Shortly after getting started with Templett, you’ll want to upload your own design elements so you can start using them in your templates. In Templett, we call these Elements. Once you upload an element, you can reuse it in as many templates as you’d like. It will stay in the Elements area and you just have to click it to load it onto a template. You can search for elements using the tags you set when uploading them and the title.
File types
You have three file types you can use as Elements. You can upload PNG’s and SVG’s and JPEG’s. There are different advantages and disadvantages to all of them but you’ll probably end up using all of them in your designs. You can not use any other file type.
PNG
One of the main advantages of PNG’s are that they can be transparent or have transparent parts to them. The downside is that PNG’s are rasterized images so you cannot change the colors. Another disadvantage is that PNG file sizes can become quite large if you’re not careful. When working with files on the web, we need the file size to be small enough to work with in the browser but high quality enough to print.
SVG
SVG’s are the preferred file to use if you can. Unfortunately, an SVG will never look like a PNG. SVG’s are vector files, you can scale them infinitely without ever losing quality. This is a huge plus! SVG files are also usually very small file sizes. This makes them perfect for working with on the web and because they can scale without ever losing quality, they are also perfect for print.
JPEG
If you need to, you can also upload JPEG files as elements. This is useful if you want to add a background image to your template but it’s not going to be a seamless background that would normally go in the backgrounds section. If you do this. Be sure your background is slightly larger than your template so the bleed works correctly if the customer chooses to use it. For example, if the template is 5″ x 7″, upload a background that is 5.25″ x 7.25″ or larger.
File sizes
Since Templett is a web application, the normal rules of desktop applications do not apply. For example, in Photoshop, you can work with very large files sizes. Your computer can handle those large file sizes usually without you noticing. Unfortunately, browsers totally rely on the speed of the internet connection of the person using it. This will cause problems when working with large file sizes in Templett. The browser has to download the file before it can be displayed to the user on their screen.
When working with templates, we need to balance the file size with the image quality so the application runs fast enough but the printed work also looks high quality. This can certainly be done though and we do it for you automatically.
Smart optimization
Before, when you uploaded an Element into Templett, nothing about the file would change. This was fine for the few sellers who knew exactly what they were doing and optimized their images beforehand. However, with the vast majority of sellers, we were getting huge file sizes which would slow down the application for their customers. A 15mb PNG file is not good for working with on the web.
We’ve built smart optimization techniques into Templett. Now, you don’t need to think about anything extra when uploading Elements. Templett will take the file that you’re uploading and perform a series of tasks on it to optimize it for the application. What we’re looking to achieve is the perfect balance of quality with a small enough file size so we can work with it without slowing down the application. Don’t worry, we are putting an emphasis on quality here. Most of the templates used in the application will eventually be printed so quality is a must. You should not see any difference in quality when you upload an element.
The best part is, you don’t have to do anything. It’s all done for you.
Uploading Elements
To upload a new Element, click the menu button in the Elements pane then click New Element. Give your Element a title and tags. The tags help you search for it later so you don’t have to scroll through the Elements pane to find what you’re looking for. Next, select the file from your computer and click add. Wait for the file to upload and be optimized. This could take some time depending on the size of the file you are uploading and the speed of your internet connection.