Templates
A template in CraftStage defines the physical design and layout rules for your personalized items. It specifies the dimensions, where variable text appears, and how that text should behave when it's too long or too short.
What a template contains
Every template has:
- Name and description — For identification in the template picker
- Category — Optional grouping like "Name Plates", "Badges", "Pet Tags"
- Physical dimensions — Width and height in inches (these must match your actual material/design size)
- Template file — An SVG or image file of the base design
- Preview image — A thumbnail shown in the template picker
- Default font — The primary font used for text fields (default: Arial)
- Template fields — The variable text areas (see below)
Creating a template
Navigate to the templates section and click Create Template. Upload your design file (SVG recommended) and set the physical dimensions in inches. Add a preview image and a name, then start defining fields.
Template fields
Template fields define the variable text areas in your design. Each field has:
Position and size
All coordinates are in inches from the top-left corner of the template. For example, a name field positioned 0.5 inches from the left edge and 0.3 inches from the top, with a width of 2.0 inches and height of 0.5 inches, would be configured as:
- X: 0.5
- Y: 0.3
- Width: 2.0
- Height: 0.5
Font settings
- Font size — The base font size in points (e.g., 14pt)
- Font weight — Normal or bold
- Text align — Left, center, or right
- Vertical align — Top, middle, or bottom within the bounding box
Overflow policy
This is the most important setting for each field. It determines what happens when text is too long. See Layout Engine for details on each policy.
| Policy | Use for |
|---|---|
| Shrink to fit | Names and titles — preserves the complete text |
| Wrap | Addresses and multi-line descriptions |
| Truncate | Fields where partial text is acceptable |
| Fixed | Fields where exact sizing is critical |
Constraints
- Min font size — For shrink-to-fit, the smallest the text can get before it's flagged as overflow
- Max lines — For wrap, the maximum number of lines allowed
- Truncate suffix — For truncate, the text appended after cutting (default: "…")
- Required — Whether the field must have a value (missing values trigger a preflight error)
- Default value — Used when the field is empty
- Transform — Automatic text transform (uppercase, lowercase, title case, trim)
Best practices
- Measure carefully. Field positions and sizes must match your physical design. Use your design software's ruler or dimension tools to get precise measurements in inches.
- Set realistic min font sizes. For name plates, a minimum of 8–10pt is usually readable. Going below 6pt makes text hard to read on most materials.
- Use shrink-to-fit for names. It's the safest overflow policy for personalization because it preserves the complete text.
- Test with extreme data. Try a very long name like "Dr. Christopher Richardson-Montgomery III" and a very short one like "Jo" to make sure your field handles both.
Next step
Learn how the Layout Engine uses your template field settings to compute text layout.