MX

Table Of Contents
By creating a long thin strip as on the left, when set as a background,you get a graduated color
background across the whole page.
To create this effect, follow these steps;
1.
Draw a tall thin rectangle. This needs to be as tall as any user is likely to make their browser
window so it doesn't repeat vertically. A value of 1000 pixels or more is recommended, which is
much taller than your page. You may need to zoom out to draw one large enough. It should be
very narrow.
2.
Make sure your rectangle has no outline: Click it in the Selector Tool and set it to have no
outline. Click on the 'no color' cross-hatch patch on the Color Line (or select 'none' from the
Line Width drop down menu on the top button bar).
3.
Ensure the rectangle is a few whole pixels wide, and then ensure it is on exact whole pixel X and
Y coordinates: In the Selector Tool select the rectangle, edit the Width (W) value, press
"Enter", then edit the X and Y positions to be whole numbers.
4.
Using the Fill Tool, give it a graduated color fill as required: Just drag on the rectangle. Make
sure it's graduated top to bottom by adjusting the fill arrow if necessarily.
5.
Export the rectangle as a PNG image. Click the Export as PNG icon .Once exported drag
it back onto the page from your File Explorer.
6.
Open the Bitmap Gallery, scroll down to see the graphic you just loaded (it will be a very thin,
almost invisible thumbnail in the gallery), and select it (click on it in the gallery) and then click the
Background button on the Bitmap Gallery. You can now delete the original rectangle from the
page.
Note
: This will only work across the whole browser window background if you haven't given the pasteboard
background its own color. If you have set the pasteboard background, then the graduated fill will only be
applied to the background of the page area.
Linked shades
You can create colors that are lighter or darker shades of another color, so that when you alter the
'parent' color, all the lighter and darker shades change to match the new hue. For example a graduated
color shade on a button, such as this:
This is a simple rounded rectangle with a graduated
color fill created with the Fill Tool. In the Fill Tool
you can click on the either end of the arrow to set the
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