service EAPH.com, but if your budget doesn't enable $8 per month then seek one elsewhere. The single most important thing to increase your sales is to be able to display multiple photos in your descriptions where you have control over their size, placement, and appearance. Make sure the host you choose will work for you with eBay (and FreeForm) using the tests in the Using Images (Photos, Graphics, Logos) section on this page.
At the top of this page is the button that will take you to FreeForm's Builder. From the Builder page you may access a small library of Samples and Examples, including a Beginners Tutorial. Load those into the Builder for working examples which you may adapt to your own needs.
Consider your efforts with FreeForm as an investment in achieving success at eBay or other selling venues on the Internet. If you are not comfortable with computers then some of that effort will be acquiring some basic skills. It helps tremendously to experiment and discover with an open mind. With FreeForm experimenting is easy. Whatever you do in the Builder will have some effect on the Preview. If you like the results in Preview then leave that part of the Builder alone. If you don't, then go back to the Builder and change it. It's that simple.

More Help is Available:

Visual Printable Guide (opens in new window)

Tutorials that are actual movies showing FreeForm in action

FreeForm's Full Help Page Overall is probably more than you want to know, but includes a good menu to help you home in on parts you might want to learn more about.

My 7 most important tips for creating better presentations using FreeForm.

EAPH.com Infocenter Includes some good basic advice and explains the benefits of using "Your Own Hosting" (third party hosting) on eBay.

Getting Started with EAPH Much of what you'll find on this page is applicable with any host. Good outline of instructions for preparing photos to display in the body of eBay descriptions or elsewhere on the Internet.

rob@robshelp.com I'm here to help too!

Good Luck! ~Rob

TopText Too Large or Too Small?

In deference to people who may have poorer eyesight (I'm one of them) text is not locked in to display at any particular point size in FreeForm's pages. All the sizes used are "relative" to however your browser is set to display text size. If the text in FreeForm either appears too large or too small, all you need do is a simple adjustment in your browser settings. In Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, and Netscape you'll find the setting in the toolbar under "View". Make yourself comfortable!

TopPrivacy Statement

FreeForm is supported entirely by voluntary contributions. Creating, maintaining, and improving FreeForm has been a very enjoyable personal project of mine for many years. It was born of a desire to help level the playing field on eBay by enabling "regular folks" to produce attractive and effective auction descriptions without shelling out big bucks or needing to learn HTML.

There are no associations with third party advertisers in FreeForm. No information of any kind is provided to or shared with any third parties. The registration process to perform Standard Saves in FreeForm requires an email address. Email addresses are protected from public access and are only used for the purpose of providing passwords, password reminders, and as IDs for saving and loading Builder contents. Cookies are available in FreeForm for your convenience. Those cookies are "first-party" cookies only, which means they are not readable from any other site than robshelp.com. The option is provided in every instance to choose or not to use them.