User Guide

The Legendary Web J-Card™ Polygizmo allows you to build custom inserts for CD jewel cases through this online system. We've tried to make the interface as intuitive as possible, but this User Guide is here in case you have difficulty.

Contents

• The web j-card layout
• Fonts, text size & style
• Color theme presets
• Uploading images
• Creating the j-card
• Printing j-cards
• Saving j-cards
• Version history
• Credits

The web j-card layout

The design form is divided into two main areas, one for the elements of the front insert and one for the back.

The front insert area has sections for specifying the CD title, subtitle (or artist name) & background color. The basic layout for the front insert is shown below:

The back insert area has sections for specifying the track list (or other information), for selecting one- or two-column track list layouts, for setting the horizontal & vertical alignment of the track list column(s), for specifying additional information that will appear at the bottom of the back insert & for setting the background color. The basic layout for a one-column back insert is shown below:

The basic layout for a two-column back insert is:

The narrow columns on the right & left side of the back insert (set off with dotted lines) are the j-card spines. The Legendary Polygizmo automatically creates images containing vertical (rotated) text for the spines. The spine text is produced by combining the CD title & subtitle information. Remember these images if you choose to save your j-card for future use.

When entering the track list in the large textarea boxes, just hit the [Enter] key to create a new row. You may use additional [Enter]'s or you may use <br> & <p> to create blank rows in the track listing area or to adjust the vertical alignment of the track list. And remember, the two-column layout isn't just for double CD sets -- you may put anything you want in those textarea boxen!

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Fonts, text size & style

You may specify the basic font, color, size & style for the title, subtitle, track list & additional information. Simply select or check the options you want. The selections are fairly limited to ensure maximum compatibility across platforms. Font sizing is relative & may be fine-tuned by adjusting your browser preferences.

You may insert a very limited set of HTML tags in any of the text-entry areas on the form. Polygizmo-legal HTML tags are <b>, <strong>, <i> & <em>, as well as <br> & <p>. In order to have selected sections marked up in one of these ways, leave the bold & italic controls unchecked on the form & insert the desired tag (<b>, for example) where you want the special emphasis to be placed. Don't forget to close tags -- each <b> must be followed by </b> at the end of the emphasized section.

Font equivalencies are shown in the table below:

To omit any text elements from your finished design, delete the default text that appears in the entry box on the form. For larger images, this may be necessary to produce a nice layout. Similarly, to "force" additional spacing, you may leave the content in the entry box as the default, select a font size that spaces things the way you want & set the title or subtitle color to match the background. This effectively makes the title or subtitle element invisible but still occupies space in the insert.

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Color theme presets

Several color themes (text & background combinations) may be quickly selected from the "Select a Color Theme" drop-down menu. This is an optional feature; you may pick all colors individually. Or, you may select a theme & then specify a different color for one or two components of the design.

Uploading images

The Legendary Polygizmo allows you to upload your own image for the front cover of the j-card. To upload an image, click the "Browse" button under the heading "Select Cover Image" in the left-hand top area of the design form. The Polygizmo will attempt to resize larger images to fit the j-card layout; however, for best results, use an image less than 400 pixels tall & 400 pixels wide.

Alternatively, you may specify the URL of an image file that's already on the web by entering the complete URL in the box labelled "Enter a URL." Please note that the Polygizmo does not resize URL-linked images. If you enter a URL that doesn't refer to an image, the output will show a "broken" image icon.

To specify no front cover image, simply clear both the "Select Cover Image" & "Enter a URL" boxes. This is easy to do: just click the "No Image" button!

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Creating the j-card

When you have set everything up the way you think it should be, click the "Make the Card!" button at the bottom of the form. The finished j-card will appear on-screen.

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Printing j-cards

The Legendary Polygizmo is set up to produce correctly-sized j-cards. You may need to tweak the margin & scaling settings in your web browser's Page Setup menu to get exactly the size inserts you need.

If you have selected background colors (other than white), you will also need to select the appropriate "print background images & colors" setting in your web browser's Page Setup menu.

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Saving j-cards

You may save the final output from the Legendary Polygizmo to a local disk drive for future use. Follow these steps to save your j-card:

• Create a directory (folder) on your computer to hold the j-card files. You may name this directory anything you wish.
   
  
• Navigate to that directory & create a subdirectory inside the directory you have just created. Name the subdirectory, "images." (You only need to create these directories once. Use them for any other j-cards you save.)
   
  
• Now, use your web browser's "Save As" option to save the j-card page to the main directory you have just created. When saving, give the j-card a unique name & use an .html or .htm file extension. (The output will "want" to name itself "polygizmo.php," which will not work properly later on.)
   
  
• Right-click on the left-hand spine image (which will have the title & subtitle). Save the image in the "images" subdirectory. Do not rename the file, even though it will have a very long, weird-looking name.
   
  
• Repeat the previous step for the right-hand spine image & the front insert image (if you have uploaded one).
   
  If you have not uploaded a front insert image, right-click somewhere near the center of the front insert to snag the default blank image placeholder file. This file is named "blankcd.gif." Save it in the "images" subdirectory. (You only need to do this one time: the blank image is used for all j-cards that were built with "no image" checked.)

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Version history

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Credits

Richard Batey "discovered" the Web J-Card™ concept & provided a lot of assistance in setting up the original table dimensions for producing cassette & CD inserts in HTML. If you have problems or complaints, send them to Richard.

Joe Cliburn translated Richard's ideas into the Legendary Polygizmo. All coding was done by Joe. Send praise & expressions of gratitude to Joe.

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