Parchment background
In previewing others’ books in the Bookstore, I have seen some that used a page background that looks like parchment—sort of creamy with slightly darker page edges. Is this one of the BookSmart backgrounds or is it a Photoshop custom? If it’s native, I haven’t been able to find it in BookSmart. Can someone help me out?
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I meant to note—I searched for "parchment" in the forums but didn’t find anything…
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It used to be in BookSmart- I played around with it (although didn’t use it) in an earlier version. However I couldn’t find it in the latest- even under all backgrounds. I guess maybe they took it out.
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Argh! Is that true? I’ve seen it used in books in the Just Published area of the Bookstore. :( Say it ain’t so!
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I was just about to contact Blurb support about the very same problem. I’ve used the parchment background on a number of books. It’s availability seems to be inconsistent. On a few of my previous books it was not available at all, no matter what I tried. I was able to use it on my most recent book, and on the book I’m currently working on it’s available for interior pages, but not accessible for flaps and spine.
Jack
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Jack, what version of Booksmart do you have, and where are you finding the parchment in there?? I don’t need it on the cover, only on the interior pages. Don’t bother emailing support; I did that, and I got back the world’s most unhelpful answer: "If you can’t find a background, it MAY BE that it’s not available any more." Well, no kidding. But it MAY BE that it IS available and I’m just not looking in the right place! Thank goodness for these forums, I guess!
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Hi, I did some investigating (I had to go to our BookSmart product manager) and yes, this background – along with some other .png backgrounds – was removed around the BookSmart 1.5-1.6 timeframes. Probably not the best news for some of you, but now at least you know. – Kathy
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Augh! Thank you, at least that’s an actual answer even if it’s bad news. Will the parchment be coming back in future updates?
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Erin, I have no idea if parchment will be coming back, but if I would have to guess, I would say probably not. Now, if we hear from hundreds of Blurbarians that they want their parchment option back, we’d definitely have to look into it. ; ) – Kathy
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Hi Erin,
I’m using 1.9.5. The response to my query was – “The spine and flaps can only receive actual colors and not patterns. I’m sorry for any inconvenience this may cause.”
However, as I mentioned in my previous post, it appears to be inconsistent. It’s working right now for me. I’ve made a screen capture but can’t figure out how to attach it to this post.
Jack
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Hi Guys; This sounds to me like yet another candidate for a "CUSTOMISED BACKGROUND"! Come-on Blurb, there have been MANY requests of this nature… How about it? Cheers; Lee
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Hi Lee, We are definitely looking into more customizable options in BookSmart. That said, although we do see a lot of the same requests here in the Forums, our Forums are visited by less than two percent of our customers. So, as you can imagine, we prioritze new features based on a myraid of requests, resources, time, etc. before we move forward. – Kathy
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I think I have 1.9.5 too. Isn’t that the latest update? I will have to check when I get home. Do you mean the parchment works for you all the time with 1.9.5 but not with all previous versions, or does it not work all the time with 1.9.5? And where in 1.9.5 did you find the parchment?
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Erin,
The parchment shows up just above the 10 available colours of backgrounds as having been used recently. However, it does not always show up. I have used it on a number of the books I’ve published. Possibly that’s why it’s appearing for me.
Jack
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Hi Kathy; "We are definitely looking into more customizable options in BookSmart. That said, although we do see a lot of the same requests here in the Forums, our Forums are visited by less than two percent of our customers. So, as you can imagine, we prioritze new features based on a myraid of requests, resources, time, etc. before we move forward." This may be a little "off topic" here…. I would say that 2% active user participation was quite good in my experience… BUT… if you want more – then restore the handy-dandy direct link to the Forums. It was and has remained quite noticeable that activity on the Forums declined immediately the link was removed, and now most new entrants only find it by chance… I understand the need to co-ordinate, prioritise and allocate resource, but it does help when a STAFF member actually acknowledges a request or suggestion… so, do we take it that related suggestions for customisable BGs etc. and/or a "Personal Preferences" facility are on-board? Cheers; Lee
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Thank you, Jack, I think that makes sense. And to concur with what Lee said, I for one had no idea Blurb.com had forums until I ran across an offhand mention of them by chance on the Flickr group. Even then, I had to Google to find them. Why isn’t there a link?
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Lee and ErinGoBragh, We’ve set up our Forums as support forums, which means it makes sense they live under the Help tab on our navigation. We update our nav and the website on a regular basis, and adding Forums to Help was the result of one of these site-wide updates. We also link to the Forums via the messages on your Blurb homepage/dashboard and via each member’s profile page (if they have participated in the Forums). We, too, are very happy with the success of the Forums and discover new Blurbarians posting every day. – Kathy
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