# Big Cartel is a big PITA lol HELP!



## kc6789 (Mar 28, 2010)

Can someone show me how to use Big Cartel? I can't fit a header photo on the top of the store/menus no matter how small the picture is.

And help me put my photo in the background too? Please!


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## kc6789 (Mar 28, 2010)

Nevermind. I went back to my Flash site on Wix cuz it's 1,000x BETTER


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## n.signia (Nov 21, 2007)

I found big cartel super easy to use. I didn't have any issue with header images, what type of file were you trying to upload?


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## kc6789 (Mar 28, 2010)

It doesn't matter anymore. I love my flash site way better. 


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## 760rdl (Jan 14, 2010)

These forums are for help not to reject and say an opinion or statement doesnt matter any more...


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## Rodney (Nov 3, 2004)

kc6789 said:


> It doesn't matter anymore. I love my flash site way better.
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using TShirtForums


While you may love your flash site, keep in mind that your customers may not  

It makes it harder for them to shop, bookmark and find your site in search engines.

Big Cartel is a much better option for an ecommerce site. I'm sure if you would have contacted their support, they would have been happy to walk you through any of the steps


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## CocoVee (Apr 18, 2010)

Rodney said:


> While you may love your flash site, keep in mind that your customers may not
> 
> It makes it harder for them to shop, bookmark and find your site in search engines.
> 
> Big Cartel is a much better option for an ecommerce site. I'm sure if you would have contacted their support, they would have been happy to walk you through any of the steps


Hello,

First off this email is not meant to bash anyone or any vendor. I too have a BigCartel site and have had problems changing it. 

I do like the fact that I can use my own domain name and that I can use Paypal. I do also like the fact that when I google my domain, it is the first one that comes up.

I have entered the code that was someone on this forum suggested to change the background and nothing changed. I was able to add a header but that doesn't require changing any code. When I tried to get help from BigCartel's support, it leads me back to the same support page. 

This is the only site I have for now and I haven't tried lately, but I also haven't directed anyone to the site hoping that I will somehow be able to make those changes soon. I would also like to be able to add a button for size and color. 

If there is someone that can help, I would greatly appreciate it. I am not HTML literate, which is probably the biggest challenge, but I can follow instructions.

Thanks
Sharon


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## Rodney (Nov 3, 2004)

> I have entered the code that was someone on this forum suggested to change the background and nothing changed. I was able to add a header but that doesn't require changing any code.


It's possible that you added the code to the wrong place or maybe missed a step in the process.



> When I tried to get help from BigCartel's support, it leads me back to the same support page.


I just went to their contact page and I can see how it may have led you back to the help pages. I think they are trying to encourage people to read the help pages they've published online and follow the instructions they've posted.

However, you can also contact them directly from the help page. I just made this quick video that shows you how to contact them using their contact page.

TechSmith | Screencast.com, online video sharing, 2010-08-25_1137



> I am not HTML literate, which is probably the biggest challenge, but I can follow instructions.


It does look like you need to know some HTML in order to be able to customize the pages. You can also hire someone to do it for you to get it looking the way you want.


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## kc6789 (Mar 28, 2010)

I've bookmarked my site just FINE and no one has ANY trouble looking at all the pages. U need to stop hating. 


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## Rodney (Nov 3, 2004)

kc6789 said:


> I've bookmarked my site just FINE and no one has ANY trouble looking at all the pages. U need to stop hating.
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using TShirtForums


I'm just trying to help you with tips based on my experience...that's what this forum is for. That's what you asked for  

Sorry if you find any of the tips not to your liking, but sometimes the best advice is the advice we don't want to hear. Even if you decide not to take the advice...posting it here may help others who are considering a flash site for ecommerce but aren't aware of the downfalls.

Nothing I'm posting is meant to be any kind of personal attack on you at all. We're all here to help.



> I've bookmarked my site just FINE


I'm not talking about bookmarking the front page, I'm talking about bookmarking a product page. Sharing a link directly to one of the products. That's generally not possible with a flash site.

For example, if I want to share a link to a cool t-shirt on threadless, I can link right to the page where someone can click an "add to cart" button without having to click around the site: "Mr. Tee" - Pop Culture T-shirt by Phil Jones



> no one has ANY trouble looking at all the pages


I'm not sure that's entirely true. Although you may not have any troubles seeing your site with your computer setup, not everyone will be browsing your site with the same setup. Some may have older computers that don't display flash, some may have flash turned off to speed up their browsing, many may be surfing from their iphone, ipad or other mobile device that doesn't show flash pages.

People spending money from their mobile phones is in the Billions of dollars: Mobile Commerce To Hit $1.6 Billion In 2009 -- Mobile E-Commerce -- InformationWeek



> U need to stop hating


Again, I'm not here to hate on anybody. I'm here to help people grow their businesses and share the best practices that I've learned over the years.

I understand if you don't want to take the advice that you've asked for. Everyone has their own preferences and learns in their own time. Heck, most of what I've learned, I've learned the hard way. 

Hopefully this post will help others out there who may be thinking about building a website. Sometimes the easiest way is not the way that will help your business the most.


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## CocoVee (Apr 18, 2010)

Rodney said:


> It's possible that you added the code to the wrong place or maybe missed a step in the process.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Thanks for your detailed help. I will try contacting their support and see what happens. I really don't want anything elaborate so hopefully it will be a simple answer.

Thanks again.


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## plan b (Feb 21, 2007)

Well what you are trying to do is edit your style sheets or css,, so if you want to learn some practical knowledge about CSS then here is a good site for that CSS Tutorial

After you spend a little time learning I think you will be surprised what you can do.


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## kc6789 (Mar 28, 2010)

Well I'm not going to, so it doesn't matter. 


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## plan b (Feb 21, 2007)

That info was for cocovee


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## CocoVee (Apr 18, 2010)

plan b said:


> Well what you are trying to do is edit your style sheets or css,, so if you want to learn some practical knowledge about CSS then here is a good site for that CSS Tutorial
> 
> After you spend a little time learning I think you will be surprised what you can do.


Thanks Roger, for the link. It does look pretty easy to understand. Just have to figure out what some of the single letter code stands for. I'm going to give it a try. 

My job is ending on 8/31 so I will have more time to play with it and devote to making this business work.

Thanks again and when I get it to work, I will let you know.

Sharon


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## taricp35 (Dec 10, 2008)

Coco, when you get more time to try it out, try this. When you are in BigCartel and you click on Design, then CSS, scroll all the way down to the bottom of the page. You will see a section like this:

/*============================================================
Custom Styles - add and override styles below.
============================================================*/
 
all changes you make must be added under this section to override the default settings.

Also your background image must be hosted somewhere. For example, I use Photobucket, but there is also Flickr, TinyPIC, and a host of others. 

In this example I will use Photobucket. After you have uploaded your background image to photobucket, get the html code and add it to your bigcartel site under the section listed above. 

The code you add may look something like this:

body {
background-image: url("http://i673.photobucket.com/albums/vv95/taricp35/aluminum.jpg"); 
}

If when you start you can't figure it out send me a PM I will try to help you. I am not an expert but I am OK at finding my way through.

Tari


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## CocoVee (Apr 18, 2010)

taricp35 said:


> Coco, when you get more time to try it out, try this. When you are in BigCartel and you click on Design, then CSS, scroll all the way down to the bottom of the page. You will see a section like this:
> 
> /*============================================================
> Custom Styles - add and override styles below.
> ...


Thank You Tari. I may get an opportunity to try this weekend but if not, it will be next week. Thank you for taking the time with the details. I may get this yet.


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## since804 (Mar 28, 2007)

kc6789 said:


> Well I'm not going to, so it doesn't matter.
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using TShirtForums


I logged in just to say that you're a huge weiner and t-shirt forums can definitely do without your type. Rodney is absolutely right about flash sites. I love when people who have zero design experience attempt to "tell-off" a proven veteran. Your site will probably not prosper because of the shortcomings of an all-flash site and your ungrounded air of "wisdom" and general arrogance. You will learn the hard way that retail, both online and off isn't about what YOU like, its about what the potential customer likes. Happy fail. Good day.


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## LuvAmericanStyle (Sep 5, 2010)

Rodney said:


> While you may love your flash site, keep in mind that your customers may not


You cannot shop using an iPhone for any flash sites so there goes about 50% of the population that has an iPhone and regularly shops with it.....


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