Background image/color in publishing layout?

[tedhogan]

Hi,

How do you change the background image, color, or whatever it is in the postcard layouts?

This is not intuitive at all. I have tried everything and cannot find the setting.

Please help, I am at my wits end with this.

Thanks,
Ted

 

[John McGhie]

It's really well hidden, isn't it

In the Help, search for "Themes" and read the topic " Design great-looking
documents with themes".

You will need to adjust the Formatting Palette to show you the Document
Theme. Click its right-hand top corner to turn it over, then check the
Document Themes checkbox.

Hope this helps

Hi,

How do you change the background image, color, or whatever it is in the
postcard layouts?

This is not intuitive at all. I have tried everything and cannot find the
setting.

Please help, I am at my wits end with this.

Thanks,
Ted

--
Don't wait for your answer, click here: http://www.word.mvps.org/

Please reply in the group. Please do NOT email me unless I ask you to.

John McGhie, Consultant Technical Writer
McGhie Information Engineering Pty Ltd
http://jgmcghie.fastmail.com.au/
Nhulunbuy, Northern Territory, Australia
+61 4 1209 1410, mailto:[email protected]

 

[tedhogan]

When I search help, it only lists two options: undo theme, re-do theme. There is no listing for a general theme help section.

I have rotated through every theme and not been able to find any that will change the example marketing postcard to a white background. Not only that, but there appears to be no way to actually edit a theme.

My help function does not seem to work. It scans every application on my computer, so I get all sorts of unrelated topics. I don't understand why it is behaving like that in Word.

Is there no general help section where I can browse by topic?

Thanks,
Ted

 

[tedhogan]

I should have known...

All I had to do was go into PowerPoint and choose "Format/Theme Colors", set everything to white (can't tell which color applies to what area on the Word document), save a custom theme with my new color scheme via the "Document Theme" section of the "Formatting Palette". Then, go back to my Word document and browse to and load my custom theme that I just created in PowerPoint via the Formatting Palette.

Simple.

It's easier to just write up a theme in one of the various templating languages ala the popular PHP CMS systems or write your own CSS from scratch than to figure out how to change the background color on the postcard example in Word 2008!

This boggles my mind. Who let's this slide at the MBU? This is acceptable application behavior to someone?

Surely, the person who created these themes must have realized how ridiculous this is.

I am dumbfounded. Really.

ROTFL!

Thanks for putting me on the right track!! I NEVER would have figured this out!

Ted

 

[John McGhie]

Hi Ted:

I think you may have disabled your Help system from going online. In which
case, your copy of the Help is massively incomplete.

Allow it to go online and it will update itself. As a result of user
feedback, updates are coming in thick and fast currently: several per hour.

I also suspect you are using the wrong search box in your Help. Use the box
in the Help window itself. Apple did a little naughty and fiddled their
Spotlight Search so it is unable to search Microsoft Help. That will be
fixed in an update, but in the meantime, it's a cunning way to make
Microsoft look bad

Yeah: Themes suck. But it wasn't intentional: they ran out of time and we
got it in a very nascent condition. You're right, if you know how to make a
CSS, it probably is easier to roll your own

However, pre-built themes are trivial, so they should hopefully roll out a
better selection eventually.

Cheers

I should have known...

All I had to do was go into PowerPoint and choose "Format/Theme Colors", set
everything to white (can't tell which color applies to what area on the Word
document), save a custom theme with my new color scheme via the "Document
Theme" section of the "Formatting Palette". Then, go back to my Word document
and browse to and load my custom theme that I just created in PowerPoint via
the Formatting Palette.

Simple.

It's easier to just write up a theme in one of the various templating
languages ala the popular PHP CMS systems or write your own CSS from scratch
than to figure out how to change the background color on the postcard example
in Word 2008!

This boggles my mind. Who let's this slide at the MBU? This is acceptable
application behavior to someone?

Surely, the person who created these themes must have realized how ridiculous
this is.

I am dumbfounded. Really.

ROTFL!

Thanks for putting me on the right track!! I NEVER would have figured this
out!

Ted

--
Don't wait for your answer, click here: http://www.word.mvps.org/

Please reply in the group. Please do NOT email me unless I ask you to.

John McGhie, Consultant Technical Writer
McGhie Information Engineering Pty Ltd
http://jgmcghie.fastmail.com.au/
Nhulunbuy, Northern Territory, Australia
+61 4 1209 1410, mailto:[email protected]

 

[tedhogan]

John,

Thanks again for the response.

The fact that time ran out makes sense, that explains it. Overall, I really like the look and feel of the product. Hopefully, they will continue to work out the rough edges. A full blown office suite theme editor that is intuitive and readily available from all Office applications would be the way to go since this path has already been started down.

I was also wondering why I can't seem to find simple blank templates for common things such as post cards. Something like that would be good to have.

I have my help updated now.

Thanks,
Ted