Product Layout

A Product Layout is the arrangement of text and images that make up the printed presentation. Only one Template can be assigned to a Category at any time. You design only one Layout for each template, and every Product in a Category prints using the same Layout.

The Product Layout form is divided into five sections: The Navigation Panel is on the Left, and the Design Pad is on the right. In the middle are: Active Cell, Formatting Controls, and the Stacks.

Design Pad

Cells on the Design Pad represent the Text Fields and Images that will be printed in the PDF.

For speed and simplicity, the Design Pad does not accurately depict all Formatting Options or Images. To see exactly what your formatting selections look like, click the Preview button on the Navigation Panel.

Cells can be moved by clicking on them and dragging them to a new location.

Cells can be resized by dragging their Anchors. In this Example, Price has Anchors on each corner, indicating that it is the Active Cell.

Active Cell

The controls on the Product Layout form affect the Active Cell. To make any Cell Active, click it on the Design Pad, or click its Placeholder in the Stacks.

Some formatting controls work on groups of cells. Click All Labels or All Fields to set every cell of that type as Active. This applies only to the Cells already placed on the Design Pad.

To remove a Cell from the Design Pad, click the Cell or its Placeholder, then click Return to Stack.

Formatting Controls

Placement

CleverCat records the size and position of Cells in Percentage values, not inches or millimetres. This is because any change to the Page Margins, Header or Footer, or other Page Settings will resize the Product Layouts, and every cell within them.

Using the Design Pad example above, the Price cell is set at Left:71%, Top:91%. If the Page Header is increased in height, the Product Layouts will be shortened, but the Price cell will still be positioned from the top of the Layout at 91% of its height.

The Active Cell can also be moved around the Design Pad using the Four-Key directional arrow controls (highlighted in blue), and resized using the corresponding numbers (8, 4, 6, 2) on the full Numeric Keypad. Click any cell on the Design Pad to make it Active, then press the keys on your keyboard.

NOTE: On some Browsers, the four-key directional arrows may not respond correctly. In this case, after selecting a cell to make it Active, press one of the numbered directional keys (8, 4, 6, 2) on the full Numeric Keypad to resize a cell. This seems to "initialize" the Four-Key arrangement.

Format

The best design approach to the using the Format controls is to experiment with them and see the results using the Preview button.

NOTE: There are numerous Fonts to choose from, but not all of them can print certain European or Asian Character Sets.
If your text is not printing properly, try the "Free Sans" font, or "Droid Sans SC" for Simplified Chinese.

Tuning

Padding adds space around the text within a cell. It does not adjust spacing between cells.

Line Spacing creates a vertical gap between lines inside a cell.

PDF elements are printed in Layers. This control allows you to print one cell on top of another.
For example, you could place the Discounted Price field on Layer 2 directly on top of the Regular Price on Layer 1, and give it a solid background. If a product does not have a Discount, the Regular Price will be seen. If it has a Discount, the solid background will hide the Regular Price.

Cell

The default Cell Type is either Text or Currency, which formats the text as a number with two decimals places plus a Currency symbol. For example, the text "50" will print as "$50.00". There are other Types to choose from.

Number formats the text as a number with two decimals places. For example, "50" will print as "50.00".

Text formatted as Number or Currency can be adjusted by the Markup/Discount value on the Home Page. For example, if the Markup is set at 50%, and the field is defined as Currency, "50" will print as "$75.00"

Barcode When this Type is selected, the Barcode selector is enabled. You can choose from a variety of different styles, including QR Codes.

Spacer is used to turn a Cell into a non-text rectangle that can be used for decoration.

HTML prints with the formatting tags encoded in the text.

Input creates an editable Input field.

Image If the text is the name of a valid image file, that image will be printed.

Labels

There are times when you may not want the Label to print with its associated Data cell. For example, you could have some products with a Regular Price and a Discount Price, and some with only a Regular Price.
In a Dynamic Template, if a given product does not have a Discount, but Labels are enabled, that Label will still print even though there is no data. If Labels are allowed to disappear, the Dynamic Template may shrink, preventing blank spaces in the Layout.

Stacks

The Stacks are where Cells not placed on the Design Pad are held.

There are two Stacks, which are further split into two Columns. The columns on the Left with Gray backgrounds are Label Cells, and the columns with Yellow backgrounds on the Right are Data Cells.

Place any "Stacked" Cell onto the Design Pad by Double-clicking it.

In this example, the Data Cells: Photo1, Description, Name, and Price have all been used on the Design Pad, as indicated by the light-gray Placeholder with a dotted-border. Additionally, the Placeholder for the Price Label Cell can be seen, indicating that the Label is also on the Design Pad.

If a Cell on the Design Pad is hidden behind another, it can be selected by clicking its empty Placeholder in the Stacks.