background images in business cards

users
#1

This is ridiculous. I've just been reading a question from a 2008 (3.2) version of OpenOffice.org that is the same as my current problem. Namely that you can't place images in the background on a business card.

I'm using LibreOffice 5.2 (Debian) and when I insert an image, it refuses to go behind the text whether I select Arrange | Send to back or Wrap | wrap through. It will go behind the text if I select Wrap | in background but then it disappears. And no, before you ask, the paragraph fill is set to none.

I finally found a setting in Format | Page | Transparency where setting the transparency to 100% worked. Strangely the original setting was 50% which resulted in the background image being hidden completely. A quick experiment revealed that ANY setting other than 100% hid the background image.

I have no idea what this "feature" is for but it seems completely unintuitive and in conflict with the paragraph background setting, not to mention the wrap in background feature.

So my beef is:
1) Arrange doesn't appear to work on labels,
2) wrap through doesn't appear to work on labels,
3) there seems to be a page background that is in front of any background image,
4) the transparency setting for that page background only has two values - 100% or opaque, and
5) this situation has been around for at least 8 years without being fixed.

Why can't the developers address these basic problems?

#2

If you use a table for your layout then placing an image in the
background behaves as you would wish. Sadly LibreOffice uses a
frame-based layout for labels and that might be where your problem lies.

I do not experience problems with my Avery business card stock using the
table based approach.

Peter HB

#3

Hi Peter,
In the download section at World Label, there are templates for
OpenOffice/LibreOffice. These are table style templates, and they work
beautifully.

*Don C. Myers, Realtor*
RE/MAX Centre Realty
1375 Martin Street
State College, PA 16803
Cell- 814.571.9518

*Farm & Rural Lifestyle Properties*
*www.CentralPaRuralProperty.com <http://bit.ly/centralparuralproperty>*

<http://bit.ly/centralparurallifestylesfacebook>

#4

I am using Avery business card (5371 - white letter size) template.

I gather you are suggesting creating a table to do the layout rather than simply using the normal paragraph/text tools. That would place the table above the graphic background, obviating the problem instead of fixing it.

Given that it doesn't work this way when creating, for example, letterhead, I still fail to see why this should be treated as anything other than a long-standing bug. I created letterhead for the same organization using the same graphic and Wrap through and Wrap in background both work. Wrap through has the image above the text while wrap in background has the text above the image. Page transparency is irrelevant.

Perhaps the developers have some reason why the user experience for these two similar types of documents should be so different but It strikes me as a flaw in the user interface that should be fixed.

#5

Yes but the fact that you can get around a bug doesn't mean the bug doesn't exist. :slight_smile:

#6

The behaviour you describe is reported as :

https://bugs.documentfoundation.org/show_bug.cgi?id=34585

https://bugs.documentfoundation.org/show_bug.cgi?id=62505

https://bz.apache.org/ooo/show_bug.cgi?id=20209

https://bz.apache.org/ooo/show_bug.cgi?id=32724

One can see from the OOo bug reports that there was already a call to
have NoFill equate to 100% transparency, even back then.

Alex

#7

Wow

I never saw that issue before. Tried every way to have an image in the background [5.2.3.3 DEB] and I cannot seem to get your "fix" working. I am wondering if the text's "internal white space" can be made transparent? That is where I seem to get the current issues.

I wonder if it would be too much to create a business card image file - with the background - in GIMP or DRAW and then just place that image in the first card space and sync all the rest of the card spaces? How much of a "pain" would it be to do that till the bug gets fixed?

I use the Background options with WRITER created fliers, posters [US Letter to 13x19 inch], and other documents. I really would have thought it would work the same in the Business Card Templates.

#8

Hi Peter,
In the download section at World Label, there are templates for
OpenOffice/LibreOffice. These are table style templates, and they work
beautifully.

Yes but the fact that you can get around a bug doesn't mean the bug doesn't exist. :slight_smile:

Wow

I never saw that issue before. Tried every way to have an image in the background [5.2.3.3 DEB] and I cannot seem to get your "fix" working. I am wondering if the text's "internal white space" can be made transparent? That is where I seem to get the current issues.

I wonder if it would be too much to create a business card image file - with the background - in GIMP or DRAW and then just place that image in the first card space and sync all the rest of the card spaces? How much of a "pain" would it be to do that till the bug gets fixed?

I use the Background options with WRITER created fliers, posters [US Letter to 13x19 inch], and other documents. I really would have thought it would work the same in the Business Card Templates.

The problem with creating a single image for the entire card is that you can't use a database to fill it easily - such as the same card design for multiple employees, just with different names and contact information.

The problem doesn't seem to the "internal white space" so much as the page the text sits on. You can make the page transparent (Format | Page

Transparency - set to 100%) which fixes the problem. It's just not

very intuitive.

#9

Merci. It makes me wonder why anyone thought the current behaviour was somehow a good idea. :frowning: