Always include a preview image of your kit WITH your kit.
put your initials or name on the files!
I rename all my previews of kits I buy "folder.jpg." I know some designers already name their preview that way (Betty J Martin is the only one I can think of off the top of my head). This is the manual default for customizing folders. I like to organize my files this way so I can find things quicker. The kit preview shows on the folder instead of 4 tiny, random files.
individual files w/ your name or designer name...and not just paper 1, paper 2....
Most stores have a file naming convention that designers are required to use.
DTope-Kitname-Item designer names in file names
also, PLEASE name capital letters differently from lower case letters ! I like to combine them in the same folder but it is a pain renaming them all
I am surprized that some designers are still not including preview files in kits ! That should include mega kits too. Its great to see many designers including 'folder.jpg' files for the folder icons - thank you
And TOU files should have the designer's name also so that they don't get overwritten in collaboration/mega kits when I combine kits into large folders
I really like it when a designer includes a designername_kitname_preview.jpg file in a kit. The folder.jpg files for folder icons don't work on Macs (well they work as image files, but they don't become icons), so I spend a lot of time renaming them. I keep copies of all my preview files in one folder, and it doesn't help if they are all named "folder.jpg" Please please please include both. Thank you.
I'm reading this topic with interest as I also find some aspects of the files I download very frustrating. Aside from the ones already mentioned, some designers zip files in a folder and others don't. Unless I check to see what is in a zip, I either end up with too many levels of folders or an explosion of files in the folder I'm unzipping. Sometimes, there seems to be no consistency of file names even within the same download. With an industry of the size that it is I am surprised that there aren't more concrete industry standards.
I am also surprised that designers don't use file properties or metadata to enter basic details such as their name, copyrights, colour, nature of the item in the file, etc. This would be to their advantage as their details would be contained within each file, not just the file name and the customers would benefit by being able to do basic searches by something other than the file name.
I hate long file names. It causes problems with my backup software sometimes, can exceed pathname limits, etc, etc. I have had to rename files because the files names were sooooo long.
I just want to make a comment re the naming of files - alphabet letters in particular. I use winzip to unzip most of my downloads and often there is just one folder inside with all the seperate files. There is a problem sometimes saving these into the folder I create when the designers give duplicate names to both the upper and lowers case letters of the alphabet. When you try to put both types of letters in the same folder the second one tries to replace the first...eg the lower case 'a' tries to replace the upper case 'A' as the files names are the same. Some designers give different names to the two different sets of files and this is much appreciated - but many a time I have gone to a folder and found only half the alphabet set there because of this glitch - it happened again just yesterday. I now have to check each file very carefully and that can be quite time consuming to sort them out.
I have downloaded a kit and unzipped it only to find that the files were not in a folder. All the files unzipped as a huge big lot of separate files. Please put your kit/elements - whatever - into a folder before you zip it up. It doesn't matter if there are separate folders for papers, alphas, elements etc but please put all of them into a main folder before you zip. I don't like to unzip a kit and then have to make a new folder to drag all the files into.
jdoe_A (capital A not necessary, just my silly preference) jdoe_aa
I delete the kit name from the individual filenames. The kit name is already on the main folder that holds the kit - - easy enough to hover and find the info in Windows Explorer. I DELETE the kit name from all the filenames. Why make the filename any longer than you must?
Doing a designer name plus an element name plus a kit name makes file names really large, and for some machines, that's a problem (I think MAC actually has a limit on how big file names can be).
One thing we have to take into consideration too is store requirements. I just signed on with 2 new stores, and their requirements for naming files are similar, but still different.
1 store wants them this way: firstnamelastname_kitname_piecename.zip
1 store wants them this way: 3initials_kitname_piecename.zip
the other wants it with the firstnamelastname
I think if everyone made sure that the kit name and the piece name were all in there clearly, this would work. It's a little more time consuming if you have the same kit in stores with different naming requirements, but it can be done.
I do this with my alpha; firstnamelastname(or initials)_kitname_alphaA.png (for uppercase) firstnamelastname)or initials)_kitname_alpha_A.png (for lowercase)
elements: firstnamelastname(or initials)_kitname_ribbon1.png
papers: firstnamelastname(or initials)_kitname_bg1.png
chances are, you won't have the same file name as someone else, and if you have the same kit recolored, I'd say put the color in the kitname or something to that effect, so that if folks group by element/paper, the color would change the filename enough as to not writeover the previous file.
I also put all the files into a folder that are going into one zip file into a folder, so if all papers are going in one zip, they go in one folder, so if you choose 'unzip here' they go into a folder, not all over the place. I do know though, that others prefer not to have them in a folder, so you're danged if you do and danged if you don't....lol
At Gotta Pixel, it's yourinitials_kit name/number_item, so for me I use cwall_kitname_paper01. I do agree though, it's much better to use different file names for upper/lower alphas. I like having everything in 1 folder too, and I HATE it when I accidently overwrite stuff cuase of naming issues.