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Crystal Reports:
Background Colors
Control those background colors on a
section (All versions).
In the section expert, you can set a
background color on a section. This can be an effective way to highlight a
colored band for column headings.
But one effect you may not want is that
the band goes all the way across the page. If you want a colored band
across the report, but would like it to be narrower, we have a solution.
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Create a second section and move it
the above the original section.
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Set this new section to “Underlay”
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Make the section slightly larger than
the subsequent section
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Insert a box in this section, change
the Border Style to “None” and set a fill color
This can be a very effective formatting
technique to add some color to your report.
You want to use the formatting to accomplish such goals as:
- Present a clean but compelling appearance.
- Guide the reader's eye to what's important. That means very little
highlighting or bolding.
- Separate information or visually group it.
- Make the report consistent with other company literature. For example,
use company colors, company logo, and the official font (if there is one).
- Create a different flavor or appearance for each type of report. For
example, financial reports have a green border, sales reports have a salmon
border, production reports have a blue border, and so on.
- Show what has changed.
- Highlight problem areas.
A bit more about colors
You get colors on a computer screen by combining different values of
Red, Green and Blue phosphors (RGB) on your computer monitor (or LCD screen).
If you are bored with
those primary colors, you can select a custom color from the combo box, and that will display
the color form, and if you click the “Define Custom Colors” you get a
dialogue box to work with.
But what if you are using a formula? You can specify
custom colors in a form by using the Color (red, green, blue) function. Each of the
arguments of this function is a number between 0 and 255 to indicate how much of that color to use.
But what are the values for a specific color? That is where the Custom color
palette can help. As well as letting you
select a color from the palette, it tells you what the RGB values are for that specific color.
We could, for example, select a color with a value of Red=156, Green=19 and Blue=159. We could
then use those numbers in a conditional formatting formula.
Avoid common color usage errors
- Don't just add colors gratuitously. Think of them as spices. They need
to bring out the flavor of the report, not bury it. And they need to work
together. Some spices clash when used together, and so do some colors.
- A common mistake with colors is to use large blocks of colored text on
the page. For example, yellow on a black background. You get maximum
readability with black text on a white background. You can use colored text
to emphasize or to bring out headings (or subheadings). But when used for
the main body of the text, it actually detracts from the report.
- Don't use colored page backgrounds. When people try to print these out,
the page becomes saturated with ink and paper jams result. With duplex
printers, the problem is twice as bad.
- Use contrasting colors. Many people can't see the difference between two
closely related light blues, for example. Variations in printing also cause
confusion. Then there's the issue of referring to the color. Bob in
Accounting is discussing the report. He can easily ask Beverly compare the
total that appears in dark blue text to the total that appears in dark brown
text. But how can he refer to the total in tan versus the one in light
brown?
- Avoid red backgrounds. These irritate the eye.
- Remember, color costs money. Use it where there's a return on that
investment (no need to calculate ROI).
- If there's no particular reason to use color, don't use it.
This article is copyrighted by
Crystalkeen, Mindconnection, and Chelsea Technologies Ltd. It may be
freely copied and distributed as long as the original copyright is
displayed and no modifications are made to this material. Extracts are
permitted. The names Crystal Reports and Seagate Info are trademarks owned
by Business Objects.
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