I don't mind doing research for my Squidoo lenses or Wizzley articles. I mostly write about what I know, but the information I have to go looking for is usually subject matter that deeply interests me. What I absolutely do mind doing research for is stuff that I couldn't possibly care less about. For instance, if my computer starts acting up, I don't want to take the time to try to figure out what's wrong with it. I don't care how it works, I just want it to work.
It's the same thing with adding my images and designs to CafePress products. I don't enjoy figuring out how to resize my photographs and change the DPI for different types of products. I just want to upload my photos and have them fit perfectly onto any product I choose. Unfortunately, it doesn't work that way. The photos need to be manipulated to fit each product.
One of the few useful pieces of information I got directly from the CP site is that there is sort of a standard image size that will fit nicely onto many of the most popular products they offer. That knowledge made my experience less of a hassle, but I still wanted to put my images on such items as duvet covers, shower curtains, stadium blankets, etc. With a couple of images, I managed to accidentally get them to fit, but I have no idea how that happened.
In very small doses, I've been reading tutorials on how to fit your designs onto CP products. It's about as interesting to me as watching snails race. I'm not going to try to give you a crash course on this stuff here in my blog, because I'm not sure I grasp it well enough to explain it in a way that any other carbon based life form could understand. However, I can offer a few links which I found to be helpful. Sifting through all the information out there can be time consuming.
This is comprehensive and helpful, especially if you don't even know what DPI and pixels are all about: Tutor Tanith
If you want to start off looking at something less technical, this was somewhat useful to me: A CafePress Resource
I also thought this was worth bookmarking: How to Run a Successful CafePress Shop
On another note, I decided to see if Zazzle is any easier to use, so I opened up a shop, Inspired_by_Nature, a few days ago. (Here I go again, jumping right in without having much of a clue, but it's free, so there's nothing to lose). My first impression is favorable - I'm temporarily caught up in it and have put CP on hold, at least temporarily. One thing I love about Zazzle is that they offer so many more products than CafePress does. Also, I have not had to use photo editing software to resize my images. Other than quickly making some very minor adjustments right there on Zazzle, I have not had to do anything at all with my images. It's super easy, and that's the best part! And the photos look good on the products.
The only thing I don't like is that you have to add a product description for each product, whereas on CP you can add many products to each section you create and then write one product description for the section. Every product in the section will then be assigned that description. There doesn't seem to be a way to do that on Zazzle - you can create templates, but it's just as time consuming as creating each product separately. The ease of use in applying images more than makes up for it, at least as far as I'm concerned.
If you're interested, this tutorial is helpful as far as designing a Quick Create template. I just don't find the process to be at all quick. How to Make and Use Your Own Zazzle Quick Create Template is an informative lens.
Just like CafePress, Zazzle offers the option to apply text to your image, but it's simpler than CP. For instance there aren't as many font choices available, and you do not have the option to tilt the text. That's the only thing I foresee myself using my photo editing software for as far as Zazzle goes. I'll just apply the text to the images prior to uploading them to the site. That way, the text will look exactly the way I want it to.
The next thing I want to do is start playing around with text. I also want to get better at removing the background from photos (something I didn't mind learning; it's a very handy trick).
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