The Online Content Catalogue > Backgrounds > Tiling Backgrounds offers 61 squares that can be picked as the Pasteboard background.
... > Gradient backgrounds, why, has all of three choices!

As such these are limited to two-tones (with a couple of tints, if you are lucky).
There is no sizing, other than remove Tiling and Fill browser window, where you can see how grainy the resolution is.

There are a couple of benefits in that the two-tone colours have their own Themed Colour Names: Website Backdrop & Website Backdrop 2 (WB & WB2). Making you wonder what happened to Website Backdrop 1?
These can be matched to your site theme quite easily
You can also adjust its Light & Dark Contones through Pasteboard background Edit Pasteboard colour.

EXTENDING THE XARA EXAMPLES
You can construct your own version:

  1. Create a vector design. Colouring at this stage with a rainbow if needed.
  2. Convert it with Create Bitmap Copy. Scaling as required.
  3. Set as pasteboard background.
  4. Include two shapes with Named Fills of Website Backdrop & Website Backdrop 2. If the colours are important create another pair but ensure the colours have separate Names for their colours. If not important, I usually add them into a Linear Fill of the Page background to maintain a running theme.
  5. Design your Page background.
  6. Save the file as xarabackground_<meaningful_description_here>.xar.


You can now drag this file onto your current design and the Pasteboard and Page backgrounds are replaced.
Press Accept to Match colours or you get duplicated Names colours.
Keep the two-tone colours if already set in your design or adjust the Name Colours, WB & WB2 to the values of the added other Named colours.

That's it. You have jumped from 61 tile patterns to as many as you like.
Do offer up your designs in this Thread; they will be appreciated.


Here are a number of approaches I use.

METHOD 1
Leaving aside the repeating pattern aspect, many will have realised you can roll your own:


  1. Create a vector design. Colouring at this stage with a rainbow if needed.
  2. Convert it with Create Bitmap Copy. Scaling as required.
  3. Set as pasteboard background.
  4. Adjust Contone.

Tweak a colour, transparency, feathering? Redo all the above steps.

METHOD 2
Gradient backgrounds are simpler to develop.
Unlock the Pasteboard background layer, (lose any Shadow) and simply apply a Linear of Radial Fill.
Throw in a couple of Stops, colours and change alignment.
Do check you have not generated an image in the process; usually by throwing in a transparent colour as one of the Stops.

You can create a range of images and as they are available in the Bitmap gallery, you can cycle through them all (Set pasteboard background).
Provided they are retained in your design. If they are not on the page, you lose them when the XDA is closed.
I cannot recall a setting to retain the Bitmap gallery contents and I would have it off anyhow to avoid bloat.

But hey!, we have bitmaps as backdrops in a vector program.
  1. Only Xara numbered bitmaps, no Named JPEGs, PNGs or WebPs.
  2. Still no scaling though.


VECTOR BACKDROPS
In a nutshell:
  1. Create a vector design.
  2. Save as SVG file.
  3. Create a Placeholder > Replace with graphic file: <Step_2_filename>.svg.
  4. Build up Website HTML Code (head) CSS for separate pages (.xr_bgb0, .xr_bgb1, etc); replace with html (or html, body or just body) for the entire website.

The example file has two pages with similar but slightly different coding to show how to pad (H or V), scale (fixed or browser width (px or vw units)) with a linear gradient thrown in.
  1. Named SVGs. Small sized and no bloat and can be put off-page or even deleted as they now exist in a linked folder.
  2. Many ways to scale. These are technically friezes. You can create true wallpaper coverings if you have the skill.


SVG - Backgrounds.xar

I hope you find the sampler interesting or even inspiring.
Do tell.

Acorn