Friday, September 3, 2010

EB Friday Hotlist: Etsy Tools from Whale Shark Websites

Whale Shark Websites is a online resource run by a programmer named Martin.  He has developed a great tool that will save considerable time when posting treasuries on blogs and other websites.  The Etsy Treasury HTML Code Generator...well...is exactly what it sounds like!  By copying the treasury ID (the random string of numbers and letters in the middle of the treasury's URL) and pasting it into the generator, you can get HTML code to post the treasury on your site without needing to upload a screenshot and provide a link manually.  You still may want to take screenshots of treasuries if you want to upload the picture to Flickr or a photo hosting site. Otherwise, this will be a huge time saver for those of us who post treasuries.  The generator allows you to determine the size and number of columns displayed, meaning you are able to shrink the treasury to fit the space you have available.  Here's an example:

(Click the image twice to view a larger version of the above screenshot.)

This is what pasting the code I generated into Blogger looks like:

'Not Easy Being Green: Queer Etsy Street Team's September Challenge!' by QueerEtsyStreetTeam

The latest installment in the Queer Etsy Street Team's Rainbow Challenge series. This month QUEST explores nature's favorite hue, from Emerald to Olive and back again.


Lady of the Green statu...
$75

Green Plaid Hip Zip
$25

Kambaba Japser, Onyx an...
$45

Handmade, Carved, Wood...
$115

Three Tiny Toads lampwo...
$24

Beaded Eyeglasses Holde...
$20

Olive You Kawaii Olives...
$3

BRASS LEAVES AUTUMN OLI...
$25

Good Luck Green Aventur...
$10

3 Piece Bluish Green Ap...
$50

Fairy Trail - 8x12 Prin...
$20

Green Apple Explosion S...
$5.5

Hand Painted Rotating I...
$16

ELEPHANTS BINKY RAKER C...
$10

Blue Herons - 14 x 17 i...
$150

Be aware that in the example above, I've shortened the treasury from 4 columns to 3 columns.  In order to maintain even rows, the 16th item is not being displayed.  Be careful of this when you are working with this tool.  It may be better to shrink the size of the images than to have items lopped off when changing column numbers.


Martin has also developed other tools for Etsy sellers.  His creation CraftWeasel has been taken over by another developer and renamed Tagtastic.  Tagtastic allows you to enter the name of a type of item (i.e. beaded jewelry, knitted scarf, etc.) and it returns relevant tags based on average views/day, number of items, and average price.  The shop stats tool will analyze your own tags and see which ones you use the most and have the most views.


Be sure to check out Martin's blog for information on setting up a business website and adding an Etsy feedback widget to your Wordpress blog.

Do you use the tools on Whale Shark Websites or Tagtastic?  Let me know what you think of them in the comments.

Until next time,
Elle

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