Numbers ‘ 08 , the new spreadsheet lotion in iWork ‘ 08 , brings some powerful newfangled cock to the table . As observe in my Numbers limited review , the ability to place multiple grids anywhere on a page , and mix them with schoolbook , graphics , and images , give up you to create some truly capital looking output .
As I was using Numbers and taking notes for the followup , one of the thing I seek to do was to place an image as a scope for a image of cells . In Pages , it ’s uncomplicated to make an persona live “ behind ” all the text on a page ; with the proper image lay out to a high arcdegree of translucency , the destruction result can look sharp .
It ’s well-heeled to get images into issue , using the Media icon on the toolbar , the Insert - > Choose carte du jour item , or even drag - and - dropping them from the Finder or a graphics coating . These look-alike are added to the “ top ” layer of your worksheet , however , so they ’ll obscure everything . No job ; Arrange - > Send to Back go them behind the table cellular telephone . However , that did n’t solve my trouble , as you could see in the look-alike below and to the rightfulness . I ’ve add a house picture behind the table in the Loan Comparison template . But the white cell are completely obscuring the background image .
You might believe this is because those cells are fill up with white , but they ’re not — if you select a cell and then enter the Graphic Inspector , you ’ll see that its fill is set to “ None . ” But if that ’s truthful , why is n’t the house image showing through ? Here ’s the arcanum : in Numbers , any placedgridalso has a fill , and it default to filling with white . In essence , each grid contains two layers : the bottom “ grid ” layer is satisfy with blanched , and the “ cells ” on top of that grid may be fill ( or not ) , depending on which panache ( Blue Headers , Blue Fill , etc . ) you pick out for that grid .
So to make the cells actually show the image that now resides behind them , you also have to remove the filling from the grid itself . Do that by pick out the grid — click once on the control grid to activate it , and then when you’re able to see the row and column header , click in the “ drag ” spot above the “ 1 ” and to the left hand of the “ A , ” as seen in the image at correct . When you do that , the quarrel and column cope will vanish , leaving the power grid with a selection box around it .
start the Inspector ( if it ’s not opened already ) , alternate to the Graphic tab , and determine the Fill to None . When you do , you ’ll see that the cell in the body of the table are now showing the background trope ( if you ’re using the Loan Comparison guide ) , but the full Paid row is still white . That ’s because those cells are actually localize to have a white filling ; select the wrangle and use the Graphic Inspector to also set their Fill to None .
you may then use the Fill feature , along with the Opacity slipper on the Colors dialog , to vary which cell show what parts of the image and with how much translucency . For example , here ’s the Loan Comparison page after I tweaked most of the cells :
