[scribus] Joy: white paper is boring

[ZASKE Martin]

So happy: For weeks we have been struggling with the need to produce
bitmaps for electronic publishing on a non-white background.

Our workaround was to have one extra bottom layer with just a filled
shape (yes, a colored box) on it and bleeding somewhat over the
page-edges. This workaround had several disadvantages, like not seeing
where the page ends and not seeing the guide-lines. (This would be a
secondary issue, why the guidelines seem to be the "lowest" items and
not on top of stuff.)

This morning I woke up with the battle cry: "This is too stupid, there
has to be a solution. All other decent DTP programs let us color the
"paper"".


I Did another search all over Scribus 1.4.6 and 1.5.1 and joy: Yes, of
course, you can color your paper:

> File > Document Setup > Display > Colors > Page Fill



You are welcome to roll your eyes or to grin, I am just happy. So I share.

The good news is this: Even while this option is placed under the
heading of "display" (not for example with "Manage Page Properties" or
"Document Setup"), it still changes your document, not just your
on-screen display; as far as bitmap exporting is concerned. I tested for
.jpeg .jpg and for .png

For example, you chose to work on light-blue "paper". And your
png-exports will also feature a light-blue background. This is exactly
what we need for our weekly publications. Two thumbs up for our developers!!

So why am I wasting your time here, just because I happen to be happy?
We are now using Scribus for several years for most of our output. Again
and again we have needed a certain feature and 19 times out of 20 the
feature is here, often quite well hidden. Be it styles, be it extra
colors or whatever. So be smarter than me. If you are struggling or
fighting with very clumsy workarounds for a need which is rather basic
for DTP, please ask or look harder, there is probably a very nice
solution already somewhere in Scribus.

greetings, Martin





PS and mild change of subject:

If you order that your printer will work on colored paper, you can use
this to simulate the final product. I just tested: If you export to PDF
the content will show up on white background, even if you specify
another color as "page fill".

My last question is this: If I know that my printer is working on
normal, white paper. And I want my entire document to feature an even,
non-white background, how would I put that into my Scribus document to
avoid the above mentioned disadvantages?

Luckily we are publishing our weekly proverbs as .jpeg via WhatsApp, so
this question about offset-printing unto colored-background is not urgent.