Forums » Suggestions & Development Discussion » Custom Template Creation Update -Discussion thread

Changes are on the way to custom character templates! This thread is being set up as a discussion topic for all custom character template creators who want to know what they need to do to prepare for this move. This starter post will be updated with the answers to more questions as they are asked for easy reference.

What is changing?
The interface for custom character template creation is being improved.

• In addition to being able to designate a template as "just for me" or "for all epic members", you'll also have the option of "for specific people I choose"
  
  Learn more

  Being able to choose who to share your template with will especially make the lives of template commission artists easier.
  
  So, you could create a template on your own account, testing with your own characters, pick all the options for the template, and then share the finished product with only the person who paid for it. You'll retain control of it in case you need to make further edits or updates in future.
  
  This opens up some interesting propositions like small-run templates, wherein you sell the rights to use the template at a reduce rate to five different people, and promise to share the template exclusively with those five.
  
  Or, you could create a special template used only by members of your group or guild! Maybe a template used only by characters that are part of a specific IC family? The possibilities are pretty exciting.
• Although you'll still need to be an epic member to use custom templates, any member will now be allowed to create them.
• You will be able to preview your template changes, without actually having to make that template the live template that everyone else sees on your character!
  Learn More

  No more need to create a character named "Template Tester" to avoid making your mains look like work-in-progress disasters. Whatever template you chose for your characters will remain in place, and you'll be the only one who sees your in-progress template when you press the Save & Preview button.
  
  Pressing the Save & Preview button will take you to a special page that only you can see, so that your character can model the in-progress template without prying eyes from anyone else. Accessing your character in the normal way (such as via your dashboard, or from your profile) will cause you, too, to see the live version of your character, without the test template.
  
  For example, I could test a custom template on my character Safiye, but the rest of the world visiting her site would still see her "live" template the default parchment template.
  
  It even works if the character you're testing with already has a custom template as its live template.
• The method of handling custom fonts is changing. @font-face and @import commands will no longer work (this is due to security concerns). BUT, this does not mean you won't be able to make use of custom fonts! The method of incorporating fonts is simply changing. You will have access to 3 drop downs, each allowing you to pick a different font from our library of google fonts. Every effort has been made to ensure that all google fonts currently in use by existing templates have been included in this library, and the library will be periodicially expanded.
• The default starter CSS for templates is being updated, streamlined, and made easier to work with.
• Rather work from scratch? You will have the option to disable the default CSS, or even the default widget CSS, if you prefer to do it all yourself.
• Inheritance CSS selectors will be re-enabled! For ages, you've been unable to select via direct inheritance ("li > a") because the > character was completely disallowed. This will not be an issue any longer.
• The "IE Only" section of template creation will be going away. Not even Microsoft supports ancient versions of IE anymore, and the RPR doesn't either. There's other ways of giving browser-specific commands, if necessary. Most of you did not use this section, except, perhaps, to simply copy all of your same code into both the main box and the IE box (which doesn't do anything).

When is this update happening?
This update is currently scheduled for early March -- I'm currently estimating March 12th, but it may be as early as the 5th.

What will happen to my old custom templates?
Your currently existing templates will not be deleted!

Templates created before this update will be placed into legacy mode, for a period of at least six months after the update goes live. While in legacy mode, they will continue to work, as is, without the need for any alterations on your part. This should give you plenty of time to make the tweaks you need to to get your template working with the new system!

To take a template out of legacy mode, you will simply need to re-save it. Maybe even take that new "Save and preview" button for a test drive, to see if you need to make any alterations after your template undergoes updates!

In short, saving a legacy template will cause it to go through the update process.

What happens when my legacy templates undergo the upgrade process?

1. To ensure that any default styles you were relying on (or deliberately pushing against) will be as before, the default CSS that used to be output in front of every custom template will be appended to the start of your CSS. This means the next time you view your CSS, you will be able to edit or remove that default CSS if you prefer. However, unless you want to completely re-write your CSS, you may wish to simply leave it alone. Up to you!
2. The new default CSS will be disabled for that template to prevent conflicts. This is a reversible process if you find you don't like it, or wish to update your CSS to work with the new default base CSS at a later date.
3. The new security filter will do a quick scan of your old CSS, looking for potential problems. Most templates will have none. The most common issue comes during checks is when we seek out any referenced files that don't check out as valid images. This is the point at which @import and @font-face commands you had been using may be disabled. If the filter has to make any alterations to your legacy template during the update process, it will tell you what it did and why. If it says nothing, it means it did not have to make any changes.
4. The template is moved out of legacy mode, and all of the awesome new features of the new interface will be fully available to you when working with it.

In testing, the vast majority of templates come out of this conversion process without any noticeable visual changes, and required either no additional work or minimal tweaking.

If you were making use of custom fonts, you may need to re-select them (or close matches) using the font library drop downs.

What happens if I don't update my templates during the legacy grace period?
When the legacy mode grace period ends, all templates that were not already updated will be automatically updated -- some will continue to function exactly as intended, even after the update, but you'll want to give your templates a quick test to be sure.

What will I need to do to update my templates?
If the template was not making use of custom fonts, probably all you have to do is hit save on your template to convert it from the old system to the new one. Normal, error-free CSS doesn't get altered.

If the validator finds any problems during the update process, it will tell you what they were and what it did to try and fix them. If you get such a report, look it over to see if it means you'll need to take any corrective actions.

If the template was making use of custom fonts, you will also need to save your template to convert it to from the old system to the new one. If your custom fonts were Google Fonts, simply select the fonts you were using from the google font dropdowns, and you're done.

If your custom fonts were not Google Fonts, you will need to find some replacement fonts from our google font library, select them from the dropdowns, and update your CSS to reference the new font names.

I am a custom template artist that does commissions; how will I update templates that I have already sold, and are on someone else's account?
You have a few options here.

You could send your commissioner a list of the google fonts you used, and ask them to just go pick those from the dropdowns.

If you saved the CSS that you sold, you could create a new custom template on your own account using that code, select the fonts and make whatever updates that you like, and then "share" that template with only the person who bought it. They could then delete the old version of the template on their account, and set their character(s) to use your new version instead.

I am not a template artist; I purchased my template and have no idea how CSS works! How will I be able to make the required updates?
In all likelihood, your template artist will be able to give you simple instructions for which fonts to pick, if any, or else share a new version of the template with you that will take care of all such problems.

If you're unable to get in touch with your template artist, Kim may be able to provide you with some assistance.

Will my templates be able to take advantage of the new mobile features after this update?
Yes! There's some starter CSS here to get you off the ground: http://www.rprepository.com/help/custom-templates#384

It will work almost as-is with the new default CSS -- you may need to tweak for your legacy templates.

What fonts are going to be in the Google Font Library at launch?
Every effort has been made to make sure that all Google fonts existing custom templates were already using have been added to our font library, in the hopes that this update will be pain-free for almost everyone.



Did we miss one that you've previously been using? Please let me know.

What do I do if I run into a problem?
If you're just confused about how to work with CSS, you may be able to post in this thread for guidance from your fellow template creators.

If you think that something has gone wrong and you need to report a bug, please submit a bug report.

My question was not answered here.
Please post your question in this thread, as it is very likely others have the same curiosity and will want to see the answer, too!

I think one or two custom templates of mine use IE corrections - what will happen to that code when the templates get updated? Is it just removed and I need to fix it some other way for IE, or will the current IE browser support the 'regular' coding without the IE fix?

Modern IE browsers don't generally require more special CSS handling than any other browser, and in the cases where it's necessary, there are usually browser-prefixed pieces of CSS available (rather than needing a whole new stylesheet). The latest versions of IE don't even load IE specific stylesheets anymore, so your templates may have been functioning without this part of your code for longer than you realize!

The RPR has dropped all IE-specific stylesheets from its official templates, and from the main site, and noticed no increase in IE-related bug reports, if that comforts you any.

Thank you for the head's up -- this was fantastically informative

Glad to be helpful!

List of google fonts updated again.

Could you mark the updated ones from what you originally had listed? :>

These are the new additions from the second update:

Allerta Stencil
Andika
Annie Use Your Telescope
Archivo Narrow
Asap
Black Ops One
Cabin
Cardo
Comfortaa
Coming Soon
Covered By Your Grace
Cuprum
Cutive
Dawning of a New Day
Geo
Gloria Hallelujah
Handlee
Herr Von Muellerhoff
Hind
IM Fell Double Pica SC
Italianno
Just Me Again Down Here
Kranky
Kurale
Lateef
Leckerli One
Maven Pro
Miss Fajardose
Monsieur La Doulaise
Mrs Saint Delafield
Neucha
Over the Rainbow
Oxygen
Oxygen Mono
PT Sans Narrow
Pacifico
Parisienne
Patrick Hand
Permanent Marker
Playfair Display SC
Pragati Narrow
Press Start 2P
Quantico
Raleway
Rambla
Roboto
Roboto Condensed
Rokkitt
Share Tech Mono
Slabo 27px
Snowburst One
Stardos Stencil
Swanky and Moo Moo
Tillana
Titillium Web
Trade Winds
VT323
Wallpoet
Yanone Kaffeesatz

Yess thank you. Now time to download these x3

I'm looking forward to these changes.

It's looking more and more likely that the 5th will be our go date!

Sorry gang, been feeling pretty under the weather the last few days -- I'm going to push this on Monday (tomorrow) so I can be sure that I can be at the keyboard and available to help if anyone runs into difficulties with the transition.

Works for me! Hope you start feeling better

For those of you interested in some starter CSS to get working with mobile versions...

http://www.rprepository.com/help/custom-templates#384

I just released a script into the wild whose job it is to create thumbnail previews of custom templates. It will be two or three days before it's all caught up with all the templates on the site, but after that, it'll aim to keep your thumbnail previews more or less up to date as you make edits.

A few people have reported trouble finding shared templates, and some other people were having the reverse problem of seeing templates that were shared with them several times in a row. I've rewritten the code that handles this to make it more reliable, and also added a new template category: "Shared With You" right under "Your Custom Library" to help you find the ones sent to you without any searching.

Bless you, you beautiful creature.

HUZZAH it works for me now! Thank youuuuuuuu

You're so welcome.