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General information about templates

Most of the printing companies usually offer their clients premade templates and designs. That’s why our platform allows to host and use various templates and design in a .psd format.

To upload a template or design on a website, you need to prepare it.

Preparation

Printing templates are the .psd files that have the same structure and should include only raster images and text layers.

The first important thing to remember is that the template would be printed and should follow your technical requirements: consider bleed, cutting edge, safe zone, and real size as well as resolution – 300 dpi.
For example, business cards 90×50 mm with safe zones equal to 3 mm on every side will have a size 96х56 mm Other requirements depend on your printing equipment and method.

If you want templates to work correctly in a Acronym editor, the layers in a .psd file must have correct names. Below you can view an example.
Download Template View in the online editor

Raster Images

Layers with raster images always are displayed below the text layers. They may have the following names:

  1. img – a layer with any raster image photo, icon, or any other design element. In a Acronym editor, this layer can be moved, turned, enlarged, reduced, or deleted. You can find them in an editor toolbar in the "Image" tab.
  2. [background] – a background layer In an editor, it is always below all other elements: texts and images. It is impossible to edit, delete, or move this layer in any way in a Acronym editor. This layer doesn't show in an editor toolbar in the Image tab.
  3. [foreground] – a foreground layer. It is always above all other elements (text and images). It is impossible to edit, delete, or move this layer in any way in a Acronym editor. This layer doesn't show in an editor toolbar in the Image tab.
  4. [placeholder] – a space where the user may upload their images and photos instead of the default image. The placeholder borders will crop the uploaded image. It’s impossible to move this layer in an editor. You can learn more about placeholders and what you can do with them in an article about photo book templates.
    an article about creating photo books.

Prefixes

Prefixes are the constants that give text or images additional attributes. They are usually placed at the beginning of a layer name.

  1. [locked] – forbids to move or delete image and text elements
    For example: [locked] img
  2. [nonprintable] – layers with this prefix are in the editor, but they won’t show on the previews and are printed. You may use layers with these prefixes to mark cutting edge, safe zone, or folding line.
    For example: [nonprintable] [foreground]
  3. [required] – if the [placeholder] layer has this prefix; it is obligatory to fill in the placeholder with an image or a photo. The user will not be able to send the design to print and proceed with their order..
    For example: [placeholder] [required]
  4. [template-preview] – if the layer has this prefix, it would be displayed as a preview on all pages.
    For example: [template-preview] img
  5. [optional] – this prefix is used only for text, if this layer wasn’t edited by the user in an editor it won’t be in a design sent to printing.
    For example: [optional] txt

Text

Layers with a text must start with a txt prefix (for example: txt_email).

To add to a template, you need to use the Text tool in Adobe Photoshop. If you want to resize text, you shouldn't use transformation since it may cause a processing problem in an editor, the only way to avoid it is to resize text by specifying a text size value in the options bar. We also recommend aligning text left, right, or center if you want it to behave correctly in an editor. For example, if you use align right on a text in an editor, it will stay in the same position from the right and will change only on the left while the user types something.

Attention! If you want to apply text added by the user to all templates of a product, you will need to give universal names to layers in .psd-files. For example, for business cards, you may use the following text layers names:

  1. txt_brand – Company Name
  2. txt_motto – Company Motto
  3. txt_position – Job Title
  4. txt_firstname – First Name
  5. txt_lastname – Surname
  6. txt_info – Contact Details
  7. txt_phone – Phone Number
  8. txt_address – Address
  9. txt_site – Website Address
  10. txt_email – E-mail
  11. txt_skype – Skype
  12. txt_fax – Fax Number
  13. txt_text – Placeholder Text

Universal names of layers with text are also helpful if you want to have the same template in several languages. You may enable localization in the admin panel and Select Templates in the Templates > Localization.

Other Information

  1. Acronym editor supports paragraphs. To create a new paragraph, press Enter.
  2. Any special effects, for example, shadows, won't work in an editor.
  3. The opacity effect in .psd files applied to two layers won't work in an editor. If you want to use this effect, merge two layers before uploading your template.
  4. Blending modes effect in .psd files applied to two layers won't work in an editor. If you want to use this effect, merge two layers before uploading your template.
  5. Don't turn text with a transformation in the .psd file text will be horizontal in the editor
  6. Acronym editor supports the following fonts by default: Arial, Calibri, Cambria, Candara, Consolas, Corbel, Georgia, Segoe Print, Segoe UI, Tahoma, Times New Roman, Trebuchet MS, Verdana.
    You may also upload your fonts with a .psd template, but make sure that the font is in True Type (.ttf) or Open Type (.otf) format. If the font doesn’t work in an editor, please contact our tech support team, and we will add it to our system. Contact technical support.
  7. You may use the following Color Modes: RGB 8 bit (16 bit) or CMYK.
    Templates with CMYK color mode will work in RGB mode in an editor, but in a file sent to printing original, CMYK color values would be present.
  8. Attention! PSD file must be saved using Maximize Compatibility Feature.

Template Upload

After you created your template you can upload it in an admin panel. Here you may find an instruction. How to upload a template.