Custom Kennel Card Builder - User Guide

Helen Cuadra
Helen Cuadra
  • Updated

You can now customize the look and feel of your kennel cards with Shelterluv's new Custom Kennel Card Builder! Our goal was to create the best tool available today. Please try it and let us know what you think!

  • Pick & choose from an extensive library of 40 elements including medical data
  • Stay on brand by applying your organization's colors to the text and borders
  • Play with all the styling and layout options until you have a kennel card you love!

 

Getting Started

  1. Navigate to Configuration > General Shelter > Kennel Card Builder > Custom Template.
  2. Click the Launch Custom Template Builder button to open the builder in a new tab.

LaunchKCBButton.png

Notes

  • The Use Custom Template box here should not be checked until you have finished building your custom template.
    • If you do accidentally check it and then print kennel cards before you have a chance to customize a template, your kennel cards will look similar to Full Page Theme 16 (under Quick Templates).
    • You can always switch back to using a quick template until you are done building your custom template.
  • Only one user should be editing your organization's custom template at any given time, in a single tab, to avoid conflicts in design changes. If more than one user is actively editing, they will see this error message:

MultipleEditorsError.png

 

Templates

On this first tab, you will see several base templates available to use as a jumping off point. Similar to the legacy Quick Templates, these are available in the following sizes:

  • Full Page (8.5" x 11")
  • Half Page Horizontal (8.5" x 5.5")
  • Half Page Vertical (4.25" x 11")

SelectTemplateFirstTime.png

 

Notes

  • Half page templates have the option for printing one or multiple cards per sheet (feature not available on Safari browsers).
  • If you want to switch to a different base template later, you can do so by selecting a new template and clicking the Overwrite Existing Template button; however, any changes made to the previous template will not be saved.

 

Elements

In the library (on the left side of the screen), you will find five different types of elements available for your custom kennel card.

 

Images

  • Shelter Logo
  • Animal Photo

Text

  • Animal ID
  • Name
  • Age
  • Age Group
  • Breed
  • Sex
  • Spayed/Neutered
  • Color
  • Pattern
  • Weight
  • Size Group
  • Status
  • Location
  • Original Source (first intake type)
  • Intake Type (most recent intake type)
  • Intake Subtype
  • Address Found (stray & wildlife intakes)
  • Adoption Fee
  • About Me (Kennel Card / Web Site Memo)
  • Microchip Number
  • Rabies Tag Number
  • License Number
  • Previous Shelter ID
  • Transferred In From (partner name)
  • Heartworm Test Result

Lists

  • Attributes

Dates

  • Date of Birth
  • Intake Date
  • Available Since (last updated to an adoptable status)
  • Review Date
  • Spay/Neuter Date
  • Rabies Vaccination
  • Dewormer
  • Bordetella
  • DHPP / FVRCP
  • Heartworm Test

Other

  • Custom Text (static information to display on all kennel cards)
  • Spacer (additional space before/after individual elements)

Adding Elements

  1. On the left side of the screen, select an element in the library (if an element is grayed out, that means is it already in use in the current template).
  2. On the right side of the screen, select the grid in the template where you want to place the element.

AddElement.gif

 

Editing or Removing Elements

When you hover over any element in your template, you will be able to click Edit this element to bring up the following options on the left side:

Location

  • Move the element to another grid
  • Move the element up or down within the same grid

ElementLocation.gif

Label

  • Edit label name (e.g. you could change "Adoption fee" to "Adoption price")
  • Update label font style (bold, italic, underlined) and font size
  • Set label width

ElementLabel.gif

Alignment

  • Left, center, or right aligned

Style

  • Update font style (bold, italic, underlined) and font size of main text (separate from the label)

Text color

  • Use the custom color picker or enter the RGB values of a custom color (applies to both label and main text)
  • Set transparency of main text using the "Alpha" slider or enter a value between "0" (transparent) and "1" (opaque) in the "A" field next to RGB

ElementStyle.gif

Box model

  • Add a border and customize its weight, color, and transparency
  • Adjust margin and padding (margin cannot be adjusted on images)

Sizing (images only)

  • Fill space or set fixed height or width

AnimalPhoto.gif

Delete

  • Delete the element - confirmation is required with a second click of the button

Layout

This tab allows you to make adjustments to grids within the template, which are larger areas that may contain one or more elements. (This is slightly more advanced functionality.)

LayoutTab.png

Width

You can adjust the width of a grid relative to another grid. For example, if an animal photo and a block of text are side by side, this setting lets you decide how much width each of these grids will encompass. (This option is not available if a grid spans the entire width of the kennel card on its own.)

Layout.gif

Box model

  • Margin controls the space outside the border.
  • Padding controls the space between the content inside the border.
  • Border weight, color, and transparency can be customized.

Clicking the lock/unlock icon next to All Sides will control whether the Top, Bottom, Left, and Right are all adjusted together or are adjusted independently of one another.

 

LayoutBoxModel.gif

 

Notes

  • The About Me (Kennel Card / Web Site Memo) section does not have a specific character limit but will display only what will fit into the section designated for it. You can decrease the font size if you typically enter longer Kennel Card / Web Site Memos on animal records.