New Photo Viewing Format Limits the Use of Zoom

[amyo48]

Dear eBay Techs,

The new photo viewing format limits the use of zoom.

I have always told my viewers to use zoom to closely see details in the item that I am listing.

Now there is the +5 or +8 or what ever number of the photos that can not be zoomed in.

If the photo viewing format is staying like this than maybe the zooming in ability needs to change also.

Not being one for all of eBay's changes, I find this just one more stumbling block for the poor store keepers that are trying to sell their wares. 

If I have missed a way to zoom in on these last photos please let me know.

Thank you, Amy

[abfabvintage]

@eburtonlab 

@berserkerplanet 

Morning gals and guys. Well I woke up this morning and this new format regarding placement of the pix has the vertical bar of pictures crowded to the left of the larger gallery, first photo. No longer able to scroll sideways across the bottom of the main pix like before. Wasn't like that last night. But I can hover over the tiny pix on the left to get a zoom. And I use Chrome exclusively.

Another thing going on that started last week, but off and on: there is now a right side vertical scroll up and down bar within your description...at first I thought maybe because my listings are longer than most, i.e. not just a 5-6 sentence description. But did see it happening on shorter scripts by other sellers. But it came and went last week.

Well today, the vertical up down side bar is back, but if I hit refresh enough times, it disappears. I was told last week on Seller Forum maybe I was a guinea pig. Well guess I am back to being a guinea pig here. Just cannot understand why, to me, major bugs cannot be fixed but time being spent on cosmetics. And I think this squishing your pix is here to stay as looked at a lot of other seller listings this morning and all of them have this same pix format. Maybe they are making more room for more ads? End of small rant. Thank both of you for all your knowledge and help. 

[abfabvintage]

Sorry, needed to add...my listing test case for the pix issues is the Vintage Guess jacket I have listed. There are other listings where I don't have the recommended pix sizes to zoom or do the slideshow. Just in case you guys go to look. I think this pix cosmetic change is permanent. 

[berserkerplanet]

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-80s-Guess-Mens-Denim-Jeans-Jacket-USA-Georges-Marciano-Stone-Wash-M...

I see normal 6 thumbnails, scrollable to next 6, all are zoomable in Firefox 31. Business as usual.

I also see the vertical scrollbar on your description. I noted that you (or your listing software) wrap your description in a table. Not sure if that might be the cause.

@shipscript Any thoughts on this new listing gallery layout some are seeing, and on the description scrollbar issue?

[abfabvintage]

@berserkerplanet 

Hey, friend. You and I worked together before about those goofy ebay emails I was getting. And I don't even get the ended emails anymore, so now a moot point.

So you know I am techie stupid. What is a "table?" And thanks for looking at my listing re: pix. Gosh for these old hands it was much much easier to scroll the pix at the bottom of the main photo, rather than all this clicking. But it is what it is. I think they are copying other websites where I have seen this vertical pix thing.

Over the past 2 weeks I kept seeing different versions of this pix thing. One day the thumbs were still at the bottom, but on the main larger pix there was an arrow > on its right side which did the rolling slideshow. Next day gone. AND my pix that are not large enough to zoom or do the slideshow, sometimes in the morning I WAS able to zoom and do the slideshow...later in the day, couldn't. And I know for those that don't meet the pix criteria, when I go to google shop, they zoom and do the slideshow. I have no clue what is going on...it is almost like the site isn't stable or something. Thanks for calling in the Ship. Sorry to go on about this, but all this is just really annoying.

[berserkerplanet]

Ah, now I recall (I'm really bad with remembering people and things like that 🙂

This is a table:

(stupid forum software forced me to insert it as an image not as an actual table)

This is the HTML behind it

<html><body>
<TABLE WIDTH='300' CELLSPACING='1' CELLPADDING='1' BORDER='1' ALIGN='' CLASS='tbl'>
    <TR align=middle><TD colspan=3>This is the header row</TD></TR>
    <TR align=middle><TD>Widget 1</TD><TD>Blue</TD><TD>Red</TD></TR>
    <TR align=middle><TD>Widget 2</TD><TD>Purple</TD><TD>Green</TD></TR>
</TABLE>
</body></html>

eBay uses a tables as a "wrapper" for the description code for reasons I don't understand, but shipscript can explain.

Your listing software used another table as a wrapper inside eBay's, and I have no idea if that is what is causing the description scrolling issue, but it caught my eye as out of the ordinary. (Tables can be nested all day long in normal use, but this eBay description iframe implementation is weird, wacky stuff, with rules I don't grok.)

<title>eBay</title>
 <table align="center" style="border-spacing: 0px; width: 100%;">
  <tr><td><div id="ds_div">

<!doctype html>
<!-- HTML Generated by Auction Wizard 2000 - http://www.AuctionWizard2000.com/ -->
<html>
<head>
   <meta charset="UTF-8">
   <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0">
</head>
<body>
<!-- AW2KLOT#:3648 -->
<br>
<table style="width:98%;padding:2px;margin:auto;">
<tr><td style="padding:5px">
<div style="text-align:left"><br></div>

</td></tr>
<tr><td style="vertical-align:top;padding:5px">
<div style="text-align:center">
<span style="font-family:Arial;font-size:2.0em;color:#000000;font-weight:normal;font-style:normal;
text-decoration:none;">Vintage 80's Guess Mens Denim Jeans Jacket USA Georges Marciano Stone WashM
</span></div>

The first 3 lines above are eBay's wrapper, then you description HTML begins. Oh....... looking at it again....

It may be the <html> tagset your listing software inserted, not the table that is causing the vertical scrolling. AW effectively embedded a webpage in an embedded webpage in an iframe in the main ebay page......

I don't know. This is shipscript's domain. ("Dammit Jim, I'm a hacker, not a developer")

[abfabvintage]

@berserkerplanet 

I have used the same Auction Wizard 2000 listing program since 2000. And when they were "renovating" the store fronts last year, Schip said all my listings were "clean." And I had my geek upgrade the program to include the techie language to make all my listings mobile friendly. But that was all last year and all has been well.

This sidebar up down scroll thing has just suddenly shown up. And when I noticed it last week then it disappeared? It also appeared on some of my favorite seller listings...but one of my fave sellers said they didn't see on theirs, so maybe I was a guinea pig. I didn't do a screenshot of it. So it just ain't me. Maybe the Ship knows what the future holds? lolol. I am thinking this is the way ebay is permanently going with these cosmetic, not needed, "improvements." Thanks for looking into it...every day it is something.

OOPS: since we have called in Ship, another thing... when the sidebar appeared off and on last week? Suddenly there was also this "Comparison" block right below my listing, but before my script, which were vertical columns showing my item in column 1, then 3 other sellers. Comparing price, FB, and other stuff can't remember. Just like Home Depot does comparing products. That was there for a full day (also verified with some of my fave sellers  on their listings, too), then again it disappeared. So if Ship can at least let me know if this is the future? 

1. Pix staying in that vertical thumb column.

2. Side bar within scripts.

3. Comparison columns.

[shipscript]

@amyo48 

That new format in your screenshot looks a lot like the product grouping display that eBay uses for catalog-grouped items. Take this group as an example:

https://www.ebay.com/p/Nike-Air-Max-97-Gwang-Shin-On-air-Neon-Seoul-Size-6-in-Hand/17031484604

You will see the same sort of left side thumbnails with a plus sign to view the full gallery in a white overlay. This display is similar to clicking the large image in the older listing format to open the black overlay.  In the overlay scenario, there is no zoom, so the largest image does not display any larger than the screen allows.

Are you able to zoom any of the photos in the new format before you open the overlay?  Definitely sounds like a test case associated with browsers I don't have (so I can't see for myself).

@berserkerplanet 

The description scrollbar is the result of loading delays. eBay creates an iFrame window into their own webpage, and that window holds the description. An iFrame window does not automatically resize on its own. It has to be told exactly what size to be.

eBay previously opened a very long window for the description and then closed the window smaller to fit the content after the content was loaded and could be measured. Now eBay opens a rather short window (probably the size of most text blocks) and then resizes larger to fit after the content has finished loading (or when a timeout is reached). The description content does not fully load and render before the timeout, so it does not get measured by eBay. The rendering delay within the description may be due to code complexities or externally loading elements (images, fonts), or might be due to other page elements that eBay is trying to load at the same time the description is loading.

Usually, a reload will resolve the scrollbar because the browser has cached the other elements that slowed loading, so the browser can more quickly render the page before eBay times out on resizing the window.

[berserkerplanet]

>>Usually, a reload will resolve the scrollbar because the browser has cached the other elements that slowed loading,
>>so the browser can more quickly render the page before eBay times out on resizing the window.

Thank you for that explanation shipscript.

[abfabvintage]

@shipscript 

@shipscript 

@amyo48 

Morning all. And thanks for the help...all day yesterday, June 30, and on all of my 27 listings, the thumbnails in the vertical pattern were there. The sliding up down bar in the narrative description section was not on all of my listings yet all of my listings descriptions are about the same size. I had also checked the OPs listings yesterday and they also had the vertical pix, but no bar.

Now this morning? All the pix for my listings (and the OPs) are back to having the thumbnails across the bottom of the larger first pix. And the slide bar for my listings is also gone. So in simpler terms, this is due to ebay loading data problems and is not a vision of the future?  And I assume I don't need to revise/change anything in my listings? That bar started up mid week last week (pix were fine), too. 

My other question has to do with this "Comparison" left side of page where it did say "See Other" or something like that. When you clicked on the blue see other, this 3-4 vertical columns appeared showing my listings and other sellers (as I said, like when you compare products at Home Depot). That, too was there last week on all of mine and another seller, yet disappeared the following morning. Again, thank you for any replies. I just want it all to work and not have something change on a daily basis. Appreciate all your help.

[abfabvintage]

@shipscript

@berserkerplanet 

@amyo48 

Morning. Here is a paragraph I posted yesterday in a reply to you and others:

"...Now this morning? All the pix for my listings (and the OPs) are back to having the thumbnails across the bottom of the larger first pix. And the slide bar for my listings is also gone. So in simpler terms, this is due to ebay loading data problems and is not a vision of the future?  And I assume I don't need to revise/change anything in my listings? That bar started up mid week last week (pix were fine), too." But never got a reply back to this paragraph...

Well today is July 3, the pix thumbnails are back on the left side of the main photo. But the "slide bar" in the description is not back. I also checked some of my other sellers' listings and they have the same pix to the side issue. Can someone just tell me this pix thing (and maybe the bar?) is the future here? Every day it is something else...yes, I erase all cookies every morning before I even get on here. And yes I use Chrome and have never seen this problem that started off and on going on 2 weeks now. If someone can just tell me this is the future, then I will shut up about it lolol. 

[berserkerplanet]

The photo gallery and zoom are either a test, or a slow rollout, or a bug and I (and nobody else involved here so far) has any idea if it is the future.

Use (an older?) version of Firefox and you won't see it (at least for now - I don't see it at all), and will get the standard 6 thumbnails with arrow and all zoomable.

Nothing you can do in the listings will change that behavior.

The scrollbar in the description is, as shipscript explained, a result of some change eBay made, and is the future unless eBay changes things back or changes them again. If the description doesn't fully load before the timeout, the iframe doesn't resize, and you see a scrollbar. Longer, more complex descriptions are more likely to not fully load before the timeout, or instances where the browser is bogged down loading complex pages or multiple tabs (like when I have 25 forum threads loading at 2 second intervals in FF31, and try to open a listing page while they load. The browser is maxed out at 100% trying to load 26 tabs, it takes a while, and I see the scrollbars in the listing description.

Ans, as shipscript said, doing a reload once the page has loaded once is likely to succeed without the scrollbar because the page elements are already cached locally.

There is no pat answer to either of your concerns, and shipscript didn't seem to think it's an immediate emergency to be reported to eBay. The page does load after all, all the info is there, it's just not 100% cosmetically optimal with an unnecessary scrollbar.

Shorter, simpler descriptions that don't load multiple external images, etc are more likely to load quickly, not exceed the timeout, and not have a scrollbar. Your call if you want to shorten your descriptions to try and minimize the timeouts.

[abfabvintage]

@berserkerplanet 

Thanks BP for replying...now today, Happy 4th, the scroll bar is there, but not on all and they are about the same length. BUT those vertical thumbs are still there. And on every seller items I look at. I had one of my friends on here look at mine and hers and she says mine and hers still show the thumbs across the bottom, not the side. Yet I look at both and they are still on the side. And knowing I use a 3rd Party listing program, the AW, I don't have the ability to tell eBay how to set my pix...and considering this thing is on one day, off the next...makes no sense.

And I get it my scripts may be too long, but I have looked at other seller items that have blocks of TOS and long  scripts and the bar is not on their listings. Maybe because I only have 28 items listed they are using me as a guinea pig? I have no clue...and my Chrome just wouldn't go in and change something. Thanks for your help. Just will wait to see if this pix thing is a new feature on the horizon. 

[abfabvintage]

@berserkerplanet 

And I agree with Shipscript, this would not be an emergency as there are way too many fixes needed that do impact sellers and buyers. Appreciate both of you trying to be helpful...thanks again for getting back to me which means, I will shut up for now lolol.  

[berserkerplanet]

Happy 4th to you too!


You have no control over the appearance of the photos and the gallery. That is a function of the browser being used, and possibly account related also (ie: not all using the latest Chrome are in the test, etc).

You do have some control over the scrollbar appearing in your listing descriptions - complex long descriptions are more likely to time out, but browser loads (25 tabs loading simultaneously), network lags, and a half dozen other factors including the buyer/viewer's astrological sign might also contribute.

YOU don't have scripts in the description - eBay runs scripts (JavaScript) for displaying the description, and that is where the timeouts occur. Other than minimizing your descriptions to 3 lines of plain text (and hoping other factors like net lag, etc don't come into play) you have no control of the scrollbar and iframe resizing. It is the new reality. Use of certain browsers that might be less prone to it happening might be an option as a viewer, but that does nothing for your buyers/viewers (and it doesn't matter anyway - it's a cosmetic issue - all the description info is there)

Changing your browser would be the only thing that gets rid of the thumbnails on the left issue - for now. eBay might roll it out to all browsers later if the test is a "success" (or they might not)

You are worrying about things you have little control over here, and other than changing browsers to (temporarily?) bypass the new image display issue, and shortening your descriptions to hopefully help minimize appearance of the scrollbar, there is really nothing you can do but say "Please ebay, may I have another?"

Actually, it is probably/maybe possible to use a GreaseMonkey script in ones own browser for viewing listings to get rid of the scrollbar in the listing description if it bothered one that much, but kind of a pointless exercise (I messed with tah ta few years ago in a JavaScript description viewer bookmarklet that surfaced the description on the same page back when eBay was hiding non-compliant descriptions behind a button - it was problematic as many operations are forbidden on iframes.
https://community.ebay.com/t5/Selling/See-Full-Item-Description-FireFox-Workaround-Bookmarklet/m-p/2...
(I never did get back to trying to figure out the frame resizing parts since the need for the bookmarklet went away when other sellers got their acts together and made their listings compliant)